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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

In wondering what people WANT from food on holidays?

124 replies

hoovercraft · 27/02/2011 16:31

Went on holiday and the food at the hotel was lovely. Huge array of salads and seafood and hot dishes. Really interesting food and salads - lovely one with avocado (my fave).
One night they had whole prawns on the buffet, another was a whole salmon. All fresh and lovely. Meat dishes were nice too. Also had a huge paella and local dishes.

But people complained about the food Shock.
One couple we met even went to the local greasy spoon for meals. We went there at lunch and it was horrible - chips, micro pizzas, froen prawns with no flavour in sandwiches.

Im amazed. What do people want from holiday food?

OP posts:
PepsiPopcorn · 27/02/2011 17:26

YANBU. The food sounds very nice!

NormanTheForeman · 27/02/2011 17:30

Trying different food is one of the good things about going on holiday abroad IMO. The food at your hotel sounds lovely, hoover.

bigTillyMint · 27/02/2011 17:34

Yes, we've seen reviews of hotels we've been to complaining about the food. Some people just don't like trying new stuff.

Infact MIL sometimes complains about the holiday food. She once asked me what kind of food they serve in Italian restaurants. It was 15 or so years ago - I guess there weren't many Italians about then Hmm Grin

ivykaty44 · 27/02/2011 17:35

I went to tenerife for a g/f 40th and she picked a lovely hotel. The food was fab, lots of spanish seafood and other dishes. At the side of the main buffet was spag bog, chips ham and lasagna - none of it looked very nice but there was a long line of British people for this type of food...Grin fab as there was plenty of proper food for us.

Geistesabwesenheit · 27/02/2011 17:41

Eating odd unusual food is part of the fun of travelling; it's a shame so few English people want to experiment, for want of a better word.

onceamai · 27/02/2011 17:48

OP what you describe sounds just fine to me. Wouldn't be keen on a buffet day in and day out but what was on offer sounds good and my dc would have had no problems eating anything you describe (except the avocado). In fact at lunch today they were salivating over the thought of a nice big bowl of moules et frites.

bellavita · 27/02/2011 17:51

I always remember DH's sister and DH going on holiday abroad and they would always eat in the english cafes Shock

Many years ago DH's mum took us and his sisters out for her birthday to this lovely greek restaurant - she ordered an omelette and chips and the others ordered similar. What was all that about then?

NormanTheForeman · 27/02/2011 17:53

Oooh, m ds loves Moules Frites!

NormanTheForeman · 27/02/2011 17:53

Sorry, my ds, that should have been....

Tigerbomb · 27/02/2011 17:55

MY DH is the same. He won't eat pasta, noodles, salad, fruit, rice or spicy food in the UK let alone abroad.

He is an absolute nightmare

Bucharest · 27/02/2011 17:57

In defence of Brits, I'm always amazed at airports when Italians have excess baggage and start unpacking and discarding tins of tomatoes.....and one of my uni students has decided not to go to the UK and au-pair after all because she "has to" eat pasta every day at lunchtime or she gets ill.

TondelayoSchwarzkopf · 27/02/2011 18:04

TBH, apart from the odd occasion, I have never seen this 'British abroad' stereotype IRL. Most people I know are pretty adventurous and my family will try anything (apart from my mum - she won't eat sushi or drink tap water anywhere outside the UK Hmm)

I mean even the smallest village has a thai / indian / chinese these days.

bumblingbovine · 27/02/2011 18:07

Bucharest

Absolutely, Many adult Italians have the eating habits of fussy UK toddlers. And they have the added issue of knowing "absolutely" that it is not possible to eat well anywhere other than in Italy.

Don't get me wrong Italian food is lovely often but after a few weeks I get a bit bored of it and crave something different. Most Italians eat like toddlers. They like white pasta and rice (in admitedly lovely sauces), cheese, nothing too spicy, and quite plainly cooked vegetables and meat and also fruit (admittedly good quality usually but well just a bit dull after a while)

penguin73 · 27/02/2011 18:08

After a school trip to Barcelona we had a formal complaint made to the Governors that we failed to look after some pupils properly because we wouldn't cancel the meals booked at local restaurants (which were all pre-booked and paid for) and take them to the McDonalds which was next to the hotel. Some pupils had no interest in trying anything remotely different (even the chips looked 'funny') or learning about the food. Very sad.

Chil1234 · 27/02/2011 18:10

Garlic?... Bread?....

Olessaty · 27/02/2011 18:14

I've only been on holiday twice, and I have to say I loved the food. All the fresh seafood was gorgeous, and I cannot say how pleasant it was to have everything there cooked for you, no dishes to do, with so much choice and no limits as to what you could put on your plate. I ate so well on holiday.

trixymalixy · 27/02/2011 18:39

DH and I went to the canary islands when we were first together on a really cheap holiday. It was almost impossible to find a restaurant serving local food, everywhere else everything came with chips or all you can eat Chinese buffets that were cold and bleugh.

I really don't understand people that won't try different foods.

5Foot5 · 27/02/2011 18:42

My sister and her DH went on one of those self-drive tours in Europe where the itinerary and accomodation is booked for you and you make your own way from hotel to hotel. This meant that evry night they were with the same group of Brits. She said one large group were always complaining about the "foreign" food until one night one of them managed to obtain a large tin of ham. That evening in the dining room they ignored the food brought out and proceeded to pass the tin of ham around the table loudly commenting on how good it was to get some proper food at last. Shock

diabolo · 27/02/2011 19:02

I always avoid anywhere abroad that advertises "Irish Pub" or "English Food" - if I wanted that on holiday then I'd stay in England. I love the Balearic Islands, but always stay as far away as possible from resorts that English people go to. Bizarrely it is recommended, even there, that you buy bottled water! I figure that if the tap water is good enough for the local Spanish population to drink then it won't do me any harm.

My own mother/father won't eat curry, Chinese food or even Italian as its "foreign". As soon as I started work and was earning my own money I would go out to as many restaurants of different nationalities as I could find - just to try something that wasn't pork chop, peas and mashed potatoes.

I totally agree with you OP - why bother going on holiday if you won't even eat the food.

MangoTango · 27/02/2011 19:13

I went to a hotel in Menorca that served food similar to what you describe; really lovely, but I remember seeing a guy helping himself to chicken nuggets and chips from the kids' buffet every day! Seems such a shame for people to have such narrow, crap tastes and miss out on all that lovely fresh, healthy food. Yoh have to feel for the hotel staff who have gone to all that effort to prepare such delicious varied food, only to have people complain becasue they want chicken nuggets!

exoticfruits · 27/02/2011 19:13

One of the joys of going abroad is the local food-I run a mile from English-I can have it at home.

Tortington · 27/02/2011 19:15

i want sugar from holiday food.

in the days before redundancy i arranged lots and lots of conferences - these were meant to be information exchanges for the participants.

when asked what they thought of the conference - the ABSOLUTE success depended on whether they liked the catering.

ALL they would comment on was the food

MissyKLo · 27/02/2011 19:20

Where did you go? Name? Ta!

exoticfruits · 27/02/2011 19:21

I was very proud of DS (aged 6 in France) who always chose the greenest, smelliest cheese!

diabolo · 27/02/2011 19:24

exotic my DS is the same - bring on the smelliest Camembert or the greenest Stilton and he'll lap it up.

But he wont eat prawns. Sad

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