To not understand why food is such a class issue in the UK????

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This is prompted by the food bank thread in Chat. If you haven't read it, it's basically various posters claiming that porridge and honey are "posh" foods that "normal" people don't eat...

Anyway, I have lived in the UK for over a decade and still don't understand this obsession with categorising food in such a way. What is the origin of it? Many of the foods considered "posh" are basic foods which normal people around the world have eaten for hundreds or thousands of years, and are still eating them.

Why are chick peas sneered at while baked beans are ok?

Why do people prefer to give their kids cornflakes and think that having porridge is something to laugh about?

I just use the bowl I'm planning to eat the porridge from, I don't have a special microwave bowl bought especially for the purpose of making porridge.

My gran sincerely believes that every food item requires dedicated, unique equipment for serving in. Her life was mainly spent collecting vouchers to send away for 'cornflakes bowls', 'margarine dishes' and the like.

I've inherited her Ryvita tin :)

But mostly, food can be heated and served in anything.

I'd like a comprehensive list of "posh" foods and one of banned foods just so I know....

I never microwave porridge as it goes everywhere. DH likes the individual flavoured sachets. Is that ok? We have National Trust membership and everything.

DP likes the flavoured stuff too. He's a fuckwit. He walks past the maple syrup in our cupboards to get to the maple flavoured porridge he has purchased at insane markup. Meanwhile I'm scarfing down the real deal for 4p.

But I concede that the flavoured pots are ideal for stays in the Premier Inn. Who needs to get dressed and go down to eat breakfast with a bunch of salesmen from Kidderminster when you can stay in bed with hot porridge and Everyone Loves Raymond.

You should compile it, shrunken, to save everyone fretting about their déclassé diets and whether their fridge contents convey the right level of superiority.

Here's one to start you off, of The Cavendish:

Anchovies
Beetroot
Eels
Fajita
Fois Gras
Halloumi
Hummus
Mozzarella
Pesto
Quails Eggs
Quinoa
Risotto
Rocket
Sea Bass
Smoked Salmon
Sushi

I do feel I must stress that I've just had a lovely persimmon. They're 3 for 59p at Aldi. Does this make me posh (exotic fruit) or scum (cheap)? I feel an identity crisis coming on!

damn. courtesy of The Cavendish

Hatethis - tricky! I reckon the NT pass just about neutralises the ready oats. You got away with it this time

That reminds me Garlick, of that thing in Closer magazine were a Zzzzz list celeb lets them have a look in their fridge. It's so boring because they're all the same, lots of protein and fruit and veg, with a small amount of high cocoa solid content dark chocolate. They obviously just get the stuff in especially to look good.

I really wish they'd go round and do unannounced inspections sometimes, I bet they'd all be full of Cheese strings and Pot Noodles.

I bet there are no mouldy leftovers or small pools of unidentified sticky stuff in those fridges, Booyaka

Green and blacks was better before Cadbury messed with it.

howtorebuild I have to agree with you, but it's still better than a lot of the mass market chocolate out there. Hotel Chocolat do amazing stuff, but it is rather expensive and firmly in the once in a blue moon category.

Where on earth has this idea that porridge is difficult to make come from? I don't measure it, I just tip some oats and some milk into a bowl and bung it in the microwave for two minutes. I like my porridge runny so put lots of milk in it.

I also know how to use tomato passata, I'm not a great cook but give me some pasta and a few other bits and I can make something that tastes nice. (I think baking anything other than scones is beyond me because then I have to measure things properly! shudder Scones are pretty easy to chuck together through.)

If I put porridge into a microwave Bad Things Happen. It goes everywhere and raw oats end up welded to the inside.

Pmsl @ 'bad things happen'

Porridge isn't posh. Hth

Is snail porridge posh?

Possibly posh, definitely vomit worthy.

What about truffle and fois gras porridge?

I'm apparently common as I don't like olives. Vile things unless made into oil.

I grew up working class on a council estate, and food was whatever was cheapest and filling. Plenty of porridge, homemade lentil soup and pasta sauces made from a tin of tomatoes and a tin of chickpeas. I don't see why any of that is "posh". We didn't have processed food much as it was expensive, but if things like tinned soup or cornflakes were on offer then we'd have that.

Now, I've got a MC job but I'm not rich (I'm a teacher). I eat similar things to the homemade food mentioned above, but I can afford a bit more variation, like chucking some olives or sundried tomatoes into my pasta sauce. I still don't like wasting money on things like Dolmio when I can make it cheaper myself.

"The poor" aren't a mass of hideous people living on e numbers - they are normal and have variance like the MC. Likewise, plenty of MC people eat processed junk. When I grew up on the council estate, everyone was hard up but people had time as most mums stayed at home. Most middle class families I know have two working parents, and buy processed food because they'd rather spend time with their children in the evening than spend it stuck in the kitchen.

If you are really posh you don't have porridge which is carbs or honey whichi s sugar. You have a proper normal English posh breakfast which was always things like eggs, kippers etc i.e. protein may be with some tomatoes.

Only the proles make with the carbs and sugars at breakfast.

you eat whatever the hell you want.

I'd have thought instant porridge pots are the best for a food bank. Very quick and easy to prepare, no additional bits needed, minimal energy use. You don't even need to own bowls or spoons (any implement can be used to stir and you can drink them if they are made runny enough).

If this post by the OP is true, then we are surrounded by some very deluded people. Am I the only one annoyed at some peoples silly ideas about porridge and honey, that it's for posh people? Maybe this is an April Fools ... And seriously posh people and posh food?... Do these people know what's happening in the rest of the world? What a load of nonsense. ????

Compared to some countries in the world every food available in this country is posh. Seriously some people need to wake up. I don't know why but this annoys me that this conversation even exists.

Actually cooking and reading seem to be the preserve of the middle classes

Er...reading? Not just reading about cooking but general reading? ?
Oh my. That's reminds me of someone I met at college years ago who told me that class was all about education (with the middle being better educated) ironically he was thick as two short planks.