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

[Notcontent]

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 thin it might be down to the rise of the pub, way back when.

Here in the UK socialising isn't done around the table (where good food is a must), as it is in many other countries. Food here is just viewed as fuel to get you down the boozer and able to handle more beer. Thats my theory anyway!!!!!

I think I was one of these that thread is about. I would say chickpeas, hummus, honey are posher foods in this country. They aren't foods people in my area would eat/have ever tried. I didn't say porridge is posh!

Oatcakes I have never seen but it appears these are a scottish thing according to the thread.

"But former babe have you decided that your children's friend hasn't had roast chicken because she's poor?

Nope they are not poor as far as I can tell....I would say it has more to do with poor cooking skills and knowledge rather than actual money. Cooking is a class issue in itself. Actually cooking and reading seem to be the preserve of the middle classes."

I couldn't disagree more with that. The snobbish Mn version of middle class (which appears to be any homeowner with a degree and a job rather than middle class in the classical sense) vs the MN version of working class (Jezza Kyle) isn't a reflection of reality at all. Reading cook books and cooking is in No way a middle class persuit.

Neither Staffordshire nor Derbyshire oatcakes are a Scottish thing unsurprisingly.

Some of the things on that thread I have never seen in rl at all. Kale for instance. I have never seen anyone eatsquash. I have never tried a blueberry. I really don't think it is that rare as I don't think I have ever seen anyone else do this in rl.

I doubt it's a value judgement thing though. I'd bet my life that statistically, recipe books and cooking from scratch are heavily MC pursuits in Britain today.

As opposed to two generations ago when things were v different.

That's not to say that loads of WC don't cook, or that loads of MC people, myself included, don't eat oven chips on a regular basis.

This reminds me of that joke about the (out of touch) politician who made the effort to go and visit his very working class constituency one evening, on the advice of his colleagues...show it's not us and them, etc etc, down with the ordinary folk.

Part of the walkaround was a visit to the local chip shop.

He was feeling confident as he ordered plaice and chips, and decided he felt rather at home after all as he peered at the mushy peas, announcing 'Oh - and bung in some of that guacamole, if you wouldn't mind'

I know its not supposed to be all about me, but i have lost a good lot of weight (think stones, rather than pounds) but choosing all my favourite biscuits in the supermarket, then leaving them in the food bank collection point. Win win all round.

Its great, sometimes i choose kids biscuits, other times mire adult ones. I figure no one who is not slimming will nit be happy to be given biscuits.

I'm sorry but there is no way. The BBC wouldn't commission so many cookery programmes, chefs wouldn't sell so many cookbooks, if cooking where a persuit of only the middle class minority.

It's just not the case. All over the country you'll find cookery books. Hairdressers/ call centre workers/ shop assistants all buying cook books and watching cookery programmes. Not as many of you are as middle class as you think. Working class people are just like you are you

This is why everyone laughed at Peter Kay with the garlic bread and cheesecake. That's the kind of thing my nan would have said. I'm not that bad!

Just been checking out the fb thread had to stop reading! Disgusting attitudes there!

Anastasie, I believe that wasn't a joke. It really happened. To Peter Mandelson

Posted before I'd finished grr

Being a scot porridge oat cakes and honey all normal food consumed largely by the poor here!

As a Uni educated professionally qualified but currently on benefits lp no idea what class I'm meant to be!

Class obsession definitely a problem in uk but ime seems to be more of an issue in some parts than others (military brat lived all over!)

Oh really? LOL. I did wonder where I had heard it.

This thread is hilarious. Porridge and chickpeas are some of the cheapest staples around, and therefore presumably for people on all incomes. Honey.. is that expensive in some areas? I never would have thought of it as posh. Curiouser and curiouser. :)

But it's not just about cost, it's about cooking skills as well.

I think it's disingenuous to claim that there's no such thing as "posh" food in this country. Ok, things like chickpeas and hummus are staples in other countries but to many people in the U.K., they are exotic and not part of the daily diet.

Most people round here do not buy that type of food but instead eat the kind of food that is sold in school canteens or small supermarkets. People eat breakfast cereal, beans on toast, sausages, frozen pizzas etc because that's what they were brought up on. I for one would have had to look up a recipe for how to cook porridge or what to do with chickpeas. I think for many people cooking is a skill that has been lost and they don't have the time or inclination to branch out into "posh" food.

When I have been skint I would just have 20p supernoodles, toast and jam or just butter. I wouldn't bother with the fruit but would give the kids a tin of something to share. That would only come to about a pound you sorted the lot of you out for the day.

I think travel is a factor too.

Princess, can you please explain how you got into a situation where you only had £7 a week to spend on food for several of you? I am a lone parent too. I had been fortunate to have the cushion of some savings to cover me several times. I lead a frugal life to build back the cushion each time, never have things been that frugal.

It is no good saying foods were different years back imo. Apparently chicken kiev was the first ready meal for m and s. I saw it on tv and they charged £8.95 for it! They are 2 for £1 in iceland now, and you can even get different fillings inside them. I love them.

Flapjacks are posh?

They aren't for me howtorebuild as we both work full time. I am just saying what I would do if I lost my job or there was a delay in benefits.

So you have money managemennt skills Howtorebuild? You know how to cook? You have been brought up on these things like kale and oatcakes? You have never had your hb or your benefits checked an stopped for ages? You are able to cope now there are no crisis loans? You have money on the electric? That is more than a lot of people.

Surely you all must know people who can't do or are not able to do these things easily??