Food

One of the main reasons I decided to study here in England was their great reputation for cooking. Everyone has heard stories about great English food, and loves eating at their local British restaurant... Right? Or maybe I'm thinking of Italy or something...

In all seriousness, British cuisine's less than sterling reputation is a bit unfair. So far, most of the food I've had has been different and enjoyable. In Edinburgh we were treated to two meals as part of the orientation. We had dinner at a nice French restaurant which was in cozy, cellar-like setting. The French waiter jokingly chided me for ordering my steak "medium", which is ironic in Britain where they famously overcook anything. He brought it out rare anyways of course. The following night we ate dinner at a very authentic Indian restaurant. British Indian food is typically accepted as an exception to the bad and boring English fare stereotype, and this may be fair. The food was spectacular. Easily the best Indian food I've ever had.

Of course, dining hall cuisine is a whole different topic. The whole dining hall system here is different than in Santa Cruz, and I would venture, most American dining halls. Rather than whatever you want, whenever you want, the system here is much more structured. Meal times are set: 1 hour each for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner every day. And the fare is not unlimited, you are only allowed 1 main dish and a few sides. It's an adjustment, and I do often find myself hungry, being a physically active person. The food itself however, is decent, if not very British. Meals normally consist of some sort of meat, vegetables, french fries (or "chips") and then at least one more type of potato. They really like their potatoes here.

Outside of the dining hall, I have only tried a few different things here in Durham so far. There are no McDonalds thankfully, but there are at least two Subways. There is a cheap, local bakery which I've popped into a few times to pick up a "pasty" for a snack or light meal. It's just a counter service place, and they put your food in a bag to take to-go. It looks quite like this:

A pasty is basically a sort of meat pie. It has a breaded, pie like crust, and some sort of warm meat, potato or cheese filling. I'm partial to the corned beef and potato ones, but only because they are the cheapest on the menu, at 75 pence. I tried their "chicken bake" pasty today, splurging for the 95p option, and now probably won't be able to go back to the cheap stuff. It was great, basically a chicken pot pie in to-go form. It's the perfect hot and filling snack to eat while walking through the cold streets.

I've been to a few other places, including a corner cafe that stays open very late at night, and is the perfect place to get a late night pizza or side of chips (fries).

However, maybe the most interesting place I've been to is Durham's local Mexican Restaurant. I want with a couple other Californian friends on a night our dining hall was closed for an event. We weren't necessarily craving Mexican already, we were just too surprised and excited to pass this place up. I didn't know there would be any Mexican food in England, let alone in tiny Durham. It turned out to be a bit expensive, the type of place you might bring your parents too if they visited. There was a 25% Durham Uni student discount though, which definitely helped. But onto the important stuff, the food. I ordered enchiladas, thinking that was the quintessential dish I would miss. Of course they came with french fries, not beans and rice. My initial remark to my dining companions after my first bite was, "well... we are pretty far from Mexico". But it wasn't too bad, just distinctly average and not very authentic, though that's hardly surprising. If I ever have a serious craving for Mexican food I know where to go at least...

So if anything, don't worry about me starving on the terrible English food- I'm doing okay. The food is different, and that makes it exciting... for now at least. If anything, worry about me freezing over here, and it's only October. I'll be back with more about the weather tomorrow.