Beans on toast

[cosmolinguist]

The first time I saw baked beans in Britain, they were on toast and Andrew was eating them. I thought there was something wrong with them; I'm used to baked beans being of a somewhat different color and texture. (And even so, I don't really think of the canned ones when I think of "baked beans", I think of how my grandma adds molasses and brown sugar and other things to the canned stuff ... my dad and I always request that she make that when we have barbecues at our house because we both love them so much, and my mom only gives us the stuff out of a can.) Baked beans here are just beans in tomato sauce. They look sort of pale and weak.

Beans and toast are eaten with a knife and fork. I'm not very good at it; I tend to just sort of make a mess. I don't have the flawless grace that can only come with years of experience and thinking this is normal food. I just sort of push it around the plate until it's in small enough pieces that I can shove it into my mouth. It gets a bit easier if I don't worry about eating the beans and toast in the same bite. Hence, I don't like to eat this when people are around and might see me.

(Crosslink: internetsdairy's brain uses Microsoft color schemes.)

Comments

[sporksoma.livejournal.com]

That sounds like an absolutely disgusting meal. Yuck.

Now I definately know that we'll be bringing our own food. And our own space-time continuum, thank you very much.

[cosmolinguist]

It's not disgusting. It's not the most interesting thing ever, but then I tend to like spicy food (which is to be found in Britain, in great and tasty quantities, but not in this house, because Andrew only likes bread and lumps of meat and chocolate).

[comradexavier.livejournal.com]

You should sneak out, sometime, acquire various kinds of peppers and spices, bring them back and saturate all of the food with them. Then he'll have no choice but to develop a taste for spicy food because the alternative would be to not eat anything.

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

It's tasty!

Especially if it's beans on toast, with a poached egg and some cheese (which will of course, melt onto the beans).

Plus lots of tobasco sause and worcheshire sauce. Yum!

But I didn't notice the beans being different from the beans here.

[cosmolinguist]

They may not be; you also come from a strange foreign country (and, as Andrew says, Canada's almost British (this was his excuse for why I can't be Canadian), maybe that extends to beans as well). And like I said, I know my idea of baked beans is odd; it's usually pork'n'beans.

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

There was a quote I read once, from the turn of last century about Canada, by a person who's name I cannot remember. "Canadians must spend so much time explaining to Americans that we're not British, and to the British that we're not American that we have so little time to be Canadian" or something to that effect.

Pork n' Beans? Can't say I've ever tried that. =P

[cosmolinguist]

They just put bacon in with the beans. Helps a lot, in my opinion.

[angel-thane.livejournal.com]

Ahh see, over here, we use cut up hotdogs. Can't really say it's a favourite of mine.

[sporksoma.livejournal.com]

I'll definately give it a try, because its not fair not to, but we're still bringing our own food.

[kennedybak.livejournal.com]

Britain eats something like 80% of the world's baked beans. There was a chart somewhere showing that we collectively eat about eighteen times the amount of our nearest competitor.

I can't stand them.

[cosmolinguist]

There was a chart somewhere showing that we collectively eat about eighteen times the amount of our nearest competitor.

That's the sort of research that must be really fun to do. :-) Imagine the fascination for baked beans that some people must have.