4 ms·

About a year ago I visited the UK, London to be precises. I came all the long way from mainland Europe. To prepare for the next day I wanted to by some bread.

About a year ago I visited the UK, London to be precises. I came all the long way from mainland Europe. To prepare for the next day I wanted to by some bread. Compared what I was used to, the shopping mall was huge, and apparently open 24/7. I was looking for some bread and found a long aisle with all the bread London had to offer. But it was all white and squishy .. and not what I was used to [0] I went back on forth to see If I maybe overlooked something. Nope. I found a WholeFoods, which sold what I wanted. But most of it was gluten free and kinda expensive. TL;DR: Visited UK, got culture shocked by them not having the bread I wanted. [0] https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Vaasan_Jyv%C3%A4viipaleet.jpg/1920px-Vaasan_Jyv%C3%A4viipaleet.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Va...

ionised 8y ago
You can find good bread in the UK, but not in a supermarket. Same with most food actually.
peteri 8y ago
Sadly a lot of supermarket bread is made using the Chorleywood process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process Smaller bakeries will have a wider range of bread types and in my area the local shop will sell polish style rye breads and Caribbean breads (usually sweeter and denser) The dark bread you have in your picture is available in London but can be a bit tricky to find (I would expect larger supermarkets to stock it) It's also not too difficult to get middle eastern flat breads with a little bit of searching.
firmgently 8y ago
"a long aisle with all the bread London had to offer." - to be fair it sounds like that's what a single shop had to offer. But it is true that the majority of bread sold in the UK is terrible (made cheaply following the Chorleywood process as mentioned in a sibling comment). The bread in your picture looks like some kind of pumpernickel or rye - most supermarkets have that - the German ones (Lidl/Aldi) do for sure. London isn't culturally homogenised (although certain central parts are a bit, especially the touristy areas). You can find all kinds of exotic and amazing foods in London - in part because there are many many different immigrant communities scattered around the various boroughs. But you aren't going to find them in one day, or in a supermarket or shopping mall, so it's not a quick or easy thing for someone on a short visit. Even living there for years a lot of people end up getting intimate with what's available in 2 or 3 boroughs and miss out on everything else.
Jaruzel 8y ago
UK supermarkets (Morrison, Sainsburys, Waitrose, Asda, Tesco) are the worse places to find proper good food. The European supermarket chains (Lidl, Aldi) which also have UK stores, are much better for food varieties. However, for the BEST meat, fish, veg, cheese, and bread... you need to hunt out farmers markets, or if you are in central London, head down to Borough Market[1] on Saturday mornings. -- [1] http://boroughmarket.org.uk/ http://boroughmarket.org.uk/
- monsieurbanana 8y ago
  What? I love Tesco! I'm french, living in the UK for half a year now. Tesco has such a high variety of fresh salads, fleshly cut fruits/vegetables... The convenience of going to Tesco and buying precut ingredients WITHOUT an horrible premade sauce smeared all over them is something I'll miss going back to France. This is from the point of view of a single young professional that hates spending too much time cooking but at the same time wants to do it for health reasons.
- Mashimo 8y ago
  Yeah, it was Tesco. Went to a marked the next day. Just found it funny that a country that is 30 minutes away does not have "real" bread in the large supermarked :D
  - scatters 8y ago
    Wheat grows well in the UK, so there's no tradition of making bread from rye. There is choice, but between white, wholemeal and whole grain wheat bread. You should usually find rye bread in the allergies/restricted diet section, as a gluten free option, but it won't be fresh. Maybe fresh rye bread if you're in a German/Eastern European dominated area.
Symbiote 8y ago
Rye bread is fairly unusual in the UK, but I don't think you can criticize the country for that. Do they sell it in France or Spain? Tesco has some [0]. Most British bread is closer to the French style than the Germanic style. The majority of [1] has a hard crust but a squashy middle, like a baguette. We should criticize most of [2] (the ones wrapped in film), this is the Chorleywood process bread where the whole thing is squashy. (Links are to Tesco, but for anyone that does visit, Waitrose is the highest quality national, large supermarket.) [0] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=rye%20bread https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=rye%20bre... [1] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/from-our-bakery/bread-from-our-bakery https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/from-our-b... [2] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/bread-and-rolls/all?aisle=White%20Bread&viewAll=aisle https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/bread-and-...

ionised 8y ago

You can find good bread in the UK, but not in a supermarket. Same with most food actually.

peteri 8y ago

Sadly a lot of supermarket bread is made using the Chorleywood process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorleywood_bread_process Smaller bakeries will have a wider range of bread types and in my area the local shop will sell polish style rye breads and Caribbean breads (usually sweeter and denser) The dark bread you have in your picture is available in London but can be a bit tricky to find (I would expect larger supermarkets to stock it) It's also not too difficult to get middle eastern flat breads with a little bit of searching.

firmgently 8y ago

"a long aisle with all the bread London had to offer." - to be fair it sounds like that's what a single shop had to offer. But it is true that the majority of bread sold in the UK is terrible (made cheaply following the Chorleywood process as mentioned in a sibling comment). The bread in your picture looks like some kind of pumpernickel or rye - most supermarkets have that - the German ones (Lidl/Aldi) do for sure. London isn't culturally homogenised (although certain central parts are a bit, especially the touristy areas). You can find all kinds of exotic and amazing foods in London - in part because there are many many different immigrant communities scattered around the various boroughs. But you aren't going to find them in one day, or in a supermarket or shopping mall, so it's not a quick or easy thing for someone on a short visit. Even living there for years a lot of people end up getting intimate with what's available in 2 or 3 boroughs and miss out on everything else.

Jaruzel 8y ago

UK supermarkets (Morrison, Sainsburys, Waitrose, Asda, Tesco) are the worse places to find proper good food. The European supermarket chains (Lidl, Aldi) which also have UK stores, are much better for food varieties. However, for the BEST meat, fish, veg, cheese, and bread... you need to hunt out farmers markets, or if you are in central London, head down to Borough Market[1] on Saturday mornings. -- [1] http://boroughmarket.org.uk/ http://boroughmarket.org.uk/

monsieurbanana 8y ago
What? I love Tesco! I'm french, living in the UK for half a year now. Tesco has such a high variety of fresh salads, fleshly cut fruits/vegetables... The convenience of going to Tesco and buying precut ingredients WITHOUT an horrible premade sauce smeared all over them is something I'll miss going back to France. This is from the point of view of a single young professional that hates spending too much time cooking but at the same time wants to do it for health reasons.
Mashimo 8y ago
Yeah, it was Tesco. Went to a marked the next day. Just found it funny that a country that is 30 minutes away does not have "real" bread in the large supermarked :D
- scatters 8y ago
  Wheat grows well in the UK, so there's no tradition of making bread from rye. There is choice, but between white, wholemeal and whole grain wheat bread. You should usually find rye bread in the allergies/restricted diet section, as a gluten free option, but it won't be fresh. Maybe fresh rye bread if you're in a German/Eastern European dominated area.

Symbiote 8y ago

Rye bread is fairly unusual in the UK, but I don't think you can criticize the country for that. Do they sell it in France or Spain? Tesco has some [0]. Most British bread is closer to the French style than the Germanic style. The majority of [1] has a hard crust but a squashy middle, like a baguette. We should criticize most of [2] (the ones wrapped in film), this is the Chorleywood process bread where the whole thing is squashy. (Links are to Tesco, but for anyone that does visit, Waitrose is the highest quality national, large supermarket.) [0] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=rye%20bread https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/search?query=rye%20bre... [1] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/from-our-bakery/bread-from-our-bakery https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/from-our-b... [2] https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/bread-and-rolls/all?aisle=White%20Bread&viewAll=aisle https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/shop/bakery/bread-and-...