Gold Foodies – Interview On Childhood Food Britain – Sinead

Hello, you're listening to Gold Foodies with me, Malak Obedi on women's radio station. And I've got a really exciting show for you guys today because I'm here with a good friend of mine, Sinead, and we're gonna be talking all about British cultural food. Hey, Sinead. Hello. Thank you for being here. Giving myself an applause. Yeah, there you go. Got a little applause for you guys. I wish we had those little buttons that you can press. Pause. Happening. Well, Sinead, thank you so much for being on the show with me today. The reason why I'm so excited, I feel like I need to explain myself is because I love. I. We're talking about childhood food here and I just love nostalgic. Just remembering all of the memories that we had, you know, growing up, talking about food. Lunch dinners. Lunch dinners. School lunch. School lunches. Or is it school dinners? What would they call it? Well, I was. School dinners. We had school lunches. That's the thing. I don't know if it's like where we both come from. It's different, isn't it? Because I call lunch dinner. Really? Yeah. That's interesting. I don't know why. Why did that come to be. It's weird because at school you had. It was lunch. They called it school dinners, didn't they? But you had it at like one o'. Clock. So that's why I call them lunch dinners. Because they're not lunch and they're not dinner either. So it just doesn't matter. It's like dinner meals at lunchtime. Do you remember when we used to get the trays and just go up and then when you paid for school. School dinners, that. That was the best thing ever. I couldn't stand school dinners. This is what I want to talk about because I remember you telling me about this and I. I was. I'm just shocked. I can't believe it. Because I love school dinners. Especially the. The cake and custard. Oh, the best. No, I. I can't stand it. It doesn't make sense to me. It's disgusting. It's like the best dessert you can have at school. It's just the consistency. I think also what I found with particularly British food. I'm not Irish descent as well. Like with the name Sinead. Right. Everything's fairly dry and bland. So when you merge two different sort of. What's the word for it? It has two different textures. Yes, that's. That's for sure. They're very opposite textures. It's definitely kind of freaks me out a little bit. Like the gooey, slimy texture of the. Of the custard. And then you've got the cakey, fluffy texture of cake. No. Yeah. My mum. My mum tried to give it to my two nephews, who are very picky eaters. Anyway, they're two boys as well, so. And they always get what they want because, you know, they're at nanny's house and she tried to give them cake and custard the other day. And because I was like, that is literally the most disgusting thing I've ever seen, they refuse to touch it. Really. She had to go and get McFlurries. Okay, you know what? That is an upgrade. That is so. That would be so, so good if we had that at school. Just a McFlurry and then an apple pie stuck to it. Exactly. That's like childhood McDonald's dessert right there. Exactly. Just get a McFlurry and then break up an apple pie, stick it in the McFlurry and you're good to go. Right, so we'll. We'll be talking a bit more about your upbringing as well, actually, because you're saying that you're Irish descent and I. I find that really interesting because it's like, you've grown up. Where have you grown up? Well, I come from. Well, I was born in Southampton. Right. But because, like, my biological dad and his family come from southern Ireland, so I was over there, like, you know, for basically the majority of, like, until I started school, really. So it was very much in. It is a totally different culture to British food and stuff like that. Like, if you walk into, like, if I walked into my granny's house in Ireland, she'd have to put on a spread. If you walk in straight away, she'd have to put on, like, the cup of teas, the. Oh, that's so sweet. Yeah. Like, have to make sandwiches and stuff like that. Even if you, like, literally you were going around visiting, every single person would do that. So you'd feel absolutely sick at the end of it. Oh, it's such nice hospitality. Just. Just coming. Coming into the house and seeing everything just set out there ready for you. Exactly. And then obviously in Britain, it's kind of like, do you want a cup of tea? Yeah, yeah. Do you want a biscuit? Right, right. You'll saw it. It's just here and there, to be honest. Exactly. Is this what you want? Okay, you have that. Yeah, exactly. But. And it's interesting because a lot of people, when you think about Ireland, you think about in terms of food, Potatoes? Yeah. Everyone just. That's like the, the quick assumption that we all have about island. What do you think about that? Well, it is traditionally I Britain actually. It's all meat, potatoes and veg. So I think it kind of resonates from like, it's more simplistic, like where I was bought, where I lived. When I, I was in Ireland, I was like 15 miles away from a shop, so. 15 miles? Yeah. It's complete nightmare for me and my brother when we were kind of teenagers and like trying to get a signal for our phones and stuff. Growing up here, you got Sainsbury's around every corner, completely different. You just need to, to walk two steps and you're good to go. What about the, the lunches and dinners that you had growing up in, in, in Ireland? It's all homemade. Everything is like every scone, everything. Like, it's all homemade. The bread's homemade. You know, you, you get it traditionally. You get like your ham and stuff from like a specific, like, independent shop. It's totally different to here, like, where everything is like, you can just walk into a shop, you can just buy yourself some microwavable meals for ex. Like how we were talking about school dinners and stuff. Like, one thing that I detested when I was a kid over here in England was the, the mash that we'd have with our school dinners. The instant mash. I hated it. Speaking of, I, I want to talk more about the traditional cultural food that we have and especially bangers and mash. And we'll. We'll talk about that in a bit. Oh, yeah. Welcome back to Gold Foodies with me Malak. You're listening to women's radio station and we are talking about British cult, the foods that we loved growing up and the foods that are so popular till now. And Sinead and I were talking about bangers and mash, and that's really interesting because I found a really cool fact recently about bangers and mash. Now, obviously, mash. You know what mash is, right? Yeah. Everyone knows what mash is. The best side to any dish, completely. Right. It depends how you make it though, because my Auntie Kerry actually cannot make mash to save her life. Like, she actually just physically can't do it. It's so weird. How is that possible? I don't know, but I've just shouted her out as a terrible, so let's hope she's not listening. Sorry, Andy. Gary. I mean, it can be hard for some people. I mean, the mashing part is the hardest part for me. I hate mashing. Yeah. The potatoes. See, I find that quite therapeutic, really. Yeah. Because it's like you're just like sort of. And you can imagine someone's head being under it. Exactly, exactly. Or like a theorist. You're trying to get. Get into an essay or something. That's a good point. I'm gonna start seeing it in that way. Every time I try to mash a potato, I'm just gonna think of, like, something terrible and just get all my. My energy out. So my. My fact that I found out recently was the bangers that side of this meal. Right. So where. Where does that word come from, do you know? I've. I've got a feeling it might be something like cockney ryman slang. Okay. Well, I mean, typically we would assume that bangers is just like. Yeah. Like a slang word for sausages. Right. But where did that name come from? It goes all the way back to the 20th century, World War I. Right. Basically, after war, sausages were rationed and there wasn't enough to go out for everyone. So in order to continue producing sausages and get, you know, get more meat that they. They would want, what they would do is they would use cheap fillers, like cheap kind of meat that you would make sausages with and a lot of water when you make the sausages. And that caused them to actually pop and explode really violently when it was being made in the cooking pan. So it. That was where the name bangers came from, because people making them used to be, you know, calling them bangers because of the noises that they would make when they would cook them. Well, very interesting, isn't it? You learn something new every day that is so crazy. And it's something that you wouldn't really assume. It's like. It's a. It's a word that was given to it while it was being produced. Yeah. Not afterwards. Yeah, it's very interesting. And I actually learned about bangers and mash. This is really weird, but I learned about it from the Beano comics. Do you remember be. No. Yes, I do. They used to eat bangers and mash every single comic. I don't know why. That was, like their statement food that they would have in every single. It was. Oh, I can't remember his name. It was, I think, his dog. Oh, oh, Dennis the Menace's dog. Is that what his name was? Basher? So, yeah. And also they had. Because they had the school story with the school kids, and they were really misbehaving that those School, secondary school kids, and they would have bangers and mash for lunch. And I was like, you know what? I want that in my school. Lunch, dinner. We never had bangers and mash at school. No, I mean mash. Surprised thing in school dinners, wasn't it? Yes, it was mash was with everything. And we had a little bit of gravy on it. That was nice. Yeah. And mushy peas. I miss those days. But as I said, it's instant mash. I couldn't stand it. Right. I just. Oh, how is instant mash made? Is it powdered? It's just powder and water. Oh, no. So beans. Also a statement piece in food, British cultural, you know, meals that we have. And there's another fact that I found out about beans on toast, because I wanted to know, where is it from? From everyone's having it all the time, especially us students. When you're. Or when you're working full time, you've got no time to make food. So you just pop a can of beans onto toast and. Or buttered toast, even, and that's your meal. Yeah. Or breakfast. So I wanted to know where this is coming from. How did it become such a popular meal in homes? Right. So I found out that it's also from after the war, but this is after the. In 1920s. Right. So both beans and bread was the cheapest thing that they could buy. So what they. So families decided what the best thing to do would be to put the two together. And obviously, because with the rations and stuff, that was the cheapest thing to get. So it was easy, it was cheap and it was really filling for them as well. So that became the most popular quick and easy dish that you can make. And I think that's probably why the student. Students these days have adopted it completely. And that's all we eat, really. Literally. And that was all that I used to eat around my nan and granddad's house. Really? Yeah. Because obviously, like my mom be like, I'm only cooking for. Yeah, I'm only cooking for Sinead. Like, I don't need it. So, yeah, quick and easy. Might as well just. Yeah, get yourself a can of beans. I mean, my cupboard always has millions of tins of beans. I'm specific about the kind of beans that I have, though. Really? Yeah. Is it the make that you're specific about? Oh, interesting. I mean, I'll just get any. That's like the cheapest brand. I don't know. I think it's. Do you think the taste is different? Yeah. And I think I've been quite spoiled, so. Okay, I get what you mean. I mean, I'm pretty sure the prices of beans have gone up. Oh, yeah. Which does not make sense to me. I mean, it was the cheapest thing that we could eat and now it's not even cheap anymore. It's like that with Freddo's, though. Oh, no, don't. Don't talk to me about Freddy's. They were the. The one chocolate bar that I could afford when I was growing up and now I can't afford them. Yeah, the exact same. They're so expensive. Only 90s kids remember when they were 10p, right. And then. No, they were even 5p before they. Yeah, I remember that. Just. Just slowly going up. Just. They thought that we wouldn't notice. That's probably why they thought, you know, if we just slowly raised the price over the years, no one would know. Welcome back to Gold Foodies on Women's Radio station. I'm Malik and I'm here with Sinead. Hey. Hello. Thank you for joining us again. Oh, yeah. Another APPLAUSE of course. We've got to have that. So we were talking about famous British cultural food that we love growing up. And I wanted to review a place, actually, because I went to Southend by the Sea on the weekend, right. And fish and chips is the. You get the best fish and chips when you go to a seaside city. So, you know Brighton, Weymouth. Yeah. And you've got. So South End by the sea. The first time I ever went. And it was one of the best experiences ever. It was kind of like a relaxing little getaway from the city life of London. And I mean, London has some nice chippies, they've got nice chip places. But it's just. It's just the fact that it's become really commercialized and very expensive these days when you go into the center of London. So I guess the reason why I went to Southend was to get a good cheap meal of fish and chips. And I. Oh, they delivered. It was so good. So I got myself a side of chips, right. And I asked for melted cheese and gravy all over. And it was the. One of the best meals I've ever had of fish and chips. And then obviously a huge filet of cod. And I'm obsessed with tartar sauce. I don't know about you. Oh, yeah. Are you. Are you a tartar person? Yeah, but only with, like, scampi. It's really weird because I think southern fish and chips and stuff is completely different to normal. Do you Think so, yeah. Because. Because I wouldn't have like we like. I don't think gravy and cheese and stuff is sort of like something you'd instantly put on them. Right. No, that was just my. When I saw it on the menu as a side, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna have to have that on my, on my plate. No, no one else was doing it. But I just become so obsessed with gravy and cheese on my chips now that I had to have it. Kind of changing the tradition a little bit. It's a bit of a twist to tradition but I, I can't see, I can't have scampi so. Cuz I just find it really strong. Oh, do you? Yeah, I'm a bit put off by scampi. I don't know. But yeah, no, I'm. I'm obsessed with tartar sauce and I always have a jar of it in my fridge just in case I'm going to have fish ever. I hardly ever have fish at home cuz I just can't. Yeah. Don't have the time or money anymore. But yeah, I. So obviously I had a big plate of, of cod and chips and I just smothered tarsa sauce all over it and it was one of the best, best things ever. And it's really interesting because actually the first shop in the UK selling fish and chips was in the 1860s in Lancashire and at the same time there was the first one ever in London as well. And there was kind of a competition between the two because obviously depending on location, you're trying to think about which one is going to be better than one Lancashire, the one in London. Yeah. Based on population. So it was. Yeah, it was pretty interesting. I mean I feel like this is a very factual show today. I've got, I've got all the facts coming out. So what, what is your experience with fish and chips growing up? Well, I think as you said, it's a typical British like thing. You have it on a Friday night as well. But my granddad was very particular about where he got his fish and chips from. How come? I've literally got no idea. He. He'd say, you know, you go somewhere else, it doesn't taste the same. Do you get what I mean? So like if he basically had the time on a Friday, he would drive about half an hour away from Southampton to go to a place. Yeah. Specifically make the effort to go out of his way just to get a good fish and chip. Literally jump on the M27 and everything to specifically get fish and chips in neon Salem, which is, like, just on the outskirts of Portsmouth. Nice. So went into the forbidden land as well. But I, like, I've. I've carried it on, like. So if, like, I went home a few weeks ago and I was like, oh, I want to get fish and chips. Yeah, let's go, Leon Solent. So it's. It's very. It's very peculiar. Like, it's you. It shows how important it is to get a good dose of your fish and chips completely. And it's, like, about. I don't know, it was weird with my granddad. It was about, like, trusting that they were gonna do it right, if that makes sense. Yeah. I mean, I feel like back in the days, quality was so important. Now it's just, like, you know, whatever's cheaper. Yeah. I mean, in my. In my mind, that's how it goes. But, like, I. Again, I've been quite lucky to just be near the sea all of my life, so. So, like, fish and chips by the sea is always way better. Exactly. That's exactly what it is. I completely agree. So, okay, last and final question. This is the most important question, I think. Oh, what is your favorite growing up and now statement? British food, aside from Freddo, of course. Because Freddo has to be, like, number one. Definitely. When it was 5p. Yeah, when it was 5p. Fredo, if you're listening, it's got to be the rice dinner, hasn't it? Oh, yeah. Sunday roast. Yes, 100%. It's also interesting because it's not just about the food itself. It's about what it does to people when you're having it. Because it's all about family, bringing people together. Well, particularly where, like, my family, it's like an event like, who's doing roast dinner on a Sunday? You know what I mean? As you said, it's not just about what's on your plate. Yeah. It's about who's with you and also who roasts the potatoes. Because again, my Auntie Kerry, she's not very good at it. Oh, you're poor, Auntie Kerry. I feel really bad for her. I really hope she's not listening because I don't want to break anyone's heart today. Well, maybe just make sure that she stays completely away from any potatoes. Maybe. Yeah. Well, my fish and chips meal, I'm gonna make sure that you can see that on the website. Head to womansradiostation.com and you can follow us on Twitter omansradiostn. Thank you so much, Sinead, for joining me today. No, thank you for having me.