Yo Dawg, I heard you like Vinegar on yo Vinegar

The old adage - that UK has terrible food - really isn't true anymore to a large extent. Foodies and travel shows recently have attested to this fact. I like food. A lot. The tire around my waist attests to this. I've tried and will always try different kinds of foods over here. Sometimes you win (steak & kidney pie, tangy and delicous) and sometimes you lose (undercooked haggis, which gave me E. Coli).

London's strongest card for ethnic food is Indian. It's fantastic. And, justifiably so. The food is being cooked by an Indian who is saying: "this is how I cook in my home country, if you don't like it, don't eat here." And I'm thankful for that. It is miles ahead of anything I've tried in the US and the place near my office has the hottest dish -  a kind of chicken vindaloo - that I've ever had in my life at any restaurant. I cry when I eat it mostly because I get hot oil on my hands and accidentally rub my eyes. But, also b/c damn, it's really that good.

And then, there was vinegar. Chinese and Thai retuarrants should be shut down for their obcene use of malt and other vinegars. I don't mean like they leave a bottle on your table. I mean, they use it in everything. In the US, I'm accustomed to dipping sauces with a soy, rice wine, terryaki, plum sauce, etc. Something indicative of the culture and justifyably pairs well with the food. In the UK, they use vinegar as their base. So, you take your pork dumpling and dip it in a nice crisp, malt vinegar sauce.

The worst meal I had in London was a few months ago. I went to a Thai place and ordered the safe, go-to dish of Pad Thai. You can have some great Pad Thai and some not so good dishes, but nevertheless, it's filling and satisfying. When the food was delivered, it wasn't soy or ginger or scallions that I smelled. It was malt vinegar. The smell was so strong, I tried to eat a bite but just couldn't get past the rancid smell.


Once the sadistic use of vinegar is quelled, I think the Brits are one step closer to getting over the Land of Terrible Food tag.