Lunch is Boring
Today, while munching on a slightly stale Chicken Salad Baguette, I realised just how boring lunch has become. I’m someone who likes to try new food, all the time. I try to have something different every day of the week. It would seem though, I’m very much in the minority. The great British public still seem to like eating Cheese and Pickle sandwiches ad infinitum and as a result, the cafes and supermarkets selling food for lunches throughout the United Kingdom don’t bother being creative in their sandwich making, as there simply isn’t the demand for it.
In my town, there are endless numbers of independent cafes and eateries, each selling more or less the same thing. The most adventurous options include sandwiches containing lettuce, ham, and cheddar cheese. There’s also Coronation Chicken or Chicken Tikka if you’re feeling particularly daring. You might be thinking that that sounds alright, but I think that it lacks imagination. The ham is always the reconstituted sandwich meat variety with plenty of added water, the lettuce is always limp and damp and the cheese is always cheddar. Booooring! In Paris earlier in the year, I had the very same sandwich. However, the ham was proper cuts of meat, the cheese was swiss and full of flavour, the lettuce was crisp and tossed in oil and the dijon mayonnaise added a creamy moistness and a bitter aftertaste that was just lovely. The bread on it’s own would have been a treat.
I remember a few years back, I was in a seaside resort with my mum and dad. Dad fancied a drink, so popped into a nearby cafe and ordered a cappuccino. The lady serving him cracked open an economy-sized tin of cappuccino mix, scooped and few spoonfuls into a mug and added hot water. I watched this happen in horror. I believe the lady behind the counter noticed the horror but I suppose she assumed it had nothing to do with the fact her cappuccino wasn’t a cappuccino. This is the sort of thing that is happening in the UK right now and the British public are accepting it.
It’s not often I’m eating without thinking “Yay, food!”, but today, I got fed up, especially after asking for mayonnaise to be added and being handed a sachet of it. What makes it worse is seeing what Amir and Amanda are eating for their lunches abroad. Hummus, roasted aubergine, roasted pepper tapenade, organic greens and plum tomatoes. Apparently delicious. I wouldn’t care if it tasted like horse manure, at least it’d be different.
