A question from across the pond

by stillin 2 Replies latest jw friends

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  stillin

  My wife and I visited England a couple of years ago. Did a bunch of castle tours and cathedrals, etc. Lots of beautiful architecture over there.

  Anyhow, we had a small kitchen and we went into town to find something to fix. At the butcher shop I saw blood sausages for the first time. Although we didn't get them, I have wondered since whether it is a common thing to have blood bangers and chips or whatever. There seemed to be several to choose from and I wonder now whether the Witnesses are alone in abstaining from them or if the usual menu fo the common man includes them.
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  Half banana

  As far as I am aware although available in all of the UK and Ireland, the tradition lives on mainly in the north of England.

  Blood sausage is called black pudding and is most usually encountered as an addition to a fried breakfast as I knew it before I became a JW. It contains lumps of soft white pork fat or beef suet giving it when sliced, a mottling with somewhat regular shaped white bits. I find the the taste pleasant but as discussed on this site not long ago-- many ex JWs understandably seem to have their taste buds on high alert when trying it!
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  darkspilver

  stillin: At the butcher shop I saw blood sausages for the first time. Although we didn't get them, I have wondered since whether it is a common thing to have blood bangers and chips or whatever.

  In Britain it is called 'black pudding'.

  Traditionally it is one of the items that makes up the fried 'English Full Breakfast' particularly when eaten out.

  Therefore, as a breakfast item, it is common in hotels throughout Britain (from the very expensive/posh to the cheap) and builders cafes / greasy spoons (cheap fried food cafes) throughout the UK.
  

  Otherwise it's popularity is fairly regional - from the Midlands up into Scotland.

  With the advent of most people buying their meat at supermarkets, the 'traditional' butchers that do remain will often offer a whole range of items: black pudding, trotters, tail (oxtail), tongue and tripe (cow's stomach, mostly northern England).