culture smash!

[kaigou]

Actual conversation, the other day. I've been to England/Scotland (otherwise raised in the Deep South), while CP attended a Brit school as a kid. Makes for some odd culture-squishes, here and there, in the house conversations. I still don't know how this one started, but I think it was thanks to CP's trip to the grocery store.

CP: I was in the international food aisles, and you know what they have there? Right next to the Hispanic food, there's British food-- and Heinz baked beans.
Me: Say what?
CP: Baked beans, Heinz. Because it's apparently a huge part of British breakfasts to have American baked beans on your eggs.
Me: What, when you're not getting a slice or two of tomato that's been cooked until it's kinda crispy--
CP: But otherwise soggy? Yeah, that.
Me: Did that aisle have appropriately burnt toast, too?
CP: Just baked beans.
Me: Because my sister and I could never figure it out, I mean, the entire time we were in Britain, all we got was burnt toast.
CP: It's a thing.
Me: But it didn't make any sense! They'd put the toast in, it'd stay in until smoke was coming out, and they'd pop the toast out, burnt black.
CP: And I'm sure your mother scraped off the burnt parts and told you that you were gonna eat it, and you were gonna like it.
Me: She did it with a smile, too.
CP: Unh-hunh.
Me: Still, I mean, it's not like we didn't know how to set the toaster to not burn the toast. And I was eight! My sister was five! We knew about how to stand over the toaster until the bread was nicely browned and then pop it out -- if it was looking like it'd still be going -- and then we'd get bread toasted just so. We couldn't figure out how an entire country seemed to be clueless about this.
CP: Well, like the British space program...
Me: Hunh?
CP: There isn't one... and now you know why.

Snark rules this house, sometimes.

Comments

[penship.livejournal.com]

Heh. I don't understand the British love for Heinz baked beans, but there it is in its viscous, murky brown glory. (I don't understand the American love for Twinkies either.)

I've never heard of the toast quirk though. I used to like my toast almost charcoal black when I was younger. I'd sprinkle sugar with it and chow down. Maybe they prefer the taste of slightly sweet ashes?

[kaigou.livejournal.com]

For years I thought it was just bad luck, that everywhere we stayed had broken toasters. Wasn't until talking to someone who'd lived in England for awhile that I found it was some kind of a national bad toast thing. Very odd.