Foods & Fashion, London edition

Foods and Fashion is sometimes an option class that students can take back home at the secondary level--sometimes they're split up into two separate courses, but sometimes they are combined. So I thought I would title this post with this course name as I didn't know if I'd have enough for two separate posts. It's all about me learning about new foods I'm seeing and interesting fashion trends that I see at the moment.

Foods

Aside from the ubiquitous and very affordable prices on a variety of types of clotted cream, or the well-known Marmite, which I have no intention of trying as I'm not really a fan of eating yeast when it's not in a bread product, I have come across a number of other interesting items at the grocery store. One of them is goose fat. I've been too lazy to look it up, but I really have no idea what it would be used for. It looks like it's used as lard would be, lard being made from pork fat. Geese and ducks can have a lot of fat on them, so I guess if one is really interested, goose lard could be used. I'm not sure what the flavour difference is that makes it attractive, but it was interesting to see in the store. I mentioned in a previous post the different flavours you can see here of products, such as rhubarb and blackcurrant, that you just don't see ay home, but there are also some products that you would have to go to a specialty store for at home that you can find regularly here in any grocery store. Macarons and churros are some of them. 

I suppose you can sometimes find them in bakery sections--at least macarons--at home, but here, they're just in the dessert section next to where you usually get yogurts in the dairy aisle. There are many more puddings and flans and other types of desserts in general in the stores as well. Other types of foods that are more common in the grocery stores are water cress, venison steaks, and different fish like mackerel. Honey tends to be expensive, especially because I was buying acacia honey, which I read is really mild. At home, I always got creamed clover honey, which I like for its mildness because it doesn't compete with the flavour of a delicate Earl Grey, for example, but I ended up finding that I can get "set honey" here for pretty cheap. It has a mild flavour and is creamed, but I don't know where it comes from. Food labelling in the UK is quite different from home, and you can't always find out as much nutritional info as you'd like, and some products aren't good at labelling the weight or volume. We also have been trying new chip flavours like "chicken wing" and "piri piri," and I'd also like to try paprika flavoured chips when I get a chance.

Fashion

I think London is known more for its sophisticated and bold street fashion rather than haute couture, and I've definitely been a little self-conscious in terms of wanting to look like a local. I'm not, at least, someone who will be seen wearing my flannel pyjama bottoms in public as pants (no offense if you do this, but you have to admit that it's not a sophisticated look), but I want to try to develop a bit of local fashion sensibility. For my husband, it's easy, because corduroy trousers or khakis and a sweater over a button-up shirt are already his style, and that's pretty common here, but for me, it's a little harder, especially for plus-sized wear. I also don't want to go out and buy a bunch of new clothes either because with all the walking around, I will probably lose some weight, and I'd just have to turn around and buy a bunch of new clothes again.

Anyway, enough of tangential talk. What I wanted to mention was that one of the first things I noticed is that not only are many women wearing somewhat longer, flowy skirts and dresses, but many of them are actually somewhat similar to the Mennonite style of dresses that my grandmother always wore. In the photo of Mennonite teachers that I just hyperlinked, the sleeves are the main difference as my grandmother wasn't into puffy sleeves--they would be fitted--but the main thing is that they be modest and cover the knees. Sometimes she wore sleeves that went down to just above the elbow, but many dresses were full or three quarter-length sleeves. I'm sure she was frequently appalled by the attire of many people as the years went on, but I'm sure she would have been happy to hear about and see photos of the types of dresses I've seen on women and in the stores right now. Not only are they modest, but some of them even have the collars and sashes (what I would call a belt these days).  

She would have thought people had finally come to their senses. She passed away a few years ago, but I sure wish I could have shared this with her. This blue dress is one that she probably would have been happy to buy instead of have to make for herself. My grandfather loved blue, and she loved to wear blue dresses to please him. The styles pictured above are too bright and bold for her preference, but back home when I've seen Mennonites that live in the city, they tend to wear brighter colours, especially the younger generations. I'm sure many Londoners would find my comparison hilarious, but I say it as I see it! I guess you could argue that this dress style is actually similar to shirt dress styles that were worn in the 50s, but that's what my grandmother pretty much always wore, and when I see these types of dresses now, they remind me of her.