Kassto, I'm not loving the assertion that we eat hilariously badly, actually. Or at least, that our national cuisine is any less healthy than that of any other Northern European country. Or indeed the US. If you're telling me that New Zealand is populated by people who eat only salad, whilst jogging on the spot, then I'll bow to your greater knowledge. Astonishingly, however, the UK has discovered vegetables, and has even come to terms with the concept of not serving them in suet with a side-dish of cake.

...and possibly I should go to bed, because I seem to be unable to keep my Inner Stroppy Cow in check. Probably a sign of too little sleep again. Sorry. 'Night all.

Fay, I was teasing. Just the way I was teased when I turned up on this board a month ago and was hurled a faggotload of sheep jokes. Which have some basis in truth (some 15 sheep to every person here) and some not (most people live in cities, away from said sheep). I'm sure the same is true of the English and their food.

And hey, can't remember when I last ate a salad or ran on the spot.

And before someone goes wah-wah at my use of the word ``faggot'', I mean it in the sense of ``a bundle of...''

My mother makes a suet pudding that is to die for. Of course, you can feel your arteries clogging with each mouthful but that's neither here nor there.

I was told that it's more a case of the English being able to consume the fatty food in reasonable portions, and not super-sizing every single thing.

That sounds about right, Madrigal.

Australia/New Zealand/England vs USA has more to do with portion size than anything else. We basically all eat the same thing but yanks seem to eat more (or at least, are served more) than the rest of us.

American restaurants are notorious for huge portion sizes, and making the primary part of any meal the one with the most fat. Any vegetables are either garnish, or in ketchup form.

Yeah. A friend, who travelled through the States for 3 months, said she got desperate for just an ordinary salad with her meal. Every time she ordered one, there seemed to be bacon pieces and all sorts of other saturated fat products. :(

Not always, but often enough.

Do not dis the bacon in the salad. Unless of course you are a vegetarian, in which case return said salad to the server.

Un-baconed salads are much easier to get outside the South. I once went to a restaurant in Louisiana and tried to find something vegetarian on the menu. I went through every possible option on the menu and was told that every one of them had meat in some form. So I ordered a salad, and had to go through the whole list of dressings before finding one with no meat.

As for portion sizes, yeah. When I go out to eat here, I usually end up with enough leftovers for lunch and dinner the next day.