Our multicultural cuisine
From Jane Kelly Sir: John Ware's pessimistic view that British people eat only tasteless, boring rubbish cannot be true ('Figs ain't what they used to be', 1 September).
This country is full of restaurants offering food from every culture known to man. Foreigners, especially Americans, stand amazed at the range of cuisine on offer. I remember interviewing Arnold Schwarzenegger when he opened his Planet Hollywood in London, and he told me that his aim was to cover Europe in such outlets so that 'Americans can eat the same food wherever they are in the world'.
That is certainly not a British view. Per haps it is only Britons abroad, rightfully homesick for our great land, who regress slightly and crave the savours that most immediately represent Blighty, in such symbolic food as ketchup and synthetic mayonnaise.
As the French philosopher Roland Barthes pointed out about his own countrymen, 'Chips are nostalgic and patriotic like steak.' That being so, it is surely the duty of every true-born Englishman to demand spotted dick wherever he is in the world.
Jane M. Kelly
London W3
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