My American mind boggles at British eating habits

Had he asked me beforehand, I would have advised caution when choosing to eat in a pub. Take a recent review of a pub in North London, where the diner noted: “The food wasn’t the best.” Okay, this could be helpful, I thought. What made it bad? “We ordered a pizza and chips with gravy. Unfortunately, they forgot to cut the pizza, and the chips tasted undercooked.”

The mind, as Simon wrote about America, boggles: What would the successful delivery of pizza, chips and gravy look like? 

And lest you think this eccentric combination of starch with a side of starch is the exclusive domain of a pub meal, see a current menu offering in Pizza Pilgrim, Britain’s finest pizza chain: “Americana: A Napoli classic & our pizza chefs’ favourite: creamy mozzarella base topped with hot dog sausages & french fries.” American by name, but British by invention. 

Fries in your sandwich

In both cases, this order of pizza with chips was perhaps inspired by the other baffling national dish, the chip butty. A sandwich of chips, or french fries, on pillowy white bread, has been circulating since the 19th century, and it is every bit as unappealing as it sounds.