If you talk to any british person who’s visited America, they definitely will not forget to mention how grotesquely huge the portion sizes are at American restaurants were to them. Granted, we do have places like the cheesecake factory that serve you more food than you could ever dream of eating, but I feel like for the most part, it’s all kind of the same here in the UK. There’s not really any sort of food culture shock just because our two’s food cultures are almost the same. Perhaps some of the “traditional” food is different, but for the most part, it’s just different names of the same stuff. Coriander…. Cilantro…… aubergine… eggplant. I mean everyone already knows those but it does throw me off in the grocery store sometimes.
I don’t think dining halls are a thing for the students here since everyone has their own kitchen. I would assume even the first years have to fend for themselves. To me there wasn’t that big of a change; It’s pretty much the same as having to shop and cook for myself in the states to be honest. It was actually kind of annoying to have to buy a new set of pans and seasonings and foil and everything that you need in an average kitchen, but now that we’re all settled in, my flatmates and I have pretty much gotten used to what we have. I’ve been pretty good about cooking and eating in my own kitchen, although I think I wanna start going out more and eat british pub food and seeing what’s around. London is supposed to have a ton of a amazing restaurants after all.
I did go to this one restaurant that was South African themed, and having spent my last semester in Cape Town, it was so fun to get to see the same brands, foods, and drinks that they have in South Africa and get to show them to some of my friends. I also love being able to easily get scotch eggs again. Those need to be a bigger thing in America.
