Cultural differences between English speaking nations - A random assessment

I stumbled across some photos the other day, from a holiday I went on a couple of years ago. After a quick perusal, I realised that these photos were never going to see the light of day... "Why!?" You say... Well, I'm glad you asked. It's because, at a stretch, you have a window of about 3-6 months to upload photos to Facebook. Miss the window and you miss the chance of sharing these photos with the people who comprise your Facebook friends. Upload photos outside of this window and it would be like Jamie Carragher coming out of international retirement for the England football team; Tactless, incomprehensible, and ultimately, no one would give a s**t. In fact thinking about it, the only other time you would be able to upload said photos, would be about 10 years from when they were taken, to simply observe how hairstyles and fashion change so much (and also so little) and to share a little nostalgia. I soon realised that I have heaps of photos which I never got round to uploading. I blame the eagerness of the types of people I recently witnessed at Coachella. There's this quirky little chill-out area where they had a few retro computers setup, like an intrevous drip back into the matrix. I don't think I've ever been so amused and saddened that at 10pm on Saturday night at the worlds most infamous festival there were people uploading pictures to facebook, desperately trying to express how much of a good time they were having to their digital brethren. Your not mate, I assure you, otherwise you'd be running around laughing your tits off with Molly, like everyone else...

So, I shall be following my own instructions like doctrine and waiting the obligatory 10 years before uploading them... Can't wait...

I am currently watching the Cricket test match between England and New Zealand and a lot of the build up has been focused on the rivalry between the two. There has also been a key element of note looking towards the Ashes in July of this year. I started thinking about how these rivalries wouldn't be as enjoyable for everyone involved if there weren't the historical and resulting, social similarities between the cultures. I also thought about how very few Canadians and Americans are going to know what the Ashes actually are... Having just returned from a season of snowboarding in beautiful Whistler, British Columbia, I had the privilege of meeting many different nationalities, but the majority of tourists and workers in Whistler were from the primary English speaking countries around the world; Brits, Aussies, Kiwis, Americans and obviously Canucks. So, whilst it's fresh on my mind, I wanted to attempt to detail some of the cultural differences and similarities between the two, focusing predominantly on the aspects that comprise the modern 21st century westerner...

We speak the same language but might as well be from different planets:

Ah accents, my favourite subject. Regional dialects and they way in which they've come about have always been something that has fascinated me. Now, I've done a bit of traveling in my time, but before I went to Whistler I had never been to a place where you had SO many different accents in one place. In any given day, you could hear a plethora of accents whilst taking a simple walk through the village. Yet one of the first things I noticed myself is how relatively bland a neutral English accent is and easily subjected to mimicking. I consider neutral English to geographically circumvent London and go up as far as the Midlands (excluding Birmingham, I said bland, not suicidal). When a West Coast North American, Ozzie or Kiwi expresses a mood of excitement, it just didn't sound weird to me. But an English person expresses that same level of enthusisasm and there always appeared to be an obligatory amount of reluctance attached to it. On an almost daily basis, the joyous demeanour of an English accent would soon be drowned out by a puerile but accurate rendition of what the movie 'Forgetting Sarah Marshall' thinks an English accent is, cue Kristen Bell:

If you're from North America, Australia or New Zealand, this is how you do an English accent, so I guess, in an over-exaggerated caricature kind of a way, this is how we must sound... This is without fail as well. If you don't believe me, find an English speaking person from one of these places and ask them to do an English accent, it's ALWAYS the same.

I think this is why Brits tend to instinctively stick to a dry and sarcastic sense of humour. It's obviously the highest form of wit and clearly bodes very well with our personalities.

At the same time though, there is a much more diverse range of accents in the UK and the majority (Welsh, Scottish, Irish, Northern English, Cockney) sound so much more intriguing, to everyone around the world. This isn't the view from Americans towards Canadians, or Australians towards New Zealanders though... It's always seemed to me to be quite belittling. The way in which Kiwis pronounce all their 'E's' as 'I's' and 'U's' as 'E's' or the way in which Canadians pronounce words with 'ou' in them as 'oo' (but categorically deny ever doing so; like people are just making this s**t up!? Honestly, the next Canadian you speak to, ask them, "why do you lot say 'aboot' instead of 'about?" Your accusation will be met with nothing but contempt and a pertinacious demeanour... They must know they do it?!) is a constant source of ridicule utilised by their closest neighbour.

But if truth be told, the average person, English speaking or not, can never tell where someone is from after initially hearing their accent. Funnily enough as well I am sure that there is a disproportionately high number of incorrect guesses from any random person when asking this question...:

"You're English?", "F*** no, C***, I'm Ozzie!"

"You're Canadian?", "I'm terribly sorry to have to correct you madam but I am actually English"

"You're a Kiwi?", "What!? What even is that...?" - Correct, this one is an American...

Our lives are focused entirely on having a good time:

Until I lived in Whistler, I don't think I have ever thought to myself on so many occasions, 'that is nothing but a first world problem'. Which, thanks to the social media which surrounds us and controls our lives daily, I had even abbreviated (in my own head) to a simple #1stworldproblems... Let me give you a few examples:

"FFS, I'm at the peak of the mountain and I completely forgot to wax my board" #1stworldproblems

"My boots are so obviously last season, the laces are ripped to shreds and everything" #1stworldproblems

I could go on but I think you get the idea...

I think it was more prevalent for me because of the opulence of my surroundings. Whistler is probably one of the most expensive places on earth (OK, so I just Googled it and it's not on any lists, but it is a very small place...). A tuna sandwich you can get from Wall-Mart for $1 will cost you $6.99 at the local Whistler market. Your average meal at a pub/bar is gonna be in the region of $20. And this is a country mile short of gourmet. Mass produced greasy fries and a handful of breaded scraps of chicken are items sold as luxury on the mountain.

So it's an expensive place, but more so, skiing/snowboarding is a very expensive hobby. When we first got there and were buying new equipment, I remember being in the main village and looking around at people and thinking that with all the apparel; skis, boots, bindings, poles, goggles, gloves and the fact that a mountain pass is $100 a day, each of the 25,000 people that holiday in Whistler on a busy weekend are spending roughly $1,000 each before they have even set foot on the mountain.

But we're all there doing it, we all love it, it is the pinnacle of western civilisation and everyone's having a great time. When it comes down to it, the problems that we, as English speaking westerners are experiencing on a daily basis, aren't really problems at all. But it's all relative I guess. My point being that living in Leicester and living in Whistler are two places massively set apart on the lavishness scale. But living in somewhere like Whistler really makes you realise that there is a whole other end to the spectrum; where the cost of a pair of Oakley goggles could feed and shelter a family in Laos for a month...

(Yes I am actually going to end this section on this unnecessarily morbid notion, you greedy western b***ards)

As much as we get on, we are the nationality we are and it's difficult to ignore that:

As we grow up, we are moulded by the social interactions of the world around us. If you consider yourself an international citizen, which not many of us are, then you presumably mould well with many different nationalities. But ultimately, you will find it easiest to get on with people who have the same sense of type of personality and sense of humour as yourself. Finding that through international boundaries is a pretty great thing, but usually, and I'm only saying this from experience, nationalities' tend to default to their own. We love venturing into the unknown, experiencing different opinions, philosophical viewpoints and cultural trends but when it comes down to it, the social interactions that sculpted you to the person you are, are ultimately difficult to ignore.

To try to put this indecipherable nonsense into context. I'd have to give Australians as the prime example. Australia, as a relatively new country, has grown over the last 50 years as a relatively recession free economy with beautiful weather and beaches which has breed a somewhat independent ethos and a culture of (amongst much of the youth anyway) 'social independence'. Especially amongst younger guys, I found from my time in Sydney and in Whistler that Aussie lads tend to more easily default to what they know than other nationalities. I assure you, that not for one second am I suggesting that there aren't hundreds and thousands of people of that ethos from the UK and America etc. but I just think that Aussies tend to have a bit of a bubble for themselves in today's society.  Anyone who has been to Bali in the last 10 years (who isn't Australian) will be able to tell you that Aussie lads create a sense of being in Australia, outside of Australia in the same way that Brits do for places like Magaluf and Malia. Both sets of nationalities are probably equally as proud of it, which is really quite depressing...

But in more neutral places for English speaking travellers, like South America or South East Asia for example, where the geographical divide isn't as significant, the relationships between these English speakers couldn't be stronger. Because although we have grown up on different sides of the planet and thousands of miles away, through the media, ease of travel and a vast array of cultural similarities, we share the same ideals, dreams,* and ambitions which instantly draw us together. This results in even stronger bonds being created as this is part of the beauty of travel, meeting new people who live continents away from where you come from who think in the same way you do.

* - 'Who gives a f**k about an Oxford comma?'

So on that sentiment of utopia and taking into consideration the fact that I am a week overdue with blog post number two, I will sign off. I will leave you with knowledge that the tardiness of my second post can be put down to nothing other than having an almighty fantastic time at Twickenham on Saturday. A day which was highlighted by a group of lads from Leicester wearing full wigs and beards in commemoration of the last game of a true Italian/Argentinean rugby legend. My beard didn't quite fit me though and I had no pockets in which to stash all my cash, these were my biggest issues of the day. #1stworldproblems

The mature food palate - Foods universally adored and detested, dependent upon the era of your taste buds...

Everyone has that friend who has just never really matured, gastronomically... That friend who never seems to indulge in anything more than chicken and chips. That friend whose most exotic culinary experience was accidentally purchasing a bottle of Heinz Tomato Ketchup blended with sweet chilli. A bottle of ketchup that was experienced only once, in a fish finger sandwich, discarded in disgust, then left to languish at the back of the cupboard until its expiry date came to fruition.

That is in the most extreme of cases of course, in reality though, almost everyone has foods which displease their taste buds. I say almost, because I don't believe myself to be someone that fits into this category. I mean, if I had to get picky, I don't really like raw carrots I guess... Though thinking about it I would gladly eat one with a nice hummus. I guess I have never really been a big fan of white wine as well as far as drinks go... But then again, if it was the only drink in the fridge and there was drinking to do... No, no, I must say that there is very little in this world that I wouldn't at least try. Which brings me nicely onto the reason of why I wanted to discuss this topic. Whilst the love of good food and drink is an art in its purist form, over my life I have noticed a number of foods which increasingly seem to popup on everyone's dislike list. Much to my dismay, I have attempted to argue that some of these foods are part of a mature palate, a palate which is only developed with age. From time to time I have also suggested that the more of these foods you dislike, the less likely you are to want to indulge in the world around you. As your maturity and appreciation for the cultural world intensifies, your culinary repertoire is greatly diversified. I say suggested because my accusations are usually met with contempt, because as I stated, most people will not like one or more of the foods on this list...:

1) Mushrooms - Now like a lot of the foods I will be detailing here, I didn't like them myself when I was a youth. The Mushroom; rubbery texture, not a lot of flavour, the thought of eating one was enough to send shivers down my spine (I actually don't remember getting shivers down my spine but can only presume that it's this kind of sensation that occurs when someone doesn't like the thought of a type of food). I can't think of too many other foods in such desperate need of company when served either as I am yet to meet the person who routinely feasts on a bowl of mushrooms... Or individual ones saying that. But as I got older I found that I couldn't get enough of the little basidiomycota (Google it, I did). The perfect accoutrement to almost anything...

2) Gherkins (or pickles to our North American friends) - I don't believe the non-pickled variety, to be a food item of contempt. But this vinegary, geriatric edition certainly makes my list. The gherkin holds a fascinating place in modern cuisine. Or fast food I should say. Because at some point in the last 100 years, the people at McDonald's decided a staple addition to the cheeseburger would be a few thin slices of watery gherkin. So since my guilt ridden trips to the golden arches began, I have had to watch whilst these fantastic pickled treats be unemotionally discarded at will by the undeserving consumer. Such feelings of ambivalence overwhelm me when someone in my dining party (whose eating habits I'm not sure of) orders the perpetual cheeseburger. Torn, I am, torn between the joyous fact that I will be able to consume the discarded gherkins from my neighbours plate and the fact that they were abandoned by their previous owner in the first place. I scorn at the individual for having bestowed upon me this feeling of hesitance... Then my taste buds salivate as I grab the vinegar doused veg from its former proprietor... (this happens, a lot)

Bottom line - I love gherkins, not everyone does...

3) Olives - I have found myself of late ordering many a Martini, not just because of the opportunity that arises to bellow out a little Roger Moore or Sean Connery to the bartender (I have never done this), but because the traditional blend of vermouth and gin/vodka is typically accompanied by one of the most disliked foods around the world today. Again, often pickled (I am starting to see a bit of a trend here) or generously seasoned amongst the oil which they produce, the olive has adorned the lists of the most disliked foods for years.

I love them... at a dinner party, as an entree, with a bottle of red, with a little feta cheese, black ones, green ones, the look-a-little-brown ones. They are a fantastically healthy fruit which bleeds a mono-saturated oil proven to reduce cholesterol (which is why the Mediterranean people live so long, cheers Olivio). They even contain a substance which, not only gives them their flavour, but is also thought to ward off cancer and act as an anti-inflammatory... Natures ibuprofen...

Yet they are still one of the most disliked foods ever. Google 'top ten hated foods' and you are sure to see them. A point I really wanted to raise here as well is that I don't believe that hating a certain food means you won't like it forever. Part of a maturing food palate is the maturing ethos that you will actually just try new things. It's not just about forcing something you dislike down your throat. It's about appreciating how significant a food can be to a region or nationality of people. How certain foods can compliment others and drink alike. It's about being culturally adventurous and challenging your senses.

In the USA, olives are routinely served in Bloody Mary's, you'll also often find them in the Canadian variant too, called the Caesar (check out the Caesar recipe here). North American kids genuinely love this stuff and will regularly be seen drinking this understated cocktail (I even saw them being drunk by them toffs from Made In Chelsea last night and they just won a BAFTA (!), so...), it just doesn't seem to be as much of a British thing to drink savoury cocktails... Jaeger Bombs and Sex on the Beach is about as good as it gets. They put beef jerky and celery sticks into their Bloody Mary's too. You just can't put a stick of celery in a Jaeger Bomb. The glass is no way big enough and to be honest, a tall stick of celery is probably too long and would seriously test the equilibrium when balanced in a shot glass in a tumbler...

4) Liver - I can't imagine there are too many people reading this who still wouldn't wince in disgust at the thought of eating a bit of lambs liver. But I have to question the validity of the reason for that dislike. I'm gonna say that 99 times out of 100, it's because the individual in question was fully aware that the liver is an organ in the body, before they first tried it (or have never even tried it). Not because it doesn't taste great (what could compliment onions, mash and gravy better...?) but because the thought of eating some things really stretch the realms of comfort.

A close family member of mine has a certain predilection when it comes to food which I find slightly irritating. That is the practice of ordering a steak 'well-done'. Having your beautiful cut of beef burnt to a crisp shouldn't even be an option in my opinion. Like going to a curry house and ordering a Korma. It should be banned. She has to have it well done because she doesn't want to see any blood in it and be reminded that it was once an animal... Sweetheart, I love you, but that was, until very recently, a beautiful cow, cruising the English pastures, eating grass, watching out for tipping pranksters, generally having a ruddy good time. Now your teeth are tearing through its adolescent flesh and if you can't come to terms with that, I strongly suggest vegetarianism.

5) Seafood - OK, so break it down to brass tacks and your seafood scale goes a little something like this; Tuna, Mackerel (potentially Seaweed first but if we're talking flesh (which I am, a lot)) then Prawns (simple crustacean) then Salmon and your chip shop fish, Haddock, Cod, then any other regional fish in the middle here (Plaice, Barramundi for example). Then you've got your Crab and Lobster (advanced crustacean) and after that Molluscs, Oyster, Mussels and finally your Calamari (I realise you could potentially have Eels and whole host of other risqué seafood after here but I've got to stop somewhere)... and Dolphin (I'm joking!).

That's your sliding scale of adventurousness with regards to indulging in seafood. Let's be honest, Tuna isn't really seafood is it. Neither are those tiny little frozen Prawns you can get in bulk from the supermarket. I remember the first time I tried Lobster thinking that I had never tasted anything so amazing before in my life. On a beautiful beach in Thailand, constantly gobsmacked at how cheap everything was. Ordering more Lobster than we could manage and a drifter who we'd accumulated on our travels wouldn't indulge. "Why won't you at least try it?" I asked, "You've travelled round the world, surely it's a prime opportunity to try new things...?" "Because it looks disgusting" was her response. What a grade A moron... She really was too, this was the same girl who during a game of pool, went to assist my friend and said, "Yeah, I think I've got this worked out actually, see if you hit the white ball and aim to the left of the red ball, the red ball will then actually go to the right...". She was being dead serious, gods honest truth. What an idiot...

So the moral of the story being, eat seafood, because if you don't, you're probably a moron like that girl (or have a potentially debilitating and life threatening allergy...).

6) (Proper) Cheese - If you know what proper cheese is then you probably already like it. In case you haven't seen a running theme here yet, then your mild Cheddars and your Red Leicesters are simply not real cheese. They're just like the Tuna of the seafood world I'm afraid. Sure they definitely taste good, but you're not experiencing all that cheese has to offer. I remember not enjoying stilton when I was a kid. But when I became a nubile young man I tried and started to appreciate the fuller and more aromatic flavours that cheese had to offer. Probably the most dynamic single food in the world, the varieties are endless! Like seafood, you start with a cheese that is a small step up from processed cheese (being at the bottom end of the scale) and work your way from there (I strongly suggest a cranberry with Wensleydale). Soon you'll be enjoying the kind of 4 cheese fondue I recently had the joy of experiencing in Las Vegas... Bellissimo!

No matter where I have been in the world, there has always been someone who at some lunch or dinner has grimaced at the thought of trying something. I'd say 50% of the time I later find out that this person has never even tried that food before. How can you dislike something you haven't tried? (Sex with Wayne Rooney?) OK, apart from sex with Wayne Rooney.

I have friends who have tried things and gradually, over time, began to enjoy food and drinks that they once were sure they detested. Your taste buds are not an on/off switch. There are no nice foods and bad foods. There are easy foods and more mature foods and with a bit of bravery and adventure you can diversify your palate in no time. This applies to a lot of other things too, come to think of it. But if you heed my words then I'm sure you'll find in no time that experience and enlightenment come hand in hand.