British food lovers? Pah!

Our man in the kitchen, Jack Shamash, is far more impressed with the French

It's often said that Britain is now a country full of food-lovers. If that's the case, then none of them use the M4. We went for a few days to Wales this year and stopped at several service stations - the food was dried-out at every one. I'm talking bacon that tasted like plastic and roast chicken that stuck in your throat and refused to budge. In Pembrokeshire we went to an expensive Italian restaurant where they didn't seem to know how to use a pizza oven - the topping sat on the base as if it had been plonked there seconds before it was served. The culinary highlight of our trip was in Stroud in Gloucestershire where we had quite a nice chicken biryani. Oh, the relief!

After the UK trip I took the family to a wedding in Cannes. Cannes is quite expensive, so we rarely ate out. This meant I had to do a lot of shopping - I really didn't mind. French supermarkets smell absolutely wonderful. The fruit has a strong, fresh smell and there are lovely chickens cooked on rotisserie.

My ten year old son insisted that I buy him snails and frogs legs. I couldn't find any frogs legs, but I was able to get frozen snails prepared with garlic and butter. I cooked them in the oven and - amazingly - Nathan actually enjoyed them and made me buy them the following day. Eating out in England can be a bit of chore. In France it is an adventure. Nathan, who talks like a character out of an Enid Blyton novel at the moment, has grasped this fact. ‘This French food is pretty decent,' he said.

The fact is that French people really care about food. So the simple food is excellent. The cold meats and the cheeses are fresh and tasty. Housewives won't accept rubbish, so the supermarkets can't sell it. Any French town, no matter how small, will have a couple of restaurants which will do great regional specialities as well as some good pasta dishes, a really first class steak and a decent house wine. I usually round off the meal with a coffee and tart. Last year we were paying around 50 Euros for these superb meals - which was only 50 per cent more than the cost of taking the family to McDonalds. And by the way, even the French service stations do good food.

So now my kitchen is full of packets of French food. I stock up whenever I go. Plus French food makes wonderful great gifts for people. I came back with packets of fabulous biscuits, pots of mustards, about ten bottles of reasonably priced wine, some great cheeses, sausages and two bottles of fine Calvados - the Normandy apple brandy.

Okay, so the Brits love food celebrities but I really don't think we're a nation of food lovers and there is no way that our food is better than French food. If there's anyone out there who disagrees, I'm prepared to pelt them with soggy chips and fill their underpants with cold curry. So there!

JACK SHAMASH puts meals on the family table every night of the week at his home in north London. He also writes for The Times, The Guardian and Horticulture Week (so he knows a lot about fruit and veg) 

See our French recipes here 

And see our wonderful British recipes here!