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When A Pickle Isn't A Pickle

expat, food Sunday, February 14, 2016
It's been a while since I've talked about mayonnaise on this blog.

For a person who doesn't like mayonnaise, moving to the U.K. could be considered an odd choice, since it has a very beloved status here and appears on just about any food. But what I can say, I like living on the edge. This week was very hectic at work. There was one day where I realized I only had about 15 minutes to eat lunch ahead of doing a couple of video recordings. I needed to run out and get a sandwich but couldn't find my work badge. This meant that not only could I not leave the building, but I also couldn't buy anything from the company cafeteria until the missing badge was located.

I was stressed and hungry and started to flap. Luckily, my extremely nice friend at work said she would go to Pret (a Manger) to get me a sandwich. I said I wanted the small ham sandwich with the pickles. I was very adamant about the pickles.

Big mistake.

For all my lovely American readers, let me explain. Pickle, in British English, does not mean what we mean. Pickles here are called gherkins, whereas pickle refers to 'a condiment made of chopped vegetables and fruits pickled in vinegar and sugar or other sweet ingredient'. (I just had to look this up, since after 10+ years here I still don't know what this mysterious substance is. Thank you separated by a common language blog!)

Because I was stressed and hungry, all my knowledge of my new 'language' flew out of my brain and I really emphasized the pickle part of my order. My poor friend couldn't find the sandwich I asked for, and so came back instead with a ham, pickle and mayonnaise sandwich. How these three things go together I just cannot understand.

So I just wanted to publicly thank Hina for not only buying me a sandwich this week, but also putting up with my diva attitude when I said, literally, "I can't eat this!"

Did I actually say that?

As a (somewhat related) aside, I just want to point out that the landmark London building, shown in the photo below, is called the Gherkin. But visiting Americans, without fail, call it the Pickle. This always amuses me. Can you imagine naming a building the Pickle? In case you were wondering if I was adult about it and actually ate that sandwich, I didn't. Someone else on my team graciously consumed it to ease my conscience. All's well that ends well: After I recorded my videos, the badge was found hanging out under some papers on my desk and I slunk off to the company cafeteria where one of my favorite was being served: macaroni & cheese! What did I tell you about the fact that you can't go anywhere these days in London without finding it on the menu?

Photo credit: Hellmann's Mayonnaise via photopin (license)

Photo credit: gherkin at sunrise - 2 via photopin (license)
Posted by Taron at 12:03 PM
