The Times has long had an obsession with French cuisine, traditionally considered superior to English cuisine by the ruling class. In the Murdoch era the paper runs several stories each week underlining that French eating habits are changing to those more familiar in England if not the UK. France is one of the biggest consumers of Big Macs
A Culture War has started over whether the Croque Monsieur or the Cheese Toastie is best.
The Salon du Fromage et des Produits Laitiers has organised the first international cheese competition.
There were 5 contestants including cheese people from the UK, US, Belgium and France
The winner was a Belgian take on a cheeseburger consisting of a bun, fourme d’Ambert blue cheese, chicory and a poached egg
Since this is neither a croque monsieur or a cheese toastie clearly the culture war will continue.
Churchill preferred a croque monsieur but a social media poll on this account showed that cheese toasties are preferred to croque monsieurs. Obviously this may reflect an anglophone bias or a decline in class preference for French cuisine in ruling class circles..
In fact the debate moved on, certainly in the letters columns of the Times to what kind of cheese toastie is best.The use of mustard was noted, as well perhaps some tomato sauce on the side. My favourite remains a haggis cheese toastie but I doubt that culinary delicacy has yet been noted by Times readers
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