Ask a Brit III

[Dave]

Do y'all seriously not have pumpkins? I'm a dog forum (background - plain canned pumpkin is a common remedy for mild stool problems) and a user is claiming to be in the U.K. and completely unable to access canned pumpkin because it is not sold anywhere in the U.K.

We just do not have the tradition here, we have pumpkins iimported because someone introduced the carved out Halloween thing. Even Halloween is an import from America in its current form.

But, it seems, we can get the tinned stuff from Tesco and other suppliers. However, if we are talking pies I will go for steak and ale followed by apple and blackberry please.

[Pasta Chick]

Yeah... I know the custom around them is different, but pumpkins being squashes and squashes being pretty common ingredients - especially canned for baking - i find the concept of there simply being none an exaggeration at best. Unless there's a supply issue; We've had pumpkin shortages in the past.

[Dave]

Yeah... I know the custom around them is different, but pumpkins being squashes and squashes being pretty common ingredients - especially canned for baking - i find the concept of there simply being none an exaggeration at best. Unless there's a supply issue; We've had pumpkin shortages in the past.

I don't think it is that simple, more historical. Corn and pumpkins figured early in the settlement of Europeans in America, C1620 on and probably, with "Indian" corn, formed an important part of the early diet. Sweetcorn did not appear much in this country until American troops in WW2, no idea when pumpkins arrived as decorations for Halloween, but I can remember helping carve my first one about age 12, so 1956 ish, when my best friend was a green grocer's son. IIRC we threw the carved out flesh away.

So, with 400 years of pumpkin, and other squash, noshing  they are common place to you but still a little "exotic" as a food here.  Sweetcorn, on the other hand is a firm favourite since it grows here without needing glass houses.

Food traditions change slowly I think, Brits hardly ate out in resturants before the "Bernie Inn"  chain started in the 1960s. Yes, there were cafes and even Wimpy "hamburger"  places but little open after 6pm in most towns.  Now, there are resturants and gastropubs on almost every corner and serving every cuisine from Japanese to American (except few French ahd German, none in Gloucester).

[Recusant]

Do y'all seriously not have pumpkins? I'm a dog forum (background - plain canned pumpkin is a common remedy for mild stool problems) and a user is claiming to be in the U.K. and completely unable to access canned pumpkin because it is not sold anywhere in the U.K.

I'll take Gloucester's word for it that you can find tinned pumpkin at Tesco, but the place I found it in the UK was Waitrose.

[Tank]

Do y'all seriously not have pumpkins? I'm a dog forum (background - plain canned pumpkin is a common remedy for mild stool problems) and a user is claiming to be in the U.K. and completely unable to access canned pumpkin because it is not sold anywhere in the U.K.

Never seen canned pumpkin in the UK. 98% of pumpkins grown in the UK are sold at Halloween. Pumpkins and squashes in general are not as popular as they are in the USA.

[Guardian85]

C4 isn't the BBC. It's a simple as that. It has adverts.

And commercial TV started in the UK when I was11 yoa, in 1955,  so it is still "something new" for many adults. There was not even commercial radio at the time.

Didn't become a thing in Norway until 1992.

[Dave]

Do y'all seriously not have pumpkins? I'm a dog forum (background - plain canned pumpkin is a common remedy for mild stool problems) and a user is claiming to be in the U.K. and completely unable to access canned pumpkin because it is not sold anywhere in the U.K.

Never seen canned pumpkin in the UK. 98% of pumpkins grown in the UK are sold at Halloween. Pumpkins and squashes in general are not as popular as they are in the USA.

Ah, did not realise that pumpkins are grown commercially in the UK!  Lots do seem to be imported as well by the labels.

Still, like other things that have migrated from America, I am sure they will become more popular.

Oh, except that more people seem to be buying ready prepared food ad coming to some reports. I know that I do these days . . .

[Recusant]

I think the most common use of tinned pumpkin (imported from the US) in the UK is for pumpkin soup. However, I've made pumpkin pie for my UK friends several times using my own recipe (more highly spiced than the standard American version) and it is well received, even requested.

In France, we saw many fields of small food pumpkins (as opposed to the large carving pumpkins) and I assume they're used there mostly for soup as well.