Popular US food website, Eater published a feature early this week stating that mince on toast is a “quintessentially British comfort classic”.
One might have forgiven them for mistaking it for beans on toast and it wasn’t long until renowned British food writer, Jay Rayner (who has a casual 191k Twitter followers) tweeted the following…
For god sake @eater what are you on? Apart from mince on toast, something I have never eaten. https://t.co/1zfJTI18uG
— Jay Rayner (@jayrayner1) July 10, 2017
Rapidly more and more Brits jumped on board in backlash to Eater, saying that mince on toast is definitely NOT British, and so ensued #mincegate.
Does @eaterlondon actually have any British people working for it, to save you from the embarrassment of further #mincegates?
— Paola Thomas (@realpaolathomas) July 11, 2017
Never eaten it. Never heard of anyone who has eaten it. Never seen it on a menu. #mincegate
— Boudica Blithe ???? (@BoudicaBlithe) July 12, 2017
Urm, no it’s not. What lunacy is this? #mincegate https://t.co/V05m6w3uZa
— Rebecca Silverwood (@BeccaSilverwood) July 11, 2017
I’m in the Guardian talking about mince. pic.twitter.com/PIkpTPcZ7W
— Neil Claxton (@MintRoyale) July 12, 2017
Meanwhile, in the Southern Hemisphere, New Zealanders began claiming the comforting meat and carb combo as their own – with Helen Jackson (well-known New Zealand food personality), telling The Guardian that it’s something she’s always known and grew up with.
It’s such a New Zealand ‘thing’ that restaurants and trendy cafés are offering jazzed up versions on their menus like Auckland’s Two Fat Lattes where it’s served (at a whopping $16 – the equivalent of R155.68) with crispy bacon, a poached egg and Parmesan. Sounds delicious, doesn’t it?
Back to #mincegate….
In case you’re wondering if Eater made any apologies for their foodie faux pax, they did one better by following it up with this article – What #Mincegate Says About Brits and Our Food which basically sums it up: “food is something both universal and deeply personal; to shout loudly about a foreigner’s (mis)interpretation of your food is to shout about identity both national and individual”, which is no wonder we keep seeing wild reactions to things like Jamie Oliver’s paella recipe that includes chorizo or the New York Times’ pea guacamole that pretty much broke the internet back in 2015.
We’re just waiting for a time when someone will come out saying that a braaibroodjie is ‘just’ a toasted cheese sandwich.
ALSO READ: 1 Packet of mince – 7 ways to use it