Where's the cream, where's the jam?
Where's the fun? (laughs)
(upbeat music)
- Hi I'm Ada, I'm from Manchester,
in the north west of England.
- And I'm Nyall, I'm from Bath,
and that's in the south of England.
- Hi I'm Ben, and I'm from Doncaster
in the north of England.
- Hi, I'm Jade, I'm from London in the south of England.
- Hi my name's Tom, I'm from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
in the north east of England.
- My name's Ed, I'm from Canterbury
in the south east of England.
Northern food I'd say heavily gravied, curried.
- I mean heavily anything to be honest.
- Greasy.
I just have a feeling it's gonna be very, very,
very greasy. - Yep.
- I like, I'm actually quite hungry,
so I'm looking forward to some snacks.
So this has actually come at a great time.
(drum rolls)
(upbeat trumpet music)
- I've got Vimto, which is a staple
in the northern British household.
- I (beep) love Vimto.
- And it's described as a seriously mixed up blend
of grapes, raspberries, and blackcurrants.
Refreshingly fruity since 1908, there you go.
- Better then Ribena I would say.
- No, no I'm not a non-believer.
- Ribena is home, Ribena is the only blackcurrant drink.
- You can have it cold, or hot.
Hot Ribena is also absolutely fantastic.
- Here you go.
(laughs)
- I'm taking a risk here.
It's like milk in the tea.
That is so sweet.
I like my Ribena sweet, that is just...
- I think if you drank a lot of them
you'd probably wanna run around quite a lot.
- Yeah, that's the whole point,
that's why the industrial revolution happened in the north.
- It tastes like fun, a fun beverage.
- What is even the flavor, it's just sugar.
There is not a fruit taste, there is no fruit coming
through from this.
- It's just sugar with a little tang.
- Oh it's like... - Yeah.
- I will say this tastes more like an actual blackcurrant,
but that is not why I'm in the business for.
- I'm just gonna go with what I actually believe,
and I genuinely think Ribena is nicer.
(laughs)
- This isn't bad, I don't mind it,
but it's just not got that intense sugar hit that I need.
So I'm always gonna stick to Vimto.
- Vimto, always.
- It's gotta be Ribena.
- It has a more refined taste, but what I will say
is it's less fun.
- It's less fun.
(drum rolls)
- So what we've got here is the Eccles cake.
- So an Eccles cake is a buttery sort of pastry crust
filled with currants, akin if you like,
to like a mince pie.
- I have a beautiful scone, done the Devonshire way
which is clotted cream, and then jam.
- I've also seen, you don't put anything on it?
No jam-- - Eat it raw.
- Raw. (laughs)
- I mean I think I have got the short end of the straw here.
- Do you know what, now I'm not gonna lie.
(laughs)
You have, I'm ready to dig into that scone.
- Shall we swap then?
- Go on then.
- Shall we swap these too? - Yeah.
All butter.
- This is like a mince pie, but I actually,
where's I don't really like mince pies,
I quite like this.
- I actually hate mince pies.
- No that's not, this is good.
You were right. - Yeah.
- I've got the John.
The John, the John with scam and ream.
No, the scone with jam and cream.
- What do you think?
- It's good, it's dry.
I'm not gonna lie to you.
- This is grandma food, have a Ribena, and an Eccles cake.
- I prefer the scone, (laughs)
- I'm not gonna lie, I do like the scone.
- Yes. - I do like the scone.
- I'm glad I enjoyed that, it wasn't a waste,
but it's gotta be a scone every day.
Every day of the week, that is luxury,
that is a luxury snack.
- I think that this is infinitely better then that,
actually I'm gonna completely say scones are actually
not very nice, and actually I don't like this whole thing.
I think it's more about look.
- Yeah.
- Then taste. - I know what you mean.
- You know have it in a tiered thing with your sandwiches.
- I think that epitomizes this whole thing
is that the southern thing, it's like,
it looks really pretty, it's very performative,
there's all those rules about what you can and can't do.
And then we're up here quietly eating out Eccles cakes,
having a mint time, and everyone's down in Devon,
pretending to enjoy this thing.
(drum rolls)
- The humble pork pie, an absolute northern staple.
- You know when you just go down to the shop,
and you're just like oh mom, can I just have
a quid for a pork pie?
Yeah.
- Blah, blah, blah, whatever, Nottingham Street,
I don't know it's northern.
- Look at that.
- Isn't it like congealed--
- It's all congealed, so like they're supposed
to last for ages.
- Well the Cornish pasty needs no introduction, does it?
I mean this is how you eat meat and pastry.
This is how you combine the two.
- Man I love a Cornish pasty.
- Mince beef with potato, onion and swede.
- Swede?
- Go on, but I do want a bit of that pork pie.
- Hmm. - Yeah.
- It's a great pork pie.
- Oh yeah, it's good.
- I mean it definitely tastes more fatty then a pasty.
- Brings a tear to my eye.
- Oh no, I'm sorry, I just, you can see it,
it's like jelly.
- Close your eyes, close your eyes.
- I can't, I can taste it.
I can feel it.
- Oh. - Delicious?
- It's a lot better then I thought it was gonna be.
- Oh really? - Uh-huh.
- I mean I do really like this, I'm not gonna lie,
it's got a lot going on, onion, meat, potato I think
in there as well.
- How do you guys have pasties if Greggs is northern?
- Greggs is not the main pasty chain.
- Yeah but they do the best ones,
so I would like to claim pasties back.
- It's gotta be a Cornish pasty.
- No take it away, it's not Greggs.
(laughs)
It's not Greggs, I don't want it.
- But I would rate this really highly,
I actually think I probably prefer the Cornish pasty
to the pork pie.
- I go completely the other way.
- This is actually the first time I've ever tried
a pork pie.
I won't be having another, I mean never say never,
my dad would absolutely kill me
because he is a huge fan of pork pies.
Especially at Christmas, but not for me.
I'm sorry, I feel like I've actually took
quite a personal dig.
- I thought I knew you, I thought you were all right.
- I'm sorry.
(laughs)
(drum rolls)
- Oh no, this is gonna really ramp it up is it?
Right.
- He's already ramping it up.
- Here we go.
- I've got some pease pudding, it's made in Liverpool,
looks like it's made from Liverpool,
do not care about updating anything,
they're just standard.
- There's actually a little ditty, or rhyme
to go with this, pease pudding hot,
pease pudding cold, pease pudding in a pot,
nine days old.
- Nine days?
- You would normally have it just on a piece of bread
with some ham, which is what you've got.
- That's the standard combo?
- This is how you eat it.
- It doesn't look good.
- I hate it.
- It looks absolutely disgusting.
- Well you're gonna have some traditional piccalilli.
- And what is a piccalilli?
- So piccalilli traditional picnic food, picnic snack.
- It's kind of like a chutney/pickle.
- Okay.
- Usually with a mixture of vegetables,
so there's always cauliflower, gherkins.
- You had it before?
- No. - No?
- No, I haven't, and you've never had this.
So this is interesting because we've literally
never had these things.
- I really wanna have this.
I don't wanna do the swap.
- Sorry mate.
- I don't want this thing.
- Do you know what it looks like I'm not gonna like it.
- I mean I've gotta say I do love this packaging.
- I'm apprehensive.
- Oh that's good.
- No. - No?
Not at all?
- No. (laughs)
- You're wincing.
- Just tastes of old peas, spread on a piece of bread.
No seasoning, it's absolutely, I'm just eating
beige nothing.
- Oh no.
- That is amazing.
Like pea spread.
- No. - I could eat--
- No.
I don't know what that is.
(laughs)
- Right I'm not gonna lie,
that was absolutely rank.
(laughs)
- Don't sugar coat it.
- I'm not gonna sugar coat it, because that was terrible,
it was terrible, sorry.
- Just didn't work for your pallette, it's fine.
- No. - I'm over it.
I was pretty scathing about the pork pie,
so I'll take that one on the chin.
My view has changed, you know, I came in here,
I thought it was gonna be really greasy,
thought it was just gonna be quite stodgy,
really enjoyed the Eccles cake,
that was a pleasant surprise, and the pease pudding,
I mean, what brand is this?
- She's gonna take that home?
- I actually think I might, I really, really liked it.
- Scones are undefeated, they always give you a scone.
- Pease pudding, absolutely gross,
there's no way I'll ever have that again.
- I don't think that was ever gonna be a winner.
If you're having piccalilli it's literally like
putting an entire allotment in a jar apparently.
But the beauty of living in this day and age
is that we don't have to pick, we can have either.
- Anything you want.
- Yeah. - The north south divide.
- Yeah let's share, let's mix it up,
share the food everywhere.