Gillingham, Kent: Culinary Capital of My Habitual Vacation

Gillingham's finest (non-Indian, non-fish n chips) cuisine

This past weekend I spent in Gillingham, a small once-agricultural town about an hour south-east of London, England. Before marriage, I'd travel there for an extended weekend almost every year, but have only gotten over once in the past 7 years. Now that the long streak is broken, I can see more clearly what drives me back every so often: it's the same thing that drives my eating style. I'm a creature of habit who seeks comfort in familiarity.

A little back story: Over 25 years ago, I was a counselor at a summer camp which participated in a program that brought over young Europeans to be counselors, too. They'd get airfare and a stipend out of it, along with some cheap travel at the end of the summer. I became close friends (and occasionally more) with a few. When I lived in London as a student a few years late, I made it my business to catch up with my long lost friends and reestablish some ties that still bind today. Between semi-annual visits to England and semi-annual visits of my friends to the US, I now find myself with life-long friends across the pond, and I'm life-long friends with their families, spouses, parents, grandparents, siblings, cousins, nephews and nieces, and in recent years children and, yes, my Godson, Elijah. (What a Jew can do to guide him in matters of the Church of England is beyond me, but, hey, I just go with it.)

Elijah, you should always have matzoh in your cupboard, ideally from 10 years ago. Then you will be a man.

It's not just about the people and the love, it's all  a little bit less high-falutin'. Of the 20-odd times I've taken a trip to Gillingham, this is how it is:

1. Fly Thursday night, arrive Friday morning.
2. Excellent pre-packaged sandwich from Boots with a funny tasting diet coke, bag of chips, chocolate bar to eat on the tube-ride into London.
3. Traditional Cornish pasty at Victoria to eat on the commuter train to Gillingham
4. Go to my friends home (I have a key), shower and power-nap. Pre dinner tea. Digestive biscuits. 
5. Dinner: Indian food. Beer
6. Saturday morning: CRUMPETS. BRITISH BACON. More Digestives
7. Saturday afternoon: Food shopping at the local super market. Dark chocolate digestive biscuits. Tea. Toast. 
8. Saturday eve: Fish n' Chips
9. Sunday morning: More crumpets. Probably Digestives.
10. Sunday day: Traditional Sunday dinner at my friend's sister's house. Beer in the evening if possible.
11. Monday: Another pre-packaged sandwich and a chocolate bar from a convenience store in the airport. Two large roles of dark chocolate Digestives in the carry-on.

Mr. Porky makes fine English beer....finer.

After not really doing this routine for so many years, doing the run-through now was both comforting and familiar, but also had the feeling of a habit of another person all together. First, I noticed I needed to cut some of the portions in half (one sandwich and one bag of chips instead of 2 each, a small pasty instead of a large, etc) because I certainly would have felt ill if I didn't.

Second, my friend joked that I was a creature of habit when I insisted on these things. She enjoys the habit, as it brings comfort and familiarity to her too, but still, it's all a bit lock-step. And it's a remnant of the lock-step of the typically poor way I used to eat, not just on vacation.

To be fair, there is a bit of flexibility -- I'm not manic about hitting these markers. The fact is that from my jaded NYC perspective, the dining options are not that great in England in general, and Gillingham specifically. And something like a family-filled homemade multi-course meal with hours of hanging out and conversation is hardly a bad habit to keep. It's not for nothing that "Sunday dinner" is a practically a non-denominational holy activity in British culture, and one I wish was more common in the U.S.

Dalene's sacrement. Ain't no pudding like a Yorkshire pudding 'cause a Yorkshire pudding DON'T STOP!

When I was a student in London in the early 90s, I was struck by the utter lack of McDonalds (not the case anymore) and the shockingly bad quality of two New York staples, pizza and Chinese (still the case.) Hot dogs literally tasted frighteningly of lips and buttholes, the best thing in restaurants and in pre-packaged food from a supermarket was Indian, and any ice cream that was not expensive seemed to use beef-fat, which is a shockingly horrible sensory experience. Burger King has a nicely done vegetarian bean burger. I could go on, a reverie of a whole different food life I lived decades ago and thousands of miles away.

If life and works continues at it has been, I hope to go back in about two years, but with one potentially major routine-killer -- I'm going to bring my daughter, and I know enough about kids that you don't just need flexibility, you need to make sacrifices sometimes to keep them safe and happy. Hopefully I can accustom Edie to Indian food and fish n' chips by then, or there will be more than one visit to the Gillingham High Street McDonalds in two year's time.

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WEEKLY AVERAGE: 2436

Shortened week, as I flew Thursday night. Not particularly happy about the constant budget-busting, but not quite alarmed yet, either.

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MONDAY COUNT: 2035

SLEPT: 9:30pm-5:30am, 8 hrs
After changing the clocks effectively making me wake at 2am on Sunday then having a great kid & friend filled day, I hit the bed hard and had my first good, deep sleep in a week or so.

AM SNACK: 5:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:45am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 285 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, falafel, chicken mushroom soup, health salad, pickles, 530cal
Made this soup last week, no calorie count, but everything in it (homemade defatted chicken stock, shiritaki macaroni noodles, fresh and dried mushrooms with it's stock) is low cal naturally, so I'm guestimating the pint of soup at 50 cal. Feels honest.

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, oat crackers with onion marmalade from Grazebox, 210 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with bottled tomato dressing, 110 cal

DINNER: 6:30pm, tilapia, asparagus, 440 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7pm, cheetos, 300 cal

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TUESDAY COUNT: 2665

SLEPT: 8:30pm-3:30am, 7 hrs

AM SNACK: 4:30am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 9:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10:30am, Steel cut oatmeal, 300 cal

LUNCH: 1pm, chicken meatballs, steamed string beans, madras lentils, pickles, 680 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, with nori crackers from Grazebox, 160cal

PM SNACK: 4:45pm, poppa salad with bottled tomato dressing,  110 cal

DINNER: 6:45pm, grilled breast, roasted brussel sprouts, kimchi, 545 cal

EVENING SNACK: 7:15pm, cheezits, 210 cal

EVENING GORGE: 7:30pm, peanut butter, +/- 500 cal
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WEDNESDAY COUNT: 2665

SLEPT: 8:30pm-12:30am, 1:30am-4:30am, 7 hrs
Had another break this evening, this time with chocolate syrup. Felt right, a snack, not a gorge.

AM SNACK: 4:45am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 7:15am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 10am, Fage whole yogurt with honey, vanilla and almonds, 285 cal

LUNCH: 1pm,tofu and grilled onions deglazed in wine with sirracha, quinoa, roasted brussels, pickles, 700 cal

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, wasabi peas  from graze box, 230 cal

PM SNACK: 5pm, poppa salad with bottled tomato dressing, 110 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, cashews, 320 cal

DINNER: 8:15pm, shirataki stir fry with shrimp, shitaki mushrooms and oyster sauce, 360 cal 

EVENING SNACK: 8:30p, almond butter & chocolate syrup, +/- 500 cal
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THURSDAY COUNT: 2380

SLEPT: 10:30pm-4am, 5.5 hrs
Left work early for the airport. Not as off-the-hook as it could have been, in preparation of the hard-core eating that will happen all weekend.

AM SNACK: 4:15am, iced green tea, 0 cal

BREAKFAST: 6:45am, apple/beet/celery/carrot/cayenne/cucumber/ginger juice, 160 cal

BREAKFAST 2: 9:15am, Steel cut oatmeal, 300 cal

LUNCH: 1pm,almond butter and grape jelly on whole wheat, health salad, pickles, 610 cal
Brought brussels, but didn't eat them, just didn't feel like it.

PM SNACK: 3 pm, momma salad, Italian crackers from graze box, 240 cal

PM SNACK: 6pm, kind bar, 210 cal

AIRPORT DINING: 7pm, chicken nuggets, fries, diet coke, 860 cal