In Defense of English Cooking by George Orwell is the eighteenth of The Essays that are placed on the 917th spot on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where the algorithm changes the hierarchy, who knows what the data used is, but if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the arena, and the GOAT – you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html so maybe you take the bait and click

 

In Defense of English Cooking by George Orwell is the eighteenth of The Essays that are placed on the 917^th spot on The Greatest Books of All Time site, where the algorithm changes the hierarchy, who knows what the data used is, but if it takes into account the ‘reading public’, then the chefs d’oeuvre will descend, and the likes of The Da Vinci Code will dominate the arena, and the GOAT – you have more than five thousand reviews on books from the aforementioned site and others, with notes on films from The New York Times’ Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made and other lists waiting for you on my blog and YouTube channel https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html so maybe you take the bait and click

 

 

9 out of 10

 

The Essays of George Orwell are a pleasure to read https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/inside-whale-and-other-essays-poetry.html and they touch on such a wide range of subjects, from Dickens to English Cooking, from The Spanish War to W.B. Yeats, he writes about Marrakech and Socialism, Poetry and The Microphone

 

In Defense of English Cooking is also entertaining, although the situation has changed, indeed, this is the case for most, or all of the other essays, in general, there is no British Empire left, and the details have moved so much

 

Nevertheless, there are many aspects https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/wells-hitler-and-world-state-by-george.html that deserve our attention because they signal dangers that are not just around the corner, but we have had a war in Ukraine for years now, and Rusia wants to expand, not end it.

Maybe I should try and end the theme of English cooking and move on to what interests me – about you, I could not say, except it is unlikely that anyone reads this far, if they look, they may see the first lines, the ‘rest is silence’, and it should be, there are masterpieces there waiting, why waste time here, it is wrong

 

George Orwell speaks about the tourists that authorities would try to attract, and they now have so many coming to Britain, he talks about the many different cuisines, Greek, Italian (maybe he mentioned those, though I would not swear it) that are present, but now there would be a multitude of choices, I am sure

About the reputation, I could not say, there was a general condemnation, or should I say dislike of British -sorry, English – cooking and one said that the best English cooking is just taken from the French or something like that, Orwell speaks about the great apples, cakes, pudding and many other dishes, especially kippers

 

I have visited England twice, if briefly, and I must say that I enjoyed the food, albeit I do not remember much, expect there was plenty (thank God for that) and at breakfast, I could take as much and anything I liked, Swedish buffet it was called back then, in the 90s, and we came out of the cold, we had lived under Ceausescu

There is some bragging at the end, about my role in the Revolution and what not, but the point here is that plenty of eatable food was fantastic, after the shortages of the commie era, when we had to queue for bread and anything else, plus, there were things, bananas, etc. you would not see, unless you were with the nomenclature

 

Ergo yes, I agree with the defense of English food, I would like to eat that kind, and any other, with sweets, ice-cream, cake – oh my God – right now and in the days to come, expect I run- there is the photo there at the top, you can see it if you are on the blog, but on Goodreads, it does not show for some reason

I tend to gain weight presto, with all the workouts, and ten kilometer runs every other day, I still put on, if there are sweets in the menu, besides other calories rich foods, so there you go, give English, Mexican, Thai and any other type

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – I am on Goodreads as Realini Ionescu, at least for the moment, if I keep on expressing my views on Orange Woland aka TACO, it may be a short-lived presence

Also, maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/09/do-you-have-any-feedback.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the benefits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html  

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’