What’s better in Britain than in the US

Tuesday, 16 August 2005, 16:09

Lionel Shriver returns to the United States and reminds Brits what she is missing:

I’ve been exasperated to witness the same dwindling and consolidation of small dairy concerns in the UK that has destroyed the cup of coffee in the United States. British milk is merely pasteurised, whereas American agri-business deconstructs the stuff like Derrida, heats it to temperatures common to the planet Mercury, and then puts Humpty-Dumpty together again, a project famously unsuccessful. So dreary is even the full-fat version in the US that on cereal I actually prefer rice milk. As British superstores drive milk’s price to rock bottom and the country’s dairy farmers out of business, here I am yearning to pay more for this rare product. You have wonderful milk. Nurture it. American milk is rubbish.

Also better in Britain is the price of breakfast cereals, television news, and — if you’re in New York in August — the weather, believe it or not.

Entry Filed under: Special Relationships