Birmingham Cuisine

I went to Birmingham, the U.K.'s second largest city, to visit the old MG plant, which is now owned by the Chinese. It was interesting. The Chinese working there were nice. I ate in the canteen with the chairman, Mr. Wang.

It was the best meal I had during my short visit. The British food I had lived up to its reputation.

I was puzzled when a waitress at a pub asked if she could bring any "sauces" to accompany the "gammon in white onion sauce" that I had ordered (gammon is a kind of ham. The word comes from the same root as 'jambon' in French, which comes from 'jambe,' or leg, which also gives us the word 'gams.')

In any case, I said no, though the food turned out to be incredibly bland. Then, when my room service tray arrived in my hotel room that evening, the steak was accompanied by this array of sauces pictured above. Now I understood. The British rely on condiments to give flavor to their food.

This is Mr. Ji, one of the Chinese executives, inspecting a prototype of the MG TF, which will go on sale later this year.

This is the chairman, Mr. Wang, with a 1938 MG sedan. The Chinese are very excited about having bought such a venerable bit of British automotive history.

This is Mr. Wang in the office of Lord Austin, founder of the Austin Motor Company, which made Austin-Healey sports cars. The auto works that they bought sit on the sight of the original Austin company and it is one of the brands that they now own.