why do the brits grill tomatoes?

We had Russell at LBS last night, showing us some interesting ads and trying to tell us what makes a good ad. One of my goals in organising the event was to see what happens when you bring a very good advertising person in a business school environment.
It turned out to be a bit of a clash of cultures for me, at least semantically: on the one hand we had Russell talking about 'interesting', 'negative emotions', 'cultural phenomena'. On the other hand, you had an LBS professor arguing about 'strategic alignment', 'effectiveness', 'positioning'. On the third hand ( :-) ), you had the students who pretty much wanted to see some ads and have a laugh.
I suspect all parties left slightly annoyed, and I pretty much spent all night thinking about it.



I woke up this morning and I was still thinking about it. I left home to go for an interview with a very intelligent woman at one of my favourite advertising agencies. It was more of a chat rather than an interview, as we both new that they don't have openings at the moment.
It turned out to be a very pleasant experience. We talked a bit about what an MBA is and how it might help in an advertising agency. Also we talked about how advertising is a discipline caught in between art and business (i.e. about the clash of cultures), and how exciting this is.

After leaving the building I got caught in 'severe tube delays on the circle, district, hammersmith and Godknowswhatother line'. It was pounding with rain, so I found shelter in a very British cafe and spent a good half-hour there, meditating over a lovely English breakfast. why the hell do the Brits grill tomatoes?