Image Transcription: Reddit
Is British food really that bad?, submitted by /u/the_penis_taker69 to /r/NoStupidQuestions
astralnautical
If made correctly; yes.
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I love the special this is from so much.
“Boiling everything is a really super smart way to cook everything.”
I see this a fair bit, but like our main things are Full English (fried), Fish & Chips (fried), and Roast Dinner (roasted, shockingly), so where does this come from?
It’s a quote from SNL Sarcasm 101
Thanks for sharing, enjoyed that. RIP Matthew Perry
Like the entire “hurr British food bad” meme in general, it was just made up by Americans who have very little knowledge of the going on of things outside North America. I’m gonna get crucified for that statement, but it’s true.
You’re right, British foods are typically baked, fried, or roasted. I really don’t know where this idea of boiling stuff comes from.
In Italy it’s common to joke about British food too.
Yes, because the stereotype was started by Americans.
Another common stereotype is bad teeth, despite British teeth being healthier than that of the US (or Italy) by a fair margin.
Because of the US’s ability to publish media globally, they dictate a lot of stereotypes in media.
during the rationing period I think boiling was more common. not sure why, but my gran would boil the hell out of sprouts. rendering them awful. always thought I hated them.
I think in the 70s and 80s in the US people were boiling the shit outta vegetables as well. I don’t know who thought turning every vegetable into watery mush was a good idea, but it’s no wonder kids from that time grew up hating peas and brussel sprouts
They did used to taste worse as well though, the ones you buy in the shops now are a different variety to the ones back in the day
My granny would boil cabbage until white, that was her way of telling it was done. I used to hate cabbage.
Then I found that you can fry it with butter and bacon and black pepper. So good… although I’ll admit that boiled was probably healthier 😁.
Boiling is pretty rare here. Pretty much the only consistently boiled thing I’ve had are potatoes.
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I thought this was just a meme until I went there earlier this year. The food ranges from bad to bland.
The only legitimately delicious British food I had was a parmo. They got one thing right. I’d eat that every day.
It largely depends on where you go, and where you eat. It’s kinda like saying that I hate American food because I only visited Seattle and ate at shitty shrimp places.
It also depends on what you refer to as “British food”. It’s essentially comfort food, so you won’t find many places trying to do the gourmet version of it without busting your wallet open. The great thing about food in the UK is that you can get food from basically all cultures everywhere (if you’re in a city).
Not to ruin the circle jerk but for as much as you can go to Greggs and ignore the Fat Duck, you can also go to Taco Bell and ignore The French Laundry, or Délifrance and ignore Guy Savoy…
Where did you eat, my man?
Mostly in pubs, but I did try a few places. Carvery buffet, a few different full English breakfast places. Those are the things I’d chalk up to bland but not bad. Brits truly do use less seasoning from what I could tell. Even the takeaway I tried was pretty boring, and all you have to do is fry and salt that stuff.
I don’t think your comparison of fast food vs. fine dining is fair. In the US, and the few other countries I’ve been, “pub food” or family style restaurants are usually always good. They’re not high quality but still tasty. I’ve only been to 7 countries so I’m not super well traveled, but the UK is the only place I’ve been where I consistently didn’t enjoy the food. I can only remember one meal in Serbia I didn’t enjoy.
Idk man, maybe you just got unlucky. I just got back from London and all the meals I had were well seasoned - didn’t matter if it was a pub, a fast casual place, or a fine dining restaurant.
Not enough corn syrup is my guess.
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The meme is funny (it is!) until people take it too literally.
Yes there are things in traditional English cuisine that are atrocious (from difficult times for some of them) but I believe what counts as English food is what you can find in England today.
If you want cheap then you have Indian, Chinese etc in addition to the usual fast food places. Fish and chips is good but you have to let go off your prejudices. The fish is super crispy outside and flaky inside but bland. It’s meant to be eaten covered in salt with tartare sauce or your vinegar soaked chips.
True the cheap traditional food can be meh compared to Italy or France. If you want really nice English food you’ll have to pay more. Gastro pubs, genuine fancy “British cuisine” restaurants are everywhere but you need to be ready to pay the price.
In addition many other countries also have soso traditional food (I think NL, DK etc according to their own citizens). But the problem obviously is that the UK are more fun to target, because the UK wants to be perceived as a superpower in other aspects as they once were. So yeah let’s make fun of their food.
because the UK wants to be perceived as a superpower in other aspects as they once were.
And because they colonized a lot of countries and pillaged their spices, and then proceeded to do absolutely nothing with them.
I do that a lot in games, I collect all the collectibles and weapons and potions, but I proceed not to use them.
Common misconception, as well. Take for instance our sausages: Lincolnshire and Cumberland being the most popular, both well seasoned. Or Pork Faggots (which are a type of meatball and gravy/sauce dish).
Pork Faggots sounds like a rural Arkansas insult.
Case in point:
That looks decent tbh. I’ll certainly eat that up
Haha, racism is funny!
You can’t be racist against the British, they’re a colonial powerhouse. The British basically invented racism.
What exactly do you think that word means?
Where is the racism?
How is British cuisine a race of all things?
the post is specifically targeting english food, not all white people food. There are plenty of white cultures that have amazing food. English isn’t really one of them.
No time for common sense, there’s Offense to be taken!
(Or is that offence)
Am a British expat, the stereotype is true. Our most famous dishes in the UK are typically stolen from other places like India. And even then, we manage to ruin it. No one can colonise chicken korma more tragically than the British.
Nowadays I live in a European city with every type of cuisine available…heck even the Irish pubs are here. But no sign of British restaurants. Probably because they’d close within a month due to lack of customers.
Nah mate. I don’t know where you come from but if this is how you think about British food then your parents just didn’t know how to cook. Shepherds pie, Roast dinner, Welsh rarebit, meat pies beef wellington, even simple meals like bangers and mash, toad in the hole, fish and chips are really good when you pit a bit of effort in.
Then not to mention desserts, scones, Victoria sponge cake, trifles, apple pie, sticky toffee pudding, tarts, custard, biscuits etc.
And the cheese, we have something like 700 different kinds of cheese in the UK famously including Cheddar, Wensleydale, Stilton, red liecester etc.
I don’t know where you come from but if this is how you think about British food then your parents just didn’t know how to cook.
I mean this is also pretty true to the best of my memory. My stepmum could cook but she did Turkish cuisine.
I always thought shepherds pie was Irish but I just looked it up and I was wrong. It is infact British.
Never had Welsh rarebit or beef wellington so I’ll take your word on it. They do look tempting though.
The roast dinners I remember weren’t exactly great, but that might just be a me thing.
You’re definitely right about the others though, can’t believe I overlooked them, even if I do prefer Mediterranean fish and chips.
And yeah, you got me good on the deserts, some of those are something special.
You know what? Fair play mate. Consider me schooled.
Now imagine that count of (granted, good British dishes) multiplied by about 10x-100x and you just got Greek Cuisine, or Portuguese, or even Spanish (so not even mentioning French or Italian).
Mind you, it’s not only the Brits that have but a handful of really good local dishes: from my experience of also living in The Netherlands, they’re about the same in that domain: a handful of good dishes which is but a fraction by of what you would find in the local cuisine pretty any Southern European country.
While it’s just outright deceitful to portray Britain as devoid of good local dishes, the local cuisine in general (both in variety and in terms of what the average person normally cooks at home) isn’t exactly great.
You can have scones in some cafes in Germany
A) immigrant. You’re an immigrant like me
B) yeah but I miss the biscuits
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yeah that works too. Hello fellow immigrant!
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are they that hard to find where you are?
Not if you’re stuck in the 70s and are partial to Lemon Puffs 🤢
Haha oof! I’ll pass!
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Expat is when you’re talking from B*ittish context, immigrant when talking from the unfortunate hosting country’s context
Interesting take. I’m an immigrant and an emigrant, who loves my host country and brings value to it
You’re a twat
Relax, I’m having fun on just Brits
Someone had told me a lot about fish and chips but also said I’ve only eaten fake Swedish versions. Then we heard of a British restaurant supposedly run by British people but by the time we actually went there it had closed.
Of course this was 2020, Brexit had just happened, and the pandemic was at its highest which affected all restaurants.
Someone had told me a lot about fish and chips but also said I’ve only eaten fake Swedish versions.
Depending on where you are, Irish bars that serve food also do fish and chips very similarly to the British style.
so true stereotypes aren’t racist?
British is not a race. It’s a nation and a culture
You could say that my country has the most boring music of all time while the Brits have the best one and it wouldn’t make you a racist person but a man of culture.
Now begin a sentence with “white people are…” and I wouldn’t let you finish it.
Now begin a sentence with “white people are…” and I wouldn’t let you finish it.
White people are humans too.
« Listen here you little shit »
no, no, that’s not what I said.
so true stereotypes aren’t racist?
I know what you said
Define racism and you’ll get your answer.
Racism is linking unrelated facts to racial traits.
« White people can’t jump » is racist « French people are grouchy » is not
I mean…the stereotype is that British cuisine is bad…and it is infact bad.
That’s not to say that no Brits can cook, although thai green curry definitely needs to take out a restraining order against Jamie Oliver (context: see YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vksB2S90FVY).
But when it comes to British dishes that aren’t fucking cakes, all there is are various bit of shit that you have to smother in gravy to get any taste, the same way an absolute monster smothers a steak in ketchup.
So no, I wouldn’t call it xenophobic because it’s totally true. It’s certainly not racist because no racial stuff is involved.
Edit: I overlooked some dishes of British origin that can, infact be amazing. I’m still leaving this up, but yeah, turns out I forgot a few things.
Racist against what? Tan, brown, slightly darker brown food?
I mean this is the British we’re talking about here, that food is going to look like Vantablack.
To paraphrase one of their most brilliant sons:
“That,” he said, “that… is really bad for the eyes.”
It was a roast of classic, simple design, like a flattened salmon, twenty yards long, very clean, very sleek. There was just one remarkable thing about it.
“It’s so… black!” said Ford Prefect. “You can hardly make out its shape… light just seems to fall into it!”
The blackness of it was so extreme that it was almost impossible to tell how close you were standing to it.
“Your eyes just slide off it…” said Ford in wonder.
Pigs in blankets are amazing and much nicer than the American pigs in a blanket.
Which is basically a shitty sausage roll.
Its supposed to be a large breakfast sausage wrapped in a pancake and covered in syrup. The ones you find in stores are the equivalent of an inbred Habsburg.
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This has probably been posted and upvoted by people who put salad on the same plate as a roast dinner.
Hmm. I’ve lived in two very different countries and always had salad on the side of… Everything.
It’s interesting to find that it’s not done there. In which situations do you eat salad?
this is tangential to the general thread of salad and weird food culture, so i’m just going to leave it as a reply to your comment.
I grew up in the south in the USA. I’m, therefore, southern. Ergo, I grew up with southern cuisine.
Fast forward to my mid thirties. I now live in France. I invited some of my non-southern and non-american friends over for a thanksgiving dinner one year. I served fruit salad, as one does, on the side of dinner. Apparently that’s weird. Nobody else eats fruit salad as a dinner side except southerners, apparently. Also, the non-americans were weirded out by eating cranberry sauce on the bird.
The famous ikea swedish meatballs come with lingonberry marmelade on the meat, so it’s not unheard of
I think meatballs without lingonsås are not worth it. :) In our local IKEA there’s even a dispenser so you can get as much as you want.
Dude salad and fruit salad are completely different things
That’s just like your opinion, man.
I read that in the voice of the hippie from that 70s show. I hope it’s close to yours, kind stranger.
Close enough, it’s actually a quote from another hippie from the film “the big Lebowski”
“I will have the spaghetti and a side salad. If the salad comes on top I send it back.”
I’ll have the gabagool
the gabagol? pass it here!
Is a salad side not normal in some places?
Everyone hates apple pie
Or mac and cheese
