To think traditional English food is overrated?

No, OP, I think most cuisines are down to how well they are executed.

A lot of northern cuisines are more stodgy than places that are warmer, but that is as it should be.

It can't be overated when everyone is always going on about how terrible it is. I love all the things pp have mentioned. Eat other cuisines too of course but this thread is making me crave good pub food. Oh and don't forget all our glorious beer!

I don't think of it as being bland.

I enjoy things like English asparagus, Craster kippers, Kentish strawberries, Cumberland sausage, Bury black pudding, Stilton and Wensleydale cheese, English apple varieties such a Bramley and Russets.
I like a lot of the traditional cakes and puddings too.

I think English cuisine suffered a lot during the war rationing, plus that rationing was continued for so long after the war ended. It meant that a whole generation never learned to cook with plentiful good quality ingredients.

Also, England was one of the first countries to industrialise, with vast numbers of the population abandoning farming for a life in the town. This meant that not only were traditional culinary skills and recipes lost, but people needed food that was easy and quick to cook and cheap to buy.
That attitude to food has remained, which partly explains why Asian and Mexican are so popular today.
France and Italy industrialised more slowly than England, so the population held on to their regional culinary traditions much better than in England.

Maybe it’s foul when you cook it.

What you’ve said is very rude.

A cobbler can be sweet or savoury.

I think that proviso applies to all food, I've had some ropey Italian/Thai/Indian etc. The best Indian food I've ever has was in New Zealand! Most of the food from other nations bears little resemblance to that food served in its own country, most is adapted to local tastes wherever in the world that might be. Lets face it, the Americans sell 'Cheddar' cheese that bears no resemblance to the real thing.

My grandma used to cook lots of fish dishes, and made an amazing dish which she called a cobbler, which had sort of scones above a casserole.

I always think of English food as home cooked. I don’t think I have ever eaten it outside the home to the same standard.

I forgot to.say that cooking with hot spices is easy. They dull the taste buds and hide poor ingredients.

However, a properly peppery Cornish pasty, a saffron bun, a decent hot crossed bun, proper West country faggots with mace all use spices

And I did not mention black pudding...spiced to perfection, a quality black pud is a thing of beauty.

I like English food. I quite like Italian, Chinese, French and possibly other cuisines. I admit I’m unadventurous in choosing foods and I really really don’t like hot spicy foods. I guess I’m in the minority because so much food in pubs and restaurants is spicy and I have little choice.
I often cook for up to 12 people and it’s unapologetically English food. My guests eat spicy stuff but still come back for more of my ‘shite food’
Some people have an educated palate (I haven’t) and others have one ruined by addictive heat from chillies.

YABU @ThatJoyousCyanReader.

Roast duck
Potted shrimp
Smoked eel
Asparagus with butter
Rhubarb crumble and custard
Potato and leek soup
Great puddings
Rack of lamb
Amazing cheeses

Get a better cook.

I love a good shepherds pie, delicious stews and dumplings etc but as much of our culinary heritage is shared with our neighbours across the channel, are you criticising French food? Beef stew, boef bourgonon (can’t spell French) are the same basically, and roasts are not exclusively British either, our history in the south is Norman and prior German!

I like it.

The sheer number of cheeses we have is really a delight.

The humble sausage roll when done well is amazing.

erm, I don't hear many people rate it highly? Certainly not by non UK people.

Yes, find it very underwhelming and overrated by English people. Just a load of mash and variants of potato. Still, could be worse, could be Scandinavian cuisine, or even worse, the Netherlands.

Sorry to disagree but I think your wrong! I read a brilliant book recently that covered English food, it was about the switch to coal from wood as a source of heat in English homes. It happened in basically 1560 to 1620. Therefore, we had a more stable longer lasting heat source which meant we could roast and boil food for much longer. Hence all the steamed puds, roast joints of meat (we'd always roasted but via spits which needed effort, lost the fat and often charred the meat), toast became an easy snack.

The best of our cuisine:
English cheese.
Cornish pasties
Pork pies
Fish, chips and mushy peas
Chicken tikka masala (invented in Scotland)
Christmas pud
Roast spuds in goose grease
Bacon sarni.
Ham and mustard sarni
Faggots
Bakewell tart
Custard slice
Brookmans (small baker long closed) bread and butter

I think one problem here is the association of 'traditional English food' with working class fayre from a very limited budget combined with the impact of rationing.

That's not particularly reflective of what you can cook and how well it can be cooked. Especially with an abundance of good ingredients and knowing how to cook well rather than basic level skills.

Not everyone ate like this. The 1930s had a period of surprising middle class decadence in the UK.

Our climate and availability of ingredients are very much in play here - if you can get hold of certain seasonal things that are less commercial there are some real treats out there.

And we do deserts amazingly well. Give us credit for that.

Agree . As long as there are good ingredients any meal can be delicious if it’s cooked well and with someone that knows how to cook .

Wow what sort of post is this @ThatJoyousCyanReader do I take it you're not British/English? If you're not I don't give a flying f about your opinion.

Us Brits are a live and let live lot, so you eat wtf you like and leave us to decide what we want to eat. Many gastro pubs serve British fayre and both are fabulous and do well out of it.

I can cook many cuisines, my dad was a chef, but I measure cuisine by my fussy dogs. They won't eat pasta, Mediterranean, Thai, Chinese, Mexican (without heavy spices obviously) etc. but by gosh they wolf English food.

I don’t dislike traditional British food but I wouldn’t care if I never had it again and so many other countries cuisine is more interesting, flavoursome and exciting. (Prepares to be flamed)

I think it’s underrated. I’m veggie so probably nothing I eat is particularly traditional but I love the veggie versions of shepherds pie (brown lentils) and roasts. Also love lots of other cuisines but good English cooking can be wonderful.

Staffordshire oatcakes are amazing

Anyone else feeling hungry 😆

no English food cooked well is delicious.
perhaps you have never eaten good English food, or you have a poor palate.