To think traditional English food is overrated?

What has a Toby Carvery got to do with anything? That’s cheap British food. Go have a roast dinner at Hawksmoor in London.

It's not good food that's why.

A good roast is a beautiful thing. Toby Carvery is not that.

George Orwell wrote a really good essay on English food. It’s pretty short and easy to read but very interesting. He vigorously defends it. But it’s more things like cheese and beer and pickles. If anyone is interested, I’d also recommend his essay on the perfect British pub and the perfect cup of tea.

It's foul if you can't cook it. If you have it done well it's great.

Basically the same for any food, anywhere. Do it right, it's nice (taste subjective of course) do it badly, foul.

British food is fabulous in the hands of a good cook.

Nothing can beat the taste of the first fresh English strawberries grown in the Garden of England.

Or Stilton cheese, Bramley apples, Cumberland sausage, pork pie, Quince jelly, wild garlic, asparagus, cherries from Kent...

You might want to read some of Gary Rhodes' books on British cookery. Brit food is not dull.

Totally agree with you. My idea of a nightmare is a Toby Carvery.

I do like some English food, but as cuisines go, we don’t have the best! also very meat/ fish heavy. There aren’t many super interesting things done with veg/ carbs- mainly roast or boiled veg.

Best food I’ve eaten is Thai/ Vietnamese. Such a good balance of flavours when done well. Also eating like a king off £2 makes it taste better somehow!!!

I often wonder what born and bred southeast Asians must think when they visit the UK… 😂😂😂

My ds would agree with you, everything he eats has to be spicy and he loathes things like casseroles and cottage pie. I don’t agree - I adore very spicy food and love every cuisine I have tried, but I do also love traditional British food. For sheer savoury, warm, satisfying delight you can’t beat a proper shepherds pie with seasonal vegetables, a rich brown gravy, sausages with creamy mash and garden peas, a really good steak pie…and old-school puddings with custard.

I think there’s often a poseur dimension to anti-British food attitudes, people want to appear adventurous and sophisticated. But it’s perfectly possible to love Asian/Mediterranean/African cuisine and still get excited about beef stew with dumplings and jam roly-poly.

Crab sandwich?
Cream tea?
Cottage pie?
Chicken and leek pie?
Cornish pasties?
Crumble?

One random letter of the alphabet and so many delicious things. If you think British food is shit then learn to fucking cook.

YABU because it's acknowledged as pretty bad everywhere you go, so it's not overrated at all.
Personally I think the problem is not with the concept of the food itself, but that the average person has very low cooking skills and spends very little time thinking about, sourcing and preparing food. Ready meals are too available so it's too easy not to eat well.

Isn't it because so much of our staple diet has been imported? We can't even claim fish and chips as being British as Jewish immigrants introduced them centuries ago. I eat a lot of Italian food but love a roast dinner with Yorkshire puds, a steak and ale pie, a fish pie and a full English breakfast especially in the winter when it's cold, wet and miserable.

Traditional British food is not the way it is due to intention of it being great cuisine. It is the way it is due to the enormous impact of our wartime history.

Doesn’t make it any better, of course, but there are reasons beyond the British being shit at food.

I forgot about the sticky toffee pudding - another favourite of my American DH!

Personally, I feel it’s down to the cooking.
Done well, British food can be absolutely fantastic.
A very well cooked roast dinner, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding.
a full English, with black pudding.
Lancashire hotpot.
Bread & butter pudding.
Sticky toffee pudding.
Eton mess.
Toad in the hole.
Steak & ale pie.
Crumbles.
Crumpets.
Scotch eggs.
Beef wellington.
Bubble & Squeak.
Jam roly poly.
Bakewell tart.

So many to list. I ❤️ classic British food done well.

I’m married to an American, and when we first met (in the U.K.), he had all the typical American comments about British food….”it’s bland”, “it’s underseasoned” etc…..
Turns out he’d just had shit British food 🤷🏻‍♀️😂
Now he has been shown the way 😂
Proper, home cooked, from scratch British food can be wonderful when done properly.
Roast dinners, a great full English breakfast, shepherds pie, beef stew, chicken and leek pie, slow-braised beef short-rib (currently in my oven!) with creamy mashed potatoes 🤤
All of the above have become his comfort foods now!

That is exactly the point. “Traditional” English food is lousy.
A roast is ok now and then but it isn’t always eaten on a Sunday (every Sunday, like it used to be) because it is drab. “Traditional” English food is drab. I would much rather a pasta, fajitas, burritos, Caesar salad, curry, burgers, chilli…… the variety is amazing and so
much nicer than meat, veg and potatoes.

Lancashire hotpot

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips

The OP stated, 'English' food not British food.

Personally, I think fish and chips can be very good but it can also be very bad!

Yep I'm the same, I find standard British food a bit dull, I much prefer Thai/Vietnamese/Italian etc

My opinions....
Fish and Chips - fantastic.
Jam sandwiches - fantastic.
Victoria Sponge - fantastic.
Roast Dinner - urrgh.

Do the 'English' still eat like that then, what every single night something from your list, I can't remember the last time I even had a roast let alone the other stuff but I do have scandi heritage so wasn't purely brought up English food.

Yorkshire pudding is quite possibly the best food ever invented.

I don't think it's overated because I only ever hear how crap it is and everyone else's cuisine is better. I've never heard people say its good.

I actually think it's underrated. There are lots of nice regional dishes that make the most of seasonal ingredients for people on a budget.