Page 3 | To think traditional English food is overrated?

ThatJoyousCyanReader · 2025-04-01T19:50:52+00:00

I’ve always heard people say English food is bland or uncreative, and to be honest, I kind of see their point. Apart from a good roast dinner or fish and chips, what actually stands out? AIBU to think that other cuisines just do it better?

Genevieva · 03/04/2025 22:17

RedToothBrush · 03/04/2025 17:11

I was reading not so long ago that there's this new trend in the US for British food. Think it was called something like tavern but it wasn't. Think pub but inspired by the hobbit and harry potter in a olde worlde type idea with barmaids in god awful buxom tops. And it's all comfort food like shepherds pie.

So there's a growing appreciation from others for things we perhaps take for granted and think of as ordinary.

Harry Potter food like treacle tart is basically 1970s/80s British school food. The only thing isn’t is the Halloween celebration with pumpkins. Halloween festivities were frowned on back then.

Genevieva · 03/04/2025 22:14

Gogogo12345 · 03/04/2025 21:18

I tried a summer pudding last night Downright disgusting

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When I was a teenager I had a weekend job working for a wedding caterer. She made individual summer puddings in trimmed MacDonald’s coke cups - bigger than standard disposable cups but smaller than a pudding bowl. It’s just the right size. I’d recommend it over making a big one.

Genevieva · 03/04/2025 22:11

springbringshope · 03/04/2025 19:54

The 13th century cookbook didn’t have several pasta recipes including macaroni and lasagne. It had makerouns which was in layers like lasagne. It’s a single pasta like dish similar to mac and cheese. So even with a product similar to pasta the English managed to make the least inspired dish. Mac and cheese. Pretty much sums it up really.

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It had two. Written in something midway between Norman French and English, so yes, the words have evolved a little over the last 700 years. The lasagna equivalent (pre tomatoes, but recognisable as the direct ancestor of lasagna today because it was layered pasta with cheese and meat broth) was spelled loseyn and said lasan. The macaroni equivalent was, as you say, spelled makerouns and was recognisably like macaroni cheese today. Standardised spellings didn’t come about until the 18th century with Samuel Johnson.

Gogogo12345 · 03/04/2025 21:18

DataColour · 03/04/2025 14:57

Last night I had a homemade summer pudding with double cream at a friend's house. It was YUM.

I tried a summer pudding last night Downright disgusting

DataColour · 03/04/2025 20:11

Haha DH said the same thing when I got home and told him about the summer pudding! But it's possible to buy frozen berries I guess. I've never made one myself.

BlakeCarrington · 03/04/2025 19:54

TheMousePipes · 01/04/2025 21:17

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.

Eloquently put, I couldn’t agree more.

springbringshope · 03/04/2025 19:54

Genevieva · 03/04/2025 16:45

We do eat pasta, including macaroni and lasagna. This whole idea of ‘English food’ vs ‘Italian food’ etc is so inaccurate. Tomatoes and potatoes arrived in Europe long after we started eating pasta, but somehow everyone will say pasta is necessarily Italian and not British, even though it’s eaten here ubiquitously.

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The 13th century cookbook didn’t have several pasta recipes including macaroni and lasagne. It had makerouns which was in layers like lasagne. It’s a single pasta like dish similar to mac and cheese. So even with a product similar to pasta the English managed to make the least inspired dish. Mac and cheese. Pretty much sums it up really.

BritishFoodFan · 03/04/2025 19:47

RampantIvy · 03/04/2025 18:02

It's April 😁💐

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😅

True!

Still stands though!

RampantIvy · 03/04/2025 18:02

BritishFoodFan · 03/04/2025 17:25

Summer pudding in March??

You are being V unreasonable.

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It's April 😁💐

BritishFoodFan · 03/04/2025 17:25

DataColour · 03/04/2025 14:57

Last night I had a homemade summer pudding with double cream at a friend's house. It was YUM.

Summer pudding in March??

You are being V unreasonable.

RedToothBrush · 03/04/2025 17:11

I was reading not so long ago that there's this new trend in the US for British food. Think it was called something like tavern but it wasn't. Think pub but inspired by the hobbit and harry potter in a olde worlde type idea with barmaids in god awful buxom tops. And it's all comfort food like shepherds pie.

So there's a growing appreciation from others for things we perhaps take for granted and think of as ordinary.

RampantIvy · 03/04/2025 17:07

I think lots of English people value cheapness and convenience over good food and traditional English food often needs time, skill and effort.

I think you have hit the nail on the head @Arseynal

I often see posts on MN from posters who say they "can't cook" as a badge of honour, when in reality they CBA to cook.

BigDahliaFan · 03/04/2025 16:53

springbringshope · 03/04/2025 16:08

Where are you going that you can’t find variety in local meals after 3 days?

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I think 3 days is a bit short to get bored, but if you go to France, Italy or Spain, (all of which cuisine I really like and could eat a lot of) outside of the cities it can be difficult to find Chinese food, or Indian or Thai. Whereas most UK towns and even villages have something that's got a bit of variety.

I'm not keen on German savoury food (love a pastry) and found the Turkish and Vietnamese restaurants great while there.

Genevieva · 03/04/2025 16:45

springbringshope · 03/04/2025 16:06

Yes but we don’t eat 13 century food now 😂
people aren’t commenting on what English ate 800 years ago. They are contrasting current English food compared to current Chinese/Italian/Spanish/Turkish food. Foods currently commonly eaten that involve far more flavour and actual combining of flavours. Not just whacked on a pan or heated in an oven

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We do eat pasta, including macaroni and lasagna. This whole idea of ‘English food’ vs ‘Italian food’ etc is so inaccurate. Tomatoes and potatoes arrived in Europe long after we started eating pasta, but somehow everyone will say pasta is necessarily Italian and not British, even though it’s eaten here ubiquitously.

CheekyPombear · 03/04/2025 16:29

Doitrightnow · 02/04/2025 09:50

I agree with some pps that it depends on the ingredients and how it's cooked. I've had some amazing roasts and some terrible ones. Some amazing sausages and some that are a crime against food. Similarly with fish and chips, chocolate cake, curry, pizza... Anything.

I love English food but also love Indian, Chinese, Greek, French.... But I've had bad versions of all of them.

I dont like greek food and i have been to greece three times.

MabelBayleylivesinWigan · 03/04/2025 16:29

OP…..a lazy uneducated comment. English and British, Welsh and Scottish (and Irish) food is wonderful. There are so many wonderful ingredients. How many apple varieties do we have? Cheeses? Breads? Beers? The quality of the meat? Wild game? Fish and shellfish? Stunning wines, ciders, whiskies, liqueurs and dairy produce.
An amazing array of vegetables and the most sublime berries. Jams, jellies, curds, butterscotches and Victoria plums.
I can cook. And cook very well. I cook from scratch most days.
Also foraging. Blackberries, rowan berries, wild garlic, sloes, sour cherries. Sea buckthorn. Amazing sea salts.
A beautiful shepherds or cottage pie. A light chicken broth with barley and fresh herbs from the garden.
A sausage roll made from scratch with salads from the garden and pickles.
Crab salads, sandwiches or crab cakes. Our desserts and puddings are things of beauty. Bannocks, bara briths, oatcakes, crusty cobs, cottage loaves. Trifles, syllabubs, meringues, scones and clotted cream…..We are not in medieval times.
Look carefully……and you will find 😍

CheekyPombear · 03/04/2025 16:27

Florsilvestredelcampo · 02/04/2025 16:20

I never understand why people go crazy for Eton Mess. It's not a recipe, it's a chef suddenly realising they've nothing to serve for dessert except broken meringue, cream and raspberries.

Me too eton mess is shi**.

CheekyPombear · 03/04/2025 16:21

BritishFoodFan · 03/04/2025 10:25

I'm going to say;

Absolutely effing stop your nonsense talking about heat.

I like food with heat, I made Jerk Chicken last weekend and the marinade had two Scotch bonnets in. It was really fruity with an excellent buildable heat.

Nothing crazy.

I have tried mock jerk chicken it was nice.

BumbleBeegu · 03/04/2025 16:13

Shepherds Pie 😘

skipdiddyskip · 03/04/2025 16:11

Pies and treacle tart spring to mind immediately. And curry!

springbringshope · 03/04/2025 16:11

Anonym00se · 03/04/2025 09:52

English food isn’t bland if it’s cooked properly. Delicate flavours which complement each other are a thing to behold. I detest food that is so full of spice that you can’t taste the beautiful vegetables or the meat. You may as well have added a tonne of chilli to a pile of mouldy old socks if chilli is the only flavour. It’s a desecration of good food.

You think the vast majority of English households are enjoying the best quality meats? And organic vegetables?
haaahaaaaaaaaaaaa

springbringshope · 03/04/2025 16:08

DataColour · 03/04/2025 13:25

Same here. I like the variety of food in the UK. When I'm on holiday elsewhere where there isn't a variety of cuisines, even if the food is great, I get bored after about 3 days of eating the same kind of food.

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Where are you going that you can’t find variety in local meals after 3 days?

springbringshope · 03/04/2025 16:06

Genevieva · 03/04/2025 14:04

My mother has an 18th century cook book. You might be surprised by how varied the recipes are. Lots of herbs, spices, unusual fruit and veg, year-round cuts of meat. There is a lemon chutney recipe I want to try making. A lot of people seem to think English food equates with recipes developed during the 40s/50s when we had rationing and overcooked school dinners, when it really doesn’t.

If you look at commentary about food by early visitors to England the ubiquitous comment is of the abundance of meat, especially beef. This is because England had a lot of green pastureland and our cattle were well fed, resulting in high quality meat that was often spit roasted and didn’t need to be adorned with additional flavours.

The 13th century cook book the Forme of Cury has the oldest recipes for lasagna and macaroni, shoeing we having been eating pasta for at least 700 years.

Yes but we don’t eat 13 century food now 😂
people aren’t commenting on what English ate 800 years ago. They are contrasting current English food compared to current Chinese/Italian/Spanish/Turkish food. Foods currently commonly eaten that involve far more flavour and actual combining of flavours. Not just whacked on a pan or heated in an oven

DataColour · 03/04/2025 14:57

Last night I had a homemade summer pudding with double cream at a friend's house. It was YUM.

Arseynal · 03/04/2025 14:18

I’m not English but I’m a fan of lots of English food. I think lots of English people value cheapness and convenience over good food and traditional English food often needs time, skill and effort. If you can’t cook very well then your shitty roast with powdered gravy is going to taste worse than fajita with a packet mix that a blind hamster could make. Almost all great English food is effortful or time consuming or both - mature cheese, hung meat, smoked fish, steamed puddings etc. things are slow cooked, steamed, risen, rubbed in - people cba. Some people are still tied into Norman snobbery about English meat needing no seasoning, unlike its poor french counterpart. It’s been about 1000 years now so maybe they’ll get over it soon.