To think traditional English food is overrated?

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.

Don't forget that the cuisine of the UK was dictated by the weather in the same way Greece has salads etc. We needed stodgy food.

I agree. If cooked properly! Plus who doesn't love a jam roly poly?

It's not overrated because nobody likes it. There's a reason we have more international restaurants and takeaways than anywhere else in the world

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.

I don't know... a nice stew in the slow cooker is fantastic to come home to on cold winter evenings!

As always, homemade food is better than shop-bought (e.g. my leek and potato soup is excellent, but unbearable from a tin). There are some bland meals, like in any cuisine, but you can jazz them up with a bit of Worcestershire sauce or something, or have your English favourites on days off from Indian or Thai cuisine.

English puddings are generally fairly good, and were the best thing offered on school dinners (school jam roly-poly and custard, anyone?). Yorkshire puddings are brilliant and versatile, and if you're from the north, your blood is probably made up of 50% gravy. I was horrified when I moved down south and couldn't find gravy granules, except in a tiny Co-Op; I felt like I was buying an illicit product! There are also some regional cuisines that are incredibly tasty, too, like parkin, rag puddings, Lancashire hot pot, butter pie and Eccles cakes.

I would be bored with eating nothing but British food as well. I would also be bored if I ate nothing but Italian food or nothing but Indian food.

I just like food from everywhere.

There are some lovely ingredients in Britain - but I do prefer the way food is presented in some other countries - Turkey is lots of vegetables and great bread, Japanese food has pickles, soups, fresh veg - I love Scandinavian food with fruit and herbs...

British food can be incredible - but it mostly isn't really.

I think we have a lot to learn from other cultures. I look to Greece a lot when I cook - like last night I did a pretty traditionally English braised lamb stew but I added in dried mint and butter beans to take it in a bit of greek direction and it was brilliant.

Or I'll do a roast meat but with loads of salads and fresher flavours.

Don't get me wrong, I love certain aspects of English food and flavours but I would be bored shitless if I was limited to only that.

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.

Sounds like you can’t cook

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.

The strong flavour thing is just a guideline. Strong sauces, for example, will often contain lots of spices, or tomatoes with garlic. It's not the flavours in themselves that are the problem.

Nor do I like the texture of it or the scent.

I love dishes from the Indian sub continent and I can understand that some people just dislike the spicing, but to dislike the texture of everything doesn't make sense.

Indian food has a wide variety of textures. Not everything is a curry in a sauce.
I guess if you dislike grilled meats and fish, sauteed vegetables, potatoes, anything fried or grilled, breads and rice or crispy poppadums then you would eat a very limited diet anyway, regardless of its origin.

What do you like to eat?

I do think that a blanket;

'I hate that food'.

Is slightly racist.

It's an easy way of saying 'I don't like that culture'.

BUT, food and breaking bread is actually the best way to forge relationships.

To share meal, to invite someone to eat with you, it's a wonderful way of breaking down barriers. Which is why we should all at least try to understand other food cultures. I bet there's an 'Indian' food that you would enjoy @Livingbytheocean.

Indian food is not an homogeneous mass. It's a huge subcontinent with a massively varied food tradition.

Saying 'I hate Indian food''

Is a mad thing to say.

It makes you look at bit limited.

'I had a curry once ance didn't like it'

'I had a roast once and didn't like it'

Piff!

I think medically, a bland diet would be one that avoided fats, salt, chilli heat and any acid.

Rather than cinnamon porridge.

Or cumin pottage.

I don't think that medically a 'bland diet' excludes flavours. Just acid, fats and heat.

Anyway.

I digress!

Delicate and gentle diets are not bland, but if you are used to very spicy food then of course the taste will be impacted.

I can not bear Indian food, I have no idea how anyone’s constitution can manage it. Nor do I like the texture of it or the scent. Every culture s different. British food is perfect for our climate, it can be comforting in the winter, and light and gentle in the summer. As it should be naturally changing with our seasons.

A bland diet is a gentle diet that avoids strong spices and flavours.

Not all British food is bland, but gentle and subtle flavours are a huge part of British cuisine.

Are we saying bland is good???

I would say clean is good.

Clean flavours

British food is not one note. It's subtle.

Balanced well, it's sublime.

It's about very subtle seasoning.

Bland?

What does bland mean?

It's not a descriptor.

Tasting the ingredients without adding strong flavours is good if the food is good. Most great European food is bland. Bland is good.

What do you cook?

What is your signature dish?

Why? Tell me the best Mexican dishes you can cook? The best Greek?

Your best menus from those countries?

Tell me?

No.

No.

Darling.