3 foods to change someone's opinion about British food

[Flakeisanakedtwirl]

I've heard it for years, and whenever I start to believe that actually it's a myth and we've got some really decent food in the UK, I find out about some comedian or other minor celebrity who's just visited and cried their hungry stomachs around our country.

Surely we have something that people would love? As title says, if you could choose 3 foods / meals that'd hope to change someones opinion about our food, what would it be?

Obviously I have to do my own list so I think....

1. Extra mature Cheddar
2. Beef and guiness stew in giant Yorkshire puds
3. Crumpets

Haggis neeps and tatties
steak and sausage pie with puff pastry lid and mash
cranachan

Controversially - our junk food.
I’ve got friends and relatives all over the world - not Brits living abroad, but nationals of the countries in question - and they ALL request not Stilton and Stornaway black pudding, but stuff like pickled onion Monster Munch and Cadbury’s chocolate. We clearly produce a better class of crap. HP Fruity finds fans wherever I bring it.

Personally I think Pakistani crisps are world-beaters, closely followed by Spanish, but America has a long way to go. Tell you what else is nice in Britain, apart from the fruit and the lamb and the fish and the cheeses - our eggs. I’ve had some well funky-tasting eggs in the States, and paid plenty for them.

I will always happily swap to the Scottish option.

Scottish langoustines and scallops
Good smoked salmon
The best extra mature cheddar and stilton
Home made style chutney

In terms of products - Chocolate Bath Olivers, Worcestershire sauce, Tyrell’s spicy crisps

Produce - English and Scottish soft fruit (and orchard fruit); rare breed pork (sausages); all the cheeses, as PPs have said; fish and shellfish

Recipes - not so many - but only because we have assimilated other countries’ cuisine into ours. Hot Cross buns should get a mention though

Jelly babies are much better than anything Haribo can come up with.

Minst pyes of an indifferent biggnesse?
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British food is amazing!

Also flavourless apples and potatoes that get more and more rotten as you peel them. Mmmm.

I live in France and really miss British food but whenever I say this to anyone I get laughed at. I’m also veggie which doesn’t help.

All the British cakes, crumbles etc. are the best.
Also cheese, not just Cheddar which you can get everywhere but all the others.

I keep seeing reels on Insta where they go on about seasoning, but there’s such a thing as too much seasoning and it stops you being able to taste the food.

I can confirm they’re just as awful and flavour free as the British ones!

I’d choose traditional regional puddings. My favourite is Sussex Pond Pudding. Carby, unhealthy, comforting, delicious.

Maybe it wouldn’t suit non- British palates but hey ho, their loss and more for me then.

Cullen skink. Or smoked fish in general.
Whisky
Steamed puddings.

If im being completely honest the only thing I could think of is Cider. I do have a few things I enjoy eating here but none of them is really British.

The French can go too much the other way though with their emphasis on, 'Nature' and 'Trop de sel.'
I'll never take to a plain set yoghurt with a sachet of white sugar - admittedly this was hospital food - or an omelette with absolutely nothing in it apart from the egg. Or the dreaded 'Pâtes au beurre.' with a rolled up slice of cold ham on the side.

Then there's the, 'Coquillettes Jambon' which is a special sort of bland. Or puréed vegetables. Puréed courgette is quite beyond me.

British food didn't have a bad reputation until the industrial revolution. The population had mainly lived off the land with fresh produce at their disposal. They then abandoned the countryside and moved en masse to burgeoning cities. Fresh produce became rare and expensive, even bread was made of almost anything except flour. Add to that, women who had traditionally cooked and prepped food from long handed down recipes were now working 16 hour days in factories and mills. There was no time for cooking "good" food, the age old recipes were forgotten and women provided cheap meals that were ready when they got home. This meant things that could be left to simmer over the fire and very few (if any) fresh vegetables. That's the reason the English have a reputation for turning their noses up at veg. France, Italy, Spain and most other European countries did not have an industrial revolution, or if they did it paled into insignificance compared to ours.

All the different types of sausages
All the different chutneys and relishes
Pork pies
Chicken tikka masala, and other curries
Black pudding
Kedgeree
Stilton (but the cheese in general)
The game meat
Savoury pies
Full fry up
Pickled Onion Monster Munch
Scampi Fries

And it's wrong to say we don't season, we use spice far more than the French for instance and I was looked at strangely when I asked for pepper to go with my (Scottish) smoked salmon in Spain. Can you image not being able to get pepper in a restaurant in the UK?

Traditional British gardens are full of herbs and edible fĺowers to add flavour to food. Sage, rosemary, thyme, parsley, mint, chives, garlic (despite the myths), bay, dill, verbena, marigolds, roses, nasturtiums, lavender, cornflowers, love-in-the-mist, camomile, borage, bergamot, elderflower, primroses, scented geraniums, sunflowers, violets, bergamot. But like all countries where the quality of the raw ingredients are excellent the traditional cuisine is based on letting the quality ingredients shine.

Roast rib of beef with all the trimmings
Roast shoulder of lamb, ditto
Plough pudding
Shepherd's pie
Sausages and mash (good quality sausages, mash made with milk and butter, onion gravy)
Beef Wellington
Salmon in aspic
Raised game pie
Beef stew
Chicken and leek pie
Treacle duff
Christmas pudding
Christmas cake
Lemon meringue pie
Victoria sponge
'Wardens in conserve' (pears cooked in wine)
Scones (with clotted cream and jam, or made with cheese)
Full English breakfast (British bacon knocks spots of anyone else's)
Glazed gammon
Pork cooked in cider
Cheeses - Cheddar, Stilton, etc
Beers - ales, porters, bitters
Spirits - gin, whisky, cider brandy
Sausage rolls

I think a big problem with British food is that you very rarely find a restaurant that cooks it really well. Steak and ale pie can be excellent, but if you're eating out, most pub ones are sub-par.

The seasoning/all bland food idea is so odd because one of the things I miss most when away from the UK is bread that actually tastes of something - a cheese and chutney sandwich made with granary bread is fantastic, but I'll happily eat granary bread, white farmhouse loaf or even a plain wholemeal with a bit of butter or on its own. But often the problem is judging another country's cuisine by food from outlets that nobody in the country itself would consider more than crap. I'm certainly not going to put Hovis basic sliced forward as a top option.

I lived abroad for a few years in a country that was very snobby about food.

The things that convinced people British cuisine might be okay were

• proper roast potatoes, some friends still make them 20 years later!
• rhubarb crumble with almonds (Delia recipe)
• decent mature cheddar and clotted cream

Sticky toffee pudding
Fish and chips
Stilton

France, Italy, Spain and most other European countries did not have an industrial revolution

Of course they experiencd the Industrial revolution, it's just that it started earlier in the UK and so people moved away from the land much earlier. Half the population of the UK was urbanised by 1850, and 80% by the 1890s. The rst of Europe was still predominantly rural at the end of the 19th century and e.g. France only hit 80% urban population less than 10 years ago.

@BitOutOfPractice

YYY to proper English mustard.

Also mint sauce. I blew my American guests' minds one Easter when I served lamb with mint sauce.

And a good fish pie is really nice.