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

I was talking about France, so were several other posters around me. You see how that works?

Most of the Chinese population is lactose intolerant so I can see why dairy isn't popular.

I think you are right about the differences being too great. I cannot imagine eating chicken's feet or heads.

I had a French woman stay a couple of days, I fed her (home made) scotch eggs with coleslaw and the second day beef and mushroom pudding.

Not the kind of things you normally get in France.

My three foods

Parkin

Yorkshire pudding (try cold with golden syrup)

A proper Lancashire hotpot

I think that the British food culture is all about acquiring different tastes though now isn't it? Walking down any British high street, you can see half a dozen food cultures represented. Even a bog standard pub menu will have Italian, Indian, Chinese, Thai, food styles on it.

That's just not the case anywhere else, certainly not the case in many other European cultures (you might say why would they, their food is so great?). Just back from Zagreb for example. You can get Croatian food, Italian food (if you count pizza and gelato!) but you'd have to search high and low for anything else - just the first country that came into my head before any Croatians object. And as I said earlier, every standard French bistro has a near-identical menu. I think we are much more adventurous now and I personally love that.

Even cooking at home now is so much more varied - this week we'll have French, Japanese, British and Hungarian dishes at home, as well as British.

I realise that, but when you quote another person's post it doesn't make sense to bring another element into it.

Quoting me and then telling me about an apple you had in France is irrelevant. I'm nowhere near France.

Not sure you can compare Yorkshire pudding to pizza which after all is topped with lovely sauce, cheese, meat/veg/etc it's a meal in itself

Sure Britain produces lovely food products but the point of the thread is whether you can convince the rest of the world that British food is something really special, not likely in places that also produce those lovely foods

I ate both average and incredible in Paris - best duck I've ever eaten.

I absolutely loathe lamb.

Everyone who pointed out about Guinness - yeah I need to change that to ale don't I 🤣. We've got wonderful venison in the UK, which goes well in a red wine based stew.

I'm surprised soups haven't come up except someone who mentioned a Scottish soup - I absolutely love stilton and broccoli - home made only. I have to admit that bread in the UK from a fresh bakers is top quality, especially with the range of seeds we add.

My gran raised me and she was from a poor roman catholic Irish background - so getting fed rather than it being enjoyable was the priority (which I understand but I felt disappointed when I went to my Italian friends house and ate home made lasagne which is till today still the best pasta I've ever eaten).

I think stews and hot pots have been overlooked here, also wosterschire (definitely spelt wrong) sauce which is the base for tonkatsu and okonomiyaki sauces in japan.

As someone who grew up in London, I guess what I love most about British food isn't British at all - it's fusion food. Us Brits went around screwing over alot of the world for along time, and in return the UK had an invasion of immigration and ideas that transpired in food.

I guess that's my weird conclusion, the best thing about British food is that it's multicultural, at least modern food

You all realise that things like quality seeded bread is very much common thing elsewhere too... In some places it's not even considered artisan.

I do give UK cheese though. Very good

I live in France.

The point is that the French always bang on about how all French food and produce is inherently superior to all British food and produce, but most of them have no idea what decent apples even taste like.

I think most opinions about foreign food are based on ignorance, to be honest.

Coming from a European heritage I find it laughable that people are suggesting shepherds and cottage pie which are basically sloppy mince with mashed potato on top. Also steak and kidney pie when kidney are an abomination

Plenty of Europeans use kidneys, my central European mother used them occassionally and I've eaten dishes with kidneys in France and Italy.

That's strange, I used to live in France and always had lovely apples

Hard to walk into a French fruitier and not think it's the best place for fruit and veg. I miss being able to walk into a place and ask for a melon that will be ripe in 2 days exactly.

Yes, I think there’s a difference between excellent produce (which the UK certainly has) and the actual cuisine typically made with that produce (which I don’t think is that inspiring, certainly not for a vegetarian who doesn’t much care for puddings). I mean, you can absolutely get wonderful food in the UK, but for me, the interesting stuff is not British in origin.

Melons, yes. Apples, no. I've tried all the varieties you can get here and I find them all bland compared to the ones I like in the UK.

Bakewell tart WITH CUSTARD, as it should be served, is not remotely dry.

I'd add to my earlier list:
Eton mess
Corniche pasties
Egg and bacon flan
Steak and kidney pie/pudding
Proper granary bread as made in a bakery, not UPF rubbish
Broad beans in parsley sauce
All the various crumbles and cobblers
Liver and bacon
Meatballs

As for a PP who said steamed puddings are an acquired taste, so is curry if you don't try it until adulthood. And... treacle duff?

Part of the problem is that a lot of British food is just seen as "normal food" in other places. Pies, puddings, tarts, cake, sandwiches, stews, roast meat etc. We spread our food around the world a long time ago so it's just been absorbed by other cultures and not thought of as British. Especially in the US.
So what we're left with as exclusively British is the not so good stuff, which every country has, and the weird stuff.

The other problem is that we didn't have such a big culture of casual dining, until recently, so the best food was in people's homes rather than in restaurants unless you went somewhere fancy.

Marmite

Our good quality fresh produce
And non supermarket/ mass produced versions

A fresh dressed crab
Samphire
Proper strawberries in season
Good asparagus
Grass fed beef, salt marsh lamb
A Melton Mowbray pork pie
Stilton
Wensleydale
Wild trout / sea trout
Shortbread
Haggis

I don’t like all these things, but I don’t like some things that show the best of other cuisines, either.

A German friend’s brother who used to visit, invariably went home with his baggage half full of crumpets. 😋

In our teeny local Tesco Express last night I thought I'd check out what was routinely available.

Louisiana Cajun spice rub (bought some, going to use it with salmon)
Chinese spice mix
Chopped garlic / ginger / chillis, peppers, capers, cornichons etc in jars
Mexican food prep items
Thai salmon
Sushi
Lots of fresh and frozen meat, chicken, fish, veg, fruit, salad
Flavoured olive oils
Basil, mint, coriander, parsley
Different breads and cakes baked in store
A fridge of different cheeses
Indian dishes and spices
Yes, white sliced bread, baked beans, chips etc too.

It's absolute bullshit to say food is bland and boring here.

A lot of the foods we celebrate are poverty foods to fill you up. Pasta and noodles are wallpaper paste, but I love it. Pizza is also flour and water and oil, with whatever you had on it. Romans had pretty much the same concept, minus the tomatoes.

Spices were often used to mask food going off. If the food's too smothered in seasonings that's all you can taste.

Fresh, local, home grown, seasonal, not transported a long way - a small country has advantages there!

I think people are talking about British traditional food being a bit bland, not Thai, Indian, Cajun, Japanese etc. I think out of all that you have listed the only possibly traditional British product could be cheese, bread and possibly meat.

The thing about traditional British food is that it's always assimilated and collected. Romans, Vikings, Normans brought their own contributions, including animals and plants that weren't here before. Empire was 'complicated' but meant that from its earliest times new flavours and ingredients and ideas came in. Immigration over centuries has contributed so much to the table. This IS British food.

Just as in other countries, poverty here has meant people did what they could with what they had - and familiarity and regional pride gives simpler plainer food its own place.

I would fight to the death anyone who suggests that a warm Fat Rascal from Betty's isn't food of the gods.

Oh come on, Mr Whippy ice cream is disgusting when you have eaten Gelato (Italian ice cream)!

I raise to you, Percy Pig sweets