Most people make terrible food and can't actually cook.

[ImNotEntirelySureAboutThat]

They can't.

I read such horrors on food threads.

Either courgettes and mushrooms mixed in a worthy mushy horror.

OR jars, and packets.

Horrible. So. Much. Horrible. Foood.

No.
your mistaking Britain for America there

we are very good at taking elements of other cultures and claiming them as our own including them as British culture, food included in that. I do believe we have amazing produce available and to say not is either defamatory or just ill informed.

Doesnt mean we think it’s “world beating” or the absolute hands down best.

fucking Boris and that fucking phrase most Brits hate that phrase and just enjoy a good meal.

I can cook OP - the food I make is delicious

I don’t get the issue with simple meat and vegetable type recipes. We grew up with French and British food but in a place known for excellent produce. Yes homemade profiteroles or eclairs / tarte tartin and French onion soup etc were wonderful but so was the simpler rare roast beef or a ham.

Unless you live in back of beyond you can get good produce here

People guffawing are a bit superior though, but crack on if it makes their day.

Although the thread is worth it for the cheese line alone

the Amounts in a pasta sauce are small compared to a home made one. There was genuinely research done on it by a chef. you’re right about the additives and preservatives, although even that is alot down to process rather than “bad” additives.

your Sunday roast sounds like mine, except I do beef dripping potatoes not goose fat, and cheesy leeks with the cauliflower. I don’t enjoy the amount of washing up though

Exactly. yeah, not spending my time in front of the stove, chopping onions and washing up for an hour in return for 5 minutes of pleasure (eating). And then the family all tube leftovers so none left. So joyless right🤣

I'd rather do something else

She’s tried it.
was

unimpressed.

apparently 😆

Defamatory to whom, it's not a legal case. I'm not mistaking anything. There are a whole host of demographic and geographical reasons why the UK is not appreciated for its food.

So you don't like food, our meals don't last 5 mins, eating food is a concept with an array of connotations some communities still place a great deal of emphasis on food, hospitality, and family.
What other interesting something else do you do?

Hungry horse, dp was telling me he once ate there on a date, and she suggested it. He declined a second date.😂

I grew up in an Indian family. And have to say that while Indian women will often rave about cooking ‘from scratch’ most don’t. But home made Indian food in itself has turned into spicy mush as most people use pressure cookers inappropriately and buy pre-made masalas. It is rare to find an Indian home cook who understands Indian cuisine.

However, it's either an imitation of global food done poorly or a roast dinner.😂
Cardboard pizzas just top it off.

I’d have agreed with you 15 years ago, but not now. Loads of great food where I live (Manchester). There are still lots of restaurants doing the sort of food you describe (sad tapas, overcooked pasta drowning in sauce, world buffets doing mediocre everything) but it’s very easy to swerve them. As for pizzas, I used to be very excited to go to Italy for a proper pizza. I don’t bother with them now unless it’s something I can’t get here like pizza al tegamino, because we’re heaving with decent pizza places.

I'm just impressed that the OP has 'eaten most people's food' . With an attitude like hers, I'm surprised anyone, let alone most of the population, would ever invite her round. Certainly nobody would twice...

Dh is an excellent cook. So is my dsis. I'm a pretty good cook. That doesn't mean we never use shortcuts. People who dismiss schedules as a reason for using pre-prepared stuff are being ridiculous. Of course it's a factor. After a long day at work you may technically have time to cook quickly from scratch, but you mught not always have the energy!

The problem with the British is pomposity, best food, best football team, best this and that.

Theres more than one football team… mine is shit. I’m pretty sure the whole of Scotland (definitely still part of Britain) is aware that the national team is just not very good. 🤣

It’s hard to take this stuff seriously really. There’s a wide variety of produce in the UK - from worthy artisan to ultraprocessed. Some people have diets mostly composed of the latter. Some restaurants are not very good. But that doesn’t mean the rest doesn’t exist.

It quite simply is the case that the UK has some world class food. There are extremely well regarded restaurants serving incredible, local, British food. The fact that you can go to a toby carvery and see how much overcooked veg you can pile on a plate too doesn’t change that.

Nor do the stereotypes about the rest of the world mean that all Italian people are eating incredible food, etc. Or that all French restaurants are excellent.

Plus the ridiculous fixation on things that obviously grow well in southern Europe as the barometer for high quality produce. 🙄

I am a great Cook and i had to teach myself as my mum was a pretty awful one.

I made a lean chilli con carne last night.

My cooking hero is Julian Slowik from current film “The Menu”.

I've eaten in a huge amount of French restaurants, and in the main they are much better! Steak frites, moules frites, just basic stuff done really well. We don't have the equivalent here. Worst meal I ate in France was a Mexican.

Our produce is not great, the quality of food in the UK is poor, my dds went to Spain this summer and came back raving about the quality of fruit, veg, cured meats. It's hard to replicate that in the UK and cooking meat is inedible (grey, water runs off it, bacon with white bubbles when cooking). Cheap meat is awful here which is why I eat veggie now. No sausages, burgers- and yes, these are higher quality in general in the Med for example. Chicken I don't eat here either, white tasteless cardboard breast, forced growth, not as nutritious as a chicken from 30 years ago (great programme on this).

Fab quality food is possible, we have a wonderful farm shop near us, local produce, local cheese, but the price is prohibitive.

I'm not saying everyone in Med countries is a great cook (they are not) or that all the produce is amazing (some is, some isn't), but the basic quality of food where my husband comes from in South Med/Eastern Europe is much higher. It is also much more expensive as a proportion of income.

I've eaten most people's food.

😂😂😂

We have a great shop locally that sells so many amazing spices. They did an Indian cookery course and my mum signed up (no pressure cookers and everything from scratch!)
She said it was the best thing she ever did food wise and really enjoyed it. I was too young to go then or I would have done it too

I think one thing we certainly get wrong in The UK is that we prize quantity over quality. Being “stuffed” at the end of a meal is seen as a sign of success
We also don’t value the quality of ingredients as much as some other counties

Our produce is not great, the quality of food in the UK is poor,

I would dispute this. Welsh lamb and beef and Scottish beef are of high quality. Pembrokeshire and Jersey new potatoes are delicious.

I've eaten most people's food

Then you'll know that mine is bloody delicious.

I agree with you plus more often than not it’s posters going on about British as worst and how superior they are.

shall I use the phrase

bollocks
your talking utter bollocks

I think one thing we certainly get wrong in The UK is that we prize quantity over quality. Being “stuffed” at the end of a meal is seen as a sign of success
We also don’t value the quality of ingredients as much as some other counties

I don't think 'we' do. Some people do. It's America I'd associate with huge portions tbh, not the UK. It wouldn't occur to me, or most people I know (I don't think), to judge a meal out by how stuffed I felt afterwards.

The worst home cooked meals I've eaten were just very under-seasoned. A stew where the meat hadn't been browned and it seemed to be cooked in water rather than any kind of stock. The other was a veggie thing a friend cooked on holiday. Not a grain of salt or anything. It was almost entirely tasteless despite containing beautiful fresh Mediterranean vegetables.

@ImNotEntirelySureAboutThat DP has taught himself to cook, and he’s probably a better cook than me and I’m pretty good too. My mum cooked well, DSis is no slouch either. But the curriculum doesn’t help, less emphasis on the arts, food science, etc, so kids aren’t taught to cook and budget anymore. If you come from a home where food is simply fuel out of packets and jars, you’re not likely to change unless you are exposed to good food.

@RedAppleGirl British food is a whole heap better than it used to be. We’ve evolved a lot since the 70s. Can’t disagree with you on the service front, we’re an oddly bolshy people, yet we also don’t stand up for ourselves because we don’t want to make a fuss.

The problem with the British is pomposity, best food, best football team, best this and that.

That's an odd thing to say, considering that understatement, self-deprecation and laughing at ourselves are considered national traits. Plus 'tall poppy' syndrome - we are often accused of cutting down those of us who blow their own trumpets. There are boastful people of all nationalities, but I'd hardly say it was a national trait here.