Dinners - are Brits only ones that make international food for dinner

[o9yhke89]

Was chatting with an Italian and Spanish friend about kids dinners - and mostly they just make whatever they grew up with i.e. Italian and Spanish food and really treasure their family recipes. Most of my English friends always try to have food from different cultures and this is seen as much more sophisticated and worldly. I've lived all over but was wondering whether the Brits just don't value their own cuisine especially when it comes to family meals.

Also to add, the regular homecook generally makes British versions of international food. Not international food. There is a big difference between the two. I would argue that British home cooking has evolved, but not radically changed.

Divebar21 oh my god, I love Rules. Start with a silver tankard of Black Velvet of course, proper steak 'n' kidney pudding. I need to go again soon, probably after the Glorious Twelfth for some game

I love lots of traditional British dishes but they're mostly quite starchy foods as they come from times when people worked hard manual labour jobs and needed energy.

I think we're closer to the US in being such a mix of cultures that we are used to eating other cuisines from a young age and think it's great if families eat a wide range of foods.

My son is 10 and he'd struggle to pick just one cuisine. His favourites are all over the place - yes he loves a fish finger and a chicken nugget, as all kids do, but he wouldn't be happy to miss out on mussels and gyoza and kofta and quesadillas and all the other delicious foods he loves.

Why can't we have it all and still enjoy scouse and hot pots and pies and roast dinners etc too?

You aren't cooking it properly then.

Black velvet, now we are talking

Christmas would not be Christmas without black velvet for breakfast, it gives you stamina.

Does Welsh rarebit count as British? Cos I love that too. It’s my cooking test for new partners!

Hmmm scouse - love that too.

Maybe I just like food 🤷🏽‍♀️

Also just in case anybody else is interested after more than 24 hours of thinking DH has managed to muster up 2 British classics he says.
Toad in the hole.. and raspberry+cherry pie.
When asked why he had never mentioned it 'you never asked' despite food being one of my interests.

=.=
classic.

• 2 British classics he likes, not he says.

It’s interesting that the immigrants seem to love British food!
(first gen immigrant family here)

Cherry pie- top choice

Bollocks

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/cherry-pie

Cannot wait to make,

A@Rummikub thanks!
Don't know why my comment was cut off..

I’m Australian. I grew up eating food that could be classed as British (roasts etc.) but my parents cooked a lot of Asian style meals - stir fry, curry, made their own sushi etc. and pasta was also huge in our house. Spag bol was a staple! Also tacos.

I think that’s pretty normal isn’t it?

I find this is true of a lot of Asian countries. I live in one, my husband is from another, and we travel a great deal in several others. In all, people cook their own country’s traditional meals rather than international food. The thing is, they cook totally from scratch using fresh veggies, meat, and spices. Processed convenience food like jars of curry or pasta sauce and frozen ready meals just aren’t really available here (at least in the country where we currently live). So perhaps that’s why British people get into international food - it’s just easier and the convenience food makes it more available to them. (Not that everyone uses these. I just mean that these make it more widely accessible and easy.)

I live in Europe and so many people wax lyrical about malt vinegar. They also love it when I make cottage pie, Yorkshire puddings and mince pies.

Every time my mum comes to visit she bakes scones, which our neighbours adore.

I don't cook a lot of British food in the summer because it is quite starchy and we prefer Asian food or Mediterranean.

But in the winter... dumplings, stews, yes please! (Fish and chips we keep until we visit the UK)

My own experience is that Europeans have very mixed responses to British food. They either love the idea of a fry up for breakfast, vinegar on chips, or are absolutely disgusted by the idea.

As an outsider who lived in the UK for over a decade, there are some British foods that I came to love: a good savoury pie, roast dinner, fish and chips, cooked breakfast, haggis... However, even after a decade I continued to strongly dislike baked beans (whether at breakfast, on a jacket potato in any other context), most traditional crip flavours (cheese and onion smells like musty feet...), or traditional sandwich fillings (cheese and chutney).

And while I'm on a roll, I think scones and Victoria sponge cakes are among the most overrated baked good that I have come across. I don't mind them, but they're just so very very bland.

Now that I think about it, I wonder if the most exported British food tradition is the traditional afternoon tea?

There are lots of reasons for this. The British love for curry is from the former British Empire and subsequent immigration - The French have more of a thing for Moroccan/North African food fir tge asmd reason.
Immigrants from Europe have also introduced the British to their cuisine - Italian and Chinese restaurants introduced us to an anglicised version of their food. I remember pizza and pasta being quite exotic as a child (I’m in my 50s), and Chinese food in the UK was and mostly still is a British version. Chicken Tikka Masala is a British dish because the Brits wanted ‘gravy’.
Our climate has a lot to go with it too - traditionally we mostly what we grew at home and in season which was not Mediterranean or exotic veg or fancy fish. So cod and chips, meat and 2 veg etc makes sense as a traditional cuisine. But nowadays with so many foods available from all over the world and peoples love for travel we have a lot more resources and knowledge as well as a cultural melting pot and a love for foreign travel.
French food was always considered to be the best cuisine in the past so the rich would have it cooked for them at home or eat it in expensive restaurants- most working people had no access to that but times have changed and everything is available to us.

And while I'm on a roll, I think scones and Victoria sponge cakes are among the most overrated baked good that I have come across

I swcond that. It's just incredibly basic cake but treated like royalty.

I think it's because we cook it and season extra. If you used only seasoning and herbs most recipes say to use, it would be bland imho. That's why it has the reputation.

I make a great salad, is that British? We regularly eat baked beans, on toast or with sausages, probably British dish, but its easy and lovely. I wouldn't necessarily call it British cuisine though.

I actually think a lot of British cooking is good. And yes we have also taken on board all other nationalities cooking aswell. Unlike many other countries. This is good and to our benefit and not a criticism.

And while I'm on a roll, I think scones and Victoria sponge cakes are among the most overrated baked good that I have come across. I don't mind them, but they're just so very very bland.

Agree. Saying that, I actually find most UK baked goods too sweet and scones meh. I remember being introduced to a fry-up and it was an immediate no thanks and went for a scrambled eggs on toast. Not a vegetarian but I’ve never eaten or wanted that much meat on my plate or particularly liked baked beans or a runny egg and wasn’t impressed with black pudding. Toad in the hole I thought a bit odd because it’s a single sausage in the middle of a Yorkshire pudding and asked DH to explain it to me. I’ll admit that if I went only by what I was made via MIL, I would definitely think English food was bland (nice as she is, she doesn’t season anything and steams the veg til it’s mushy, the gravy is the only saving grace that gives some flavour). However, having it different restaurants, definitely agree it is good like most things depending on who makes it.

I don't cook a lot of British food in the summer because it is quite starchy and we prefer Asian food or Mediterranean.

Same. If I make or want it, it has to be really cold outside or it sounds really good on a menu.

*I love lots of traditional British dishes but they're mostly quite starchy foods as they come from times when people worked hard manual labour jobs and needed energy.

I think we're closer to the US in being such a mix of cultures that we are used to eating other cuisines from a young age and think it's great if families eat a wide range of foods.*

I think it’s great too having a lot of variety in what we cook and eat. I also think with the introduction of the Internet and different platforms where people can learn and watch people from different countries and cultures make their own native foods, it’s added even more variety.

I think it's because we cook it and season extra. If you used only seasoning and herbs most recipes say to use, it would be bland imho. That's why it has the reputation.

My English friend is a great cook. And cooked tasty traditional food. Same with my school dinners- lovely!

Admittedly growing up my dad would add extra flavour to roasts and my first proper English roast didn’t taste great but I do think it’s down to the cook. But I’ve had great ones since- no unusual additions.