To think traditional English food is overrated?

[ThatJoyousCyanReader]

I’ve always heard people say English food is bland or uncreative, and to be honest, I kind of see their point. Apart from a good roast dinner or fish and chips, what actually stands out? AIBU to think that other cuisines just do it better?

I love a good shepherds pie, delicious stews and dumplings etc but as much of our culinary heritage is shared with our neighbours across the channel, are you criticising French food? Beef stew, boef bourgonon (can’t spell French) are the same basically, and roasts are not exclusively British either, our history in the south is Norman and prior German!

YABU @ThatJoyousCyanReader.

Roast duck
Potted shrimp
Smoked eel
Asparagus with butter
Rhubarb crumble and custard
Potato and leek soup
Great puddings
Rack of lamb
Amazing cheeses

Get a better cook.

I like English food. I quite like Italian, Chinese, French and possibly other cuisines. I admit I’m unadventurous in choosing foods and I really really don’t like hot spicy foods. I guess I’m in the minority because so much food in pubs and restaurants is spicy and I have little choice.
I often cook for up to 12 people and it’s unapologetically English food. My guests eat spicy stuff but still come back for more of my ‘shite food’
Some people have an educated palate (I haven’t) and others have one ruined by addictive heat from chillies.

I forgot to.say that cooking with hot spices is easy. They dull the taste buds and hide poor ingredients.

However, a properly peppery Cornish pasty, a saffron bun, a decent hot crossed bun, proper West country faggots with mace all use spices

And I did not mention black pudding...spiced to perfection, a quality black pud is a thing of beauty.

I always think of English food as home cooked. I don’t think I have ever eaten it outside the home to the same standard.

My grandma used to cook lots of fish dishes, and made an amazing dish which she called a cobbler, which had sort of scones above a casserole.

I think that proviso applies to all food, I've had some ropey Italian/Thai/Indian etc. The best Indian food I've ever has was in New Zealand! Most of the food from other nations bears little resemblance to that food served in its own country, most is adapted to local tastes wherever in the world that might be. Lets face it, the Americans sell 'Cheddar' cheese that bears no resemblance to the real thing.

A cobbler can be sweet or savoury.

Maybe it’s foul when you cook it.

What you’ve said is very rude.

I don't think of it as being bland.

I enjoy things like English asparagus, Craster kippers, Kentish strawberries, Cumberland sausage, Bury black pudding, Stilton and Wensleydale cheese, English apple varieties such a Bramley and Russets.
I like a lot of the traditional cakes and puddings too.

I think English cuisine suffered a lot during the war rationing, plus that rationing was continued for so long after the war ended. It meant that a whole generation never learned to cook with plentiful good quality ingredients.

Also, England was one of the first countries to industrialise, with vast numbers of the population abandoning farming for a life in the town. This meant that not only were traditional culinary skills and recipes lost, but people needed food that was easy and quick to cook and cheap to buy.
That attitude to food has remained, which partly explains why Asian and Mexican are so popular today.
France and Italy industrialised more slowly than England, so the population held on to their regional culinary traditions much better than in England.

It can't be overated when everyone is always going on about how terrible it is. I love all the things pp have mentioned. Eat other cuisines too of course but this thread is making me crave good pub food. Oh and don't forget all our glorious beer!

No, OP, I think most cuisines are down to how well they are executed.

A lot of northern cuisines are more stodgy than places that are warmer, but that is as it should be.

Yes! Literally cooked batter yet people act like it’s a culinary marvel.

When we go to the UK to visit DH’s family they will insist on taking us out for ‘a proper roast dinner’ and the poor kids try their best to be polite over the Yorkshire pudding. We do roasts in Australia too but lamb, pork and chicken are preferred over beef which is so often tough and tasteless.

The potato obsession is a bit much for me. I grew up eating meat and potatoes every night but I prefer to cook a range of cuisines so we probably eat potatoes once or twice a month. My kids hate boiled potatoes or mash, unless it’s sweet potato mash. And many famous dishes are just variations on a theme. Stew served with mash or slightly different stew with mashed potatoes cooked on top.

I love a good pie, and fish and chips, but yes, other places have far nicer food. I love a lot of Asian food personally.

A yorkshire pudding is a conveyor of flavour like pasta or potatoes or rice or pancakes. So if you have bad gravy - which you usually do at carveries or most pubs - your yorkies are going to struggle to shine.

Also - Balti is a British dish. Not at all bland.

Yorkshire Curd Tart - you are wrong for that alone

I love a roast dinner, I can't think that it could be described as bland.
We have a roast dinner most Sundays unless it's boiling hot.
I'm not sure why a whole region/area food has to be described as great, or crap, surely all cuisines have some dishes that are nicer than others?
I went to France for a week once and felt desperate to eat vegetables when I got home because they didn't seem to have many at any of the places we went to (it was an organised trip with set places to eat) But I wouldn't base my opinion of all French food, on that one week!

I think if you’re saying English cuisine is bland, you’re either a crap cook, or you eat in crappy restaurants. English cuisine,when done well, is delicious…

🤑

Apparently I do an amazing roast dinner according to friends and family
Love a slow roast lamb, beef, or pulled pork
In our world it’s about the fresh ingredients and flavourings - I cook very good stews, pies and tray bakes - using good quality local meat and other ingredients

I had a crab sandwich on holiday last year, and it was very expensive amazing! It was probably my favourite meal of the week!

I love cantonese and indian food.
My fave is a mixed veg pathia with pazia rice.

I love cold roast chicken, hot jersey royals with butter and a crisp salad with salad cream in the summer. Would the critics of English food find that bland?

We barely ever eat anything off that list, tbh. We have the occasional roast and rarely shepherd's pie or a casserole. We do like them and I think I cook them well but we eat mainly fresh, simple vegetarian food.

When you pick dishes from other countries that you like, you are picking the highlights and the well-cooked. You are forgetting that there will be boring, poorly cooked food in every country, as well as the nice things.

I think really good quality butcher’s ham with English lettuce, tomato and spring onion straight out of the garden takes some beating.