People who expect British food on a foreign holiday

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Woman moans about no British food in a Corfu hotel https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tourists-nightmare-corfu-hotel-had-35327009.amp

If you refuse to eat foreign food, or worried about having a flare up of a dietary issue (she has ulcerative colitis), you don’t go on a foreign holiday!

How many people who go abroad and never sample the local food, have never tried it? Even Spanish omelette is egg, potato and onion! A late relative even refused to eat this, even though he was happy to eat these ingredients in a salad - boiled eggs, new potatoes and spring onions

Yes there might be a range of drinks but for someone who doesn't like tea or coffee (especially coffee) there isn't much left in the way of hot drinks. I know I don't like them so why on earth would I try them?

There's plenty of things I know I won't like as I know I don't like or can't eat the ingredients. I'm not going to experiment and make myself ill.

Guaranteed warm weather.

Because surely there's more to going abroad than the food? Personally I'm not going to run the risk of being ill because I've tried something new. I might try it at home but not on holiday. I'm the same at home, I'll play safe if we go to a restaurant but eat different things if we have a takeaway.

Agree. Personally I enjoy the opportunity to be greedy with new types of food, but I would've thought it was extremely common knowledge by now that there are people from cold Northern European countries who go to southern Europe to basically get their usual experience but in the warm? That the only thing they want differently is the weather and beach?

It's not a new phenomenon, hence there are lots of venues that cater for this demand from Brits, Germans and Irish. The issue is often discussed on MN!

I had a fun time when I've been! Altea is lovely, and that mountain village (I can't remember the name) is stunning. No shade on anyone who likes Benidrom at all, it's a perfectly fun and enjoyable holiday. I just meant it's obviously very reasonable to go there and expect British food, as it caters heavily to tourists!

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Because surely there's more to going abroad than the food? Personally I'm not going to run the risk of being ill because I've tried something new. I might try it at home but not on holiday. I'm the same at home, I'll play safe if we go to a restaurant but eat different things if we have a takeaway.

Of course there's more to going abroad than the food, but it's a whole mindset thing isn't it?

If you can't countenance trying any other food than what you have at home it suggests that you're not going to be open to anything else about being "abroad". Such as talking to different sorts of people, going to different sorts of places, listening to different sorts of music, looking at different kinds of art. It kind of begs the question as to why you're bothering to go abroad if you're not open to anything different? There's no point if you want everything (other than the weather) to be like the UK, you might as well save yourself the money and go to Centerparks.

Also why are you assuming that you will "get ill" by not eating British food? Why is British food somehow bulletproof whereas other sorts of cuisine are not? You're actually more likely to get sick eating/drinking something which has been shipped in from overseas (in your destination country) than eating something from local ingredients prepared in situ by people who are competent at preparing that dish.

Nope. The woman is pulling a sour face, hence the milk comment. The same phrase people use to describe anyone who’s got a scowl for whatever reason. She’s a moron for blatantly chasing compo because of her error.

Hope that clears things up.

When on her uni year in Spain, dd made a very international set of friends, one of whom was an American girl, who was daft enough to say to several of them, ‘You know what? I don’t like European food.’
According to dd, the poor silly girl was then lambasted for a full ten minutes by a very sarcastically minded male Brit friend.

(Sorry, but I did 😂.)

Restaurants in the UK that serve international cuisine are also for British people who aren't absolute gammons and just want to eat steak and fish and chips.

Why would you get ill trying something new?!

Indeed. I once worked with an American bloke whose girlfriend flew over regularly to stay with him in London. Her parents used to send her a "hamper" every time she came over including bottled water because they were convinced London was a Third World country where people were dying of cholera etc.

The Brits don't have a monopoly on small mindedness and ignorance.

I still maintain, though, that there is absolutely no point leaving your home country if you can't make peace with trying some local food.

Some people have no imagination and will always find something to be negative about. This woman is an embarrassment.

The reliable sunny weather is the point, though. You don't have to approve of anyone's holiday choices, but it ought to be bleeding obvious why Centre Parcs is not remotely equivalent. They are going for something that nowhere in the UK offers.

And again, this isn't a niche piece of information. There are entire venues in the Med that cater for this sort of taste, so the hospitality sector has clearly worked out that there are plenty of wallets just waiting to be opened.

The issue with the woman in the article isn't that she wanted something particularly unusual or difficult to obtain, it's that either she failed to do the research or she was misled.

What a ridiculous comment
restaurants don't provide services because customers have 'rights' to them, they provide services that are wanted by consumers and will make money as a business. In the UK we have an incredibly varied food culture and industry driven in part by migration but also by the British taste for cuisine from other parts of the world. If there aren't enough customers wanting British food in corfu then no restaurants will stay open long to provide it. Restaurants aren't a public service that need to be 'inclusive' in that way! If a British person enjoys British food on holiday then it's their responsibility to check out the options before they book, not expect them just because!

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

why would you be ill though?

@Sundaymorningcalla

lol I don’t think egg and chips and shepherds pie is cited anywhere in the humans right. If you go to a restaurant than you have whatever kind of cuisine they serve, simple as.

I saw this quote from the hotel in another article:

'Several other hotels have since contacted us to confirm similar behaviour and tactics from the same individual.'

@Yatuway

The reliable sunny weather is the point, though. You don't have to approve of anyone's holiday choices, but it ought to be bleeding obvious why Centre Parcs is not remotely equivalent. They are going for something that nowhere in the UK offers.

You'll get a better chance at reliably sunny, but not unbearably hot weather if you holiday in Cornwall or Eastbourne than you would in Greece or Turkey nowadays though. Southern Europe is unbearably hot in the summer.

You're right, I don't approve of the "choices" of people who are too stupid to realise they aren't entitled to replicate their beige dinners on the med. People who want to colonise the world with their limited intellect and food choices don't have an entitlement to reshape Southern Europe. But 20 years ago there was at least a grim (albeit depressing) logic to what they were doing. Not so much any more and while it's true that people still cater for them, its too hot for their comfort and the local people loathe them almost to the point of terrorism.

Whey don't they do themselves and everyone else a favour and holiday on Camber Sands or the Isle of Wight if heat is the primary concern.

There’s a lot of things I can’t eat as I know they will make me ill. Spicy food, rich food, mushrooms, lentils, chickpeas can all upset my stomach. I’ll try things at home but I wouldn’t risk it on holiday. It’s not because I don’t like ‘foreign food’, I’d love to try it but it’s not worth ruining a holiday for if I can have some plain chicken for example

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

There’s a lot of things I can’t eat as I know they will make me ill. Spicy food, rich food, mushrooms, lentils, chickpeas can all upset my stomach

But why are you more likely to eat those things on holiday than at home? Maybe if you're going to a remote part of the Indian subcontinent or Mexico this might be fair. But why would that be an issue in Germany or Italy?

It's just applying a bit of common sense: think about the hygiene, avoid spicy food etc. But you're fundamentally safer from a food hygiene perspective in Britain.

It just doesn't sound particularly rational.

Presumably the people who go at that time don't think it's unbearable though? I'm like you, that kind of heat would end me and even the rotten British summers of the last two years didn't tempt me, but clearly this is one where beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

And the fact remains that there is nowhere in the UK that offers that same reliably sunny and hot weather, ever. Cornwall and Eastbourne are both more likely to be rainy than Greece or Turkey, even before we start considering factors like cost and raw sewage. I like a UK beach holiday but you always have to factor in the risk of it being rained off.

So you are allowed to think it's stupid, but the argument that anything remotely equivalent is available in the UK is, well, also stupid. It's clearly not. You don't have to approve of the sun and British/Irish food offerings on the Med to accept that they exist there and not here. They are two quite separate points.

My god this is hard work. It’s perfectly rational not to want to risk eating something I’m not sure about. I wouldn’t eat overly rich or spicy food in a restaurant at home in case I was ill so I’m not going to risk it on holiday when I’m staying in a hotel.

She should get her passport cancelled. I know its harsh, but if she is like that at several hotels (unsure which countries, resorts) - does not warrant a stay abroad.

If she stayed at my hotel, I would be mad.

I assume it's for reliable sunshine/good weather.

Oh, so that's her 'thing' is it? To go on holiday and then complain to get compensation.

People who go to the press with some grievance and pose with the obligatory 'sad face' are always going to be mocked. It's like those articles in Take a Break where an elderly female victim of a romance scam by a 20-something adonis from overseas will pose for a 'sad face' photograph. Most sensible people wouldn't advertise their humiliating experience for other people to laugh at.