Is it patronising to say that British people don't/ can't cook?

[MrsMerryHenry]

I think it is. I'd say about 99% of my friends cook well, maybe half of them extremely well. I'd place myself somewhere between those two groups (based on others' comments about my food!). Pretty much all of my friends are adventurous about food and take pride in the food that they produce. Surely I can't be part of an abnormal set of 'Brits that can actually cook'?

Oh, and one thing that really gets up my nose is the otherwise brilliant comedy Frasier - all the jokes about Daphne's food being crap because it's British. Because American food's so amazing, clearly. I spent 2 weeks in the USA, ate out every night (otherwise it was a host's home cooking), and all of us Brits were seriously underwhelmed by the food. Most of it was nice (apart from the diner - what in the world are 'grits'??? They're actually gritty! ), but nothing special. Okay, rant over .

Yes, and rude and untrue.

I am British and I am a fantastic cook.

Yes we Brits can cook, but I think we have the bad reputation because our 'national dishes' tend to be fatty and stodgy - fish and chips, yorkshire puds, toad in the hole... In reality, we've adopted a much more varied international diet.

Agree with OP - American food underwhelming and unhealthy. They are the land that brought us fast food loaded with salt and sugar.

going back to OP's point about American sitcoms perpetuating these myths, and Riven's point about teeth as well.... a lot of American people truly believe that...well, I'm not sure, that they are genetically more likely to be born with straighter teeth??? Do they overlook the fact that 40 million Americans can't afford medical insurance in case they need a doctor? never mind an orthodontist!!!

I'd hazard a guess that in America, people who can afford braces get braces, and in the UK, people who can afford braces have braces.... hmmm...

Their notion of good teeth is a bit characterless compared to ours though. We don't mind if our teeth look different from other people's. LIke a finger print. I think the American ideal is to have teeth like Tom cruises, ie, with as much character as a prosthetic limb.

Happy to hear from any Americans on the thread though??

Obviously the teeth thing is a bit of a tangent.

It is not patronising as such. It is a generalisation about some people, but hardly true for everyone.

It is not good to use Americans as an example because they use far more processed foods than us. If you look at an American recipe, it often calls for a packet of this and a tin of that - ingredients that we would assemble from scratch.

I think what is probably true about many Americans and Brits is that we value food that it effortless to prepare, and see cooking as a chore. We don't see it as a hobby or artform, except perhaps once a week or a few times a year.

When I have time at home, I do enjoy cooking, but most of the time I am tired and rushed. With hungry teenagers on the prowl, they are very likely to start making sandwiches rather than wait for something that is lovingly prepared.

I can cook reasonably well and know lots of people that cook well so I do feel it is patronising when a sweeping generalisation is made but I suppose I get equally annoyed that bad food is seems to be so acceptable (although less so these days) in so many places (pubs, schools etc)and food is frequently not given the important place it deserves in our culture.

I have a number of French friends who have initially expressed surprise at my cooking skills, frequently ask me for advice about recipes and have largely abandoned their previous views since living in the UK.

They (and I) are still amazed by the amount of space that supermarkets devote to ready meals though.

What does it mean to being able to cook?

Does it mean adept at chopping vegetables and making sauces, or does it mean getting the flavour right?

Or does it mean just getting off your backside?

I love cooking and food, DH as wel.

We are both a bit fat. DH has lovely teeth, mine are a bit skew-wiff, but not terrifying.

It would be interesting to know if the UK has different demographics of households than other countries. I have no idea of the answer to that. But my guess (based on my own experience) would be that people living in single person households utilise "ready meals" a lot more than families. More ready meal are being consumed than say 30 years ago but there are many more single people - in those days people were married younger, now they move out and live alone for years. Divorce is also much more common than in those days - more single person households. And people live longer - I often see elderly women in my local waitrose picking up ready meals.

So is it not that we have all stopped cooking, but that society has changed. And that people with children/couples/families are still beavering away at the stove as much as they ever were.

I don't know about sleb chefs tbh. They engender enthusiasm about food but they're a mixed bag in terms of quality and reliability.

Delia's a bit basic and terribly unimaginative although her recipes always work. Jamie Oliver's catering for people who generally don't cook and it's just about throwing ingredients together. Nigella's baking is okay but some recipes unreliable and she's very much a sleb who cooks rather than the other way around. On the other hand, Gordon Ramsey's a proper chef and so's Raymond Blanc and their recipes are generally fantastic.

Just did Raymond Blanc's stuffed pancakes for lunch today - yum.

bronze: "If you look at what people buy in their big shop at supermarkets, I would say that quite a fair proportion, possibly even majority, do not cook from scratch"

but is this a fair judgement? I get emergency stuff from the supermarket but though its a large amount its not all of it by any means. It doesnt cover the vegbox/gardenstuff etc, the milk delivery, the trip to the butchers. The stuff bought in bulk, the chickens and eggs from the garden.
I don't think we can make assumptions like that."

I would say that is a fair judgment where I live, which is in an area of London that has few markets and the few are horribly expensive and sell niche products. Butchers few and far between. Gardens are generally small. My supermarket is enormous and quite well known in the area. I can tell from the supermarket shop that these are not emergency shops - there are those but these are big shops. A lot of prepackaged food and TV dinners.

Takeaways seem to sprout from nowhere and seem to do a decent trade.

fair enough

and what is cooking from scratch?

dried pasta? fresh pasta? make your own from scratch?

good toad-in-the-hole or yorkshire pudding shouldn't be stodgy - that's just because they can't cook it properly .

I can cook.

Quite agree. I know not a single person that can't cook to some degree or other. They might not all be Blumenthal but they can cook.

mrsmattie: "I'd say British people are very poor at seasoning and cooking meat well."

Lol, I would have to agree with this. I grew up on oriental cooking where the marinade is everything and meat is routinely marinaded for hours before cooking.

The emphasis is on tender tasty meat.

When I lived in the UK, I thought I cooked well, but since living abroad (Belgium) I realise the food I produced wasn't actually that great...!!!

HOWEVER, it's much easier to cook well in this part of mainland Europe. Don't be lured in to thinking that the Belgians and French all cook everything from scratch. You can buy lots of dishes prepared or semi-prepared here, you NEVER have to bake (fabulous patisseries) with stupendously good bread, and there are lots of good quality ingredients available to 'compose' rather than prepare and cook.

The continental cuts of meat (without fat) are also generally much easier and quicker to cook.

Also, they put fewer things on the plate, eg, meat or fish + one veg. Not meat, plus selection of veg, plus pots plus Yorkshire pudding as we do in the UK. A Sunday lunch as the Brits do it is really quite technically difficult ... Belgian and French generally cooks do not generally attempt that level of complexity ...

Finally, the long working hrs culture of the UK doesn't really allow a lot of time for cooking!!

Oh and still say you can't beat British lamb either (it's very gamey over here).

but one could argue that actually we cook meat to enjoy the flavour of the meat......not the seasoning or marinades that we could put on it.

I often like to taste the flavour of the beef/duck/chicken/pork, not the basil/cumin/ginger/whatever .

Losing the ability to cook is not confined to UK.

I think the most important factor is the lifestyle change from one working parent to two over the course of a generation, particularly if both work ft.

I am sure there are families with 2 ft working parents that cook from scratch. But it is a lot more challenging to achieve in such a time scarce lifestyle and would require significant planning and prioritising of time.

In Paris you used to eat reasonably well in bourgeois homes, though not because the maîtresse de maison had spent her day in the kitchen - she had a maid to do that. Les bourgeoises rarely cooked themselves, and women of my generation from that sort of background have never learnt to cook and no longer have French domestic servants who know how to cook French food properly - the servants are mostly Filipina or Brazilian. So food in the grandest apartments is mostly cobbled together from the traiteur or Picard (a frozen food chain) and reheated in the microwave...

Forgot to say, agree with Riven about egg and chips = proper food!! It's delicious when done well.

alwayslooking, I suppose you could look at it that way - if you are using an excellent cut of meat and flashed cooked it just so.

That only works for expensive cuts of meat. I remember dry tasteless steaks ...

Cheaper cuts need more 'help' in terms of marinade and slower cooking. And adds infinite variety to what you can achieve with meat.

well yes cheaper cuts need slower cooking I'll agree there (hence my stew went in the oven over an hour ago for dinner ) - but I still don't season heavily.

Dry steaks is because they're cooked badly - not because they're they don't have lots of seasosning.

oooh now I have the urge for a steak

I am like defineme. I can cook, I guess. my mum is a great cook. she can do a 6 course dinner party for 15 without even blinking. her knoweledge and variety is good. both my brothers can cook.
Unlike OP, most of the people that i know, school mums etc can't cook. making spag bol is about as far as it goes. and like others posters, as i look in their baskets, i am astonished how much ready made stuff there is. they can just about do a roast. but most days , it is fish fingers. I cook pork chops new pts and 3 steamed veg. but I don't consider that cooking.

But cooking is not taught imn many schools. and people don't choose to teach their children ? and my cooking is not as good as my mums. so my sons will be worse. it dwindles each time it is passed down, surely ?
cooking is .... well, i'm not sure. i can make cakes. beef wellington ? baked alska. what is your defintion of cooking.

I can cook but I can't bake - my mum was a fantastic cook and baker.

DH can cook. Very well. He loves to cook. And his cooking is far superior that most of our US friends who all cook bbqs or take outs!
I personally can't cook very well, i can cook, limited stuff but what i can cook is good, just not very much but DH loves cooking.

Many of my friends can cook very well, well enough to have dinner parties. Not all of them mind, but those who can, cook wide, varied and well put together dishes. IMO. of course.