British food...

Great Britain is one of our favorite countries to visit. We are British History buffs and most of our ancestors come from the British Isles.

We found lots to enjoy in Britain.

1) More traditional British food: Love fish and chips, meat pies, lamb stew (in Wales it is called Lamb Cawl), Bangers and mash, Shepherd's Pie, English breakfast and more.

2) Britain has many restaurants that provide great foreign cuisine. We have enjoyed Indian, Italian, French and Caribbean cuisine while in Britain.
3) Pubs provide a great default place to eat. The food is always at least good, sometimes excellent. It will usually not compare with a highly ranked restaurant, but then Pubs don't charge a lot.
4) Love the dark or stout British beer. Many Americans don't like dark beer and it can be hard to find in many US restaurants, but not in Britain.

One thing that I learned dining in Britain. We were in the best restaurant in Chipping Campden in 2017 and I decided to dine on the lasagne. The restaurant was not Italian. Big mistake, what I received was close to a very large meat pie with melted provolone cheese on top. It was interesting that many others in the restaurant ordered the lasagna and were raving about it. It was still good, but it had no pasta and no resemblance to lasagna. I wanted to send it back, but wife talked me out of it.

Lesson that I learned--if you want Italian food, order it in an Italian restaurant.

In the video mentioned, the YT bloggers hadn't tried the most popular food in Britain which is Indian, there are more Indian restaurants and take aways in Britain than fish and chip shops, yet they were surprised at how hard it was to find Mexican food, if at all.

I lived in Germany for four years and have traveled to nearly all the countries in Europe.

Never had any really good Mexican food in Europe. The spices were mostly left out of the food and it was disappointing.

I was born in Texas and find that outside of the SW USA, finding great Mexican food is not a slam dunk. Yes, you can find fairly good Mexican food, but you find some perfectly awful stuff. We have an excellent Mexican restaurant near home here in Georgia, but when I visit my Daughter and her family in Mass, the Mexican restaurants we try are just awful. Apparently, New Englanders are not fond of spicy food and so the proper spices are left out.

The reputation that British food is bad stems primarily from the war and post war years where food was scarce and rationing was strict. However it's interesting to note how many British classics are regular favourites in US cooking. The British also have a tradition of accepting and incorporating other cuisines into their daily life mostly as a result of the British Empire colonialism. This is in stark contrast to cuisines such as French, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and others where there is stiff resistance to "foreign food".

Pretty much the majority of outstanding meals that I've eaten have been in the UK with Spain a close second. If you want to experience excellent British food then I would recommend not seeking out the elusive Sunday Roast, it's a meal best cooked at home. Fish and chips should be bought from a dedicated 'Chippie' and not from a pub or restaurant as it's not the same. There are so many excellent 'gastropubs' and restaurants that cook excellent British food, some classics, some contemporary, some fusion that it's a ridiculous notion to claim that British food is bad. In addition there are an abundance of restaurants offering cuisines from all over the world. You won't find much in the way of Mexican food though as Mexico was never a British colony and there are no historical links to the country. It's a shame as it's pretty much all I eat when in the US and Wahacca in the UK simply doesn't cut it.

And...one of London's popular restaurants--Dishoom--has made a NYT list for publishing one of the "best" cookbooks" of the year. Sorry if it's behind a paywall for some of you: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/13/t-magazine/best-chef-cook-books.html

I especially enjoyed the food in Scotland, where it seemed easier to find restaurants that were independent or part of an apparently-small chain. So many places in London, especially, are outposts of big chains. The seafood in Scotland was very good and reasonably priced (for seafood).

I especially enjoyed the food in Scotland, where it seemed easier to find restaurants that were independent or part of an apparently-small chain. So many places in London, especially, are outposts of big chains.

Some of the best burgers I've eaten have been in Scotland, I'm sure it's the quality of the beef.

Unfortunately, particularly where London is concerned, often the high prices for commercial rents mean that only the big chains can afford to open outlets. This is why high streets up and down the country are becoming bland, homogenised identikits.

"The reputation that British food is bad stems primarily from the war and post war years where food was scarce and rationing was strict."

Yes, it's as true today as the other stereotypes, we all have bad teeth, we're unfriendly, all business men wear pin stripes and a bowler hat, we always says cheerio and toodle pip, it's ALWAYS raining etc.

Personally, When I think of traditional British food I'm thinking of Roast Beef or Shephards Pie, and I found it very dull and bland when I tried it in the pubs, but when I experienced London's take on ethnic food; particularly Spanish and Italian, it was outstanding.

British cookbook authors are among my favorites: Hugh F-W, Nigel Slater, Nigella, anyone regularly featured in The Guardian Food/Recipes. I like the British take on veggies which differs from our typical US recipes.

I have never had a bad meal in the UK. Of course some were better than others (and the better ones were not necessarily the more expensive ones), but everything was tasty and well prepared.

That's probably where you are going wrong:-)

Emma, I happily admit that I'm confused about what is being talked about in regard to British Food. I'm 3rd generation Canadian on both my Mom and Dad's side with the food I ate growing up being heavily influenced by Scottish and English backgrounds. For me, when I think of British food, I am thinking about Shepherds Pie or Roast beef with Yorkshire Pudding, mashed potatoes. But to my Mom, even salt was a wild and crazy spice. As a result I didn't grow up enjoying food (sorry Mom). When I was in England a year ago, the ethnic foods were incredible, but the pubs and one steak place kept serving me bland food that included mushy peas.

Just what are we talking about on a post like this when we are talking about British Food? Are we talking about the traditional such as fish and chips, Roast beef, etc, or is it a more broader range that includes the London take on ethnic foods?

The UK really has a prime produce-growing climate and soil. British cuisine done well showcases that high quality fresh and local food without other things getting in the way of the underlying excellent ingredients.

Dont forget that since the Tudor times British cooking has used alot of spices such as nutmeg and mace, we have always absorbed from the countries we visied/invaded eg deviled kidneys and kedegree.
Also look at the spices in, cumberland sausages, black pudding, mince pies, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding.

Totally agree with Emma, British cooking is home cooking, doesnt realy translate to the resturant enviroment. And it is what you are used to, I also find North American food unbreably sweet.

Allan, if you go a chippy, at least in the north, you should be able to buy chips and gravy which is close to Canada's national dish. Though, you'll probably have to provide your own off-milk bits.

A couple of years ago one of my wife's colleagues from India came over to work in the UK for a couple of weeks and my wife invited her to dinner (although I was the one who had to cook). I asked what she would like and she wanted to try beef having never eaten it due to the illegality of eating beef where she lives so I decided to make a cottage pie and also serve her a medium rare fillet steak. She liked the cottage pie but stated that she would have preferred it to have more spice. She pretty much left the steak, she didn't say anything but I suspect she's never eaten a piece of meat served medium rare and was probably put off. I would have been quite happy to give the cottage pie an Indian twist but that would be defeating the object, I don't want to go to India and eat fish and chips, I want to local cuisine.

I agree with Emma, I would never order shepherds pie in a restaurant or pub as I know it would probably not be a patch on mine. It's a dish that is best cooked at home, same as a roast. I never cook fish and chips at home, in fact I never deep fry anything apart from in the summer if I'm doing a Spanish tapas spread for outside dining and I can use the deep fat fryer outside without stinking the kitchen out.

There's a lot of traditional British food, much of it simple and suitable for home cooking, lots of soups, stews, casseroles of all varieties. Potted meats, fish and shellfish. Stargazey pie from Cornwall (never seen it on a menu), fish pie, steak and kidney pie, chicken, leek and ham pie, pork pie, in fact pies galore, 'devilled' dishes, Coronation Chicken, haslet, Toad in the Hole, pease pudding and ham, Lancashire hotpot, Lobscouse (or simply scouse), cornish pasties, faggots, bubble and squeak, pan haggerty, Welsh rarebit, Glamorgan sausages (and some of the best sausages in the world)n not to mention 350 more varities of cheese than the French. Much of this traditional food rarely features in British restaurants or pubs (unless the kitchen want to "de-construct" something).

A lot of restaurants don't focus on particular traditional dishes as such but rather create dishes with a variety of influences and a focus on the quality of local ingredients. Many of these dishes will be great but they won't have a title synonymous with a dish based on centuries of British cooking. The British aren't precious about their cuisine, it's why we don't get too upset by the claim that our food is bad because we know that those who claim that it is invariably have either a) never tried it or b) eaten a poor example of it.

And let's not forget who invented the majestic sandwich!

Diana Henry, not so well known but she has written lots of books that inspire and work. You can occasionally get them for 99p on kindle which is a real bargain.

I think I bought her entire back catalogue a few months ago on a 99p frenzy! Many good recipes particularly when wanting some inspiration for chicken loving kids.

Unlike some countries (looking at you France and to some extent Italy)
we are not precious about our food. We are happy to try, adopt and
adapt any type of food that comes our way and that is exciting.

Thank You Emma, you have my vote for most informative answer of the day in the category of things I was wondering about.