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I've spent many years living in the UK, to put it politely British food is rather fulfilling but it is nothing to write home about. Fun fact, British will happily tell you that they are eating out for X dinner tonight, and X can be Arabic, Chinese, Indian, etc but never British :-)

I kind of like British fish and chips, the staple food for British people. But then once I've tasted Spanish fish and chips in Costa del Sol, I have just realised that I've not tasted a real fish & chips!

But the main reason I am looking forward for breakfast in any British eatery or any of their Bed & Breakfast apart from their wonderful Earl Grey tea, it will be their delicious marmalade. If I've remembered correctly, I have fallen in love in the very first bite!

8 comments

> but never British :-)

To be fair though, a lot probably wouldn't consider the main place you get "British" food, the pub, as "eating out" because it's rather less formal.

> but it is nothing to write home about

I'll grant you that it's very, very variable, and the quality of a lot of pub food is crap in a lot of places. However there are lots of pubs that you can get very good British food (my local, for example - https://www.dancingmanbrewery.co.uk/food-glorious-food/resta...). You just have to know where you're going. And probably pay quite a lot for the good stuff. And avoid the chains.

There are many good, British restaurants around too - places like the Hawksmoor in London, or the Oxford Brasserie here in Southampton (the menu is here - https://www.theoxfordbrasserie.co.uk/menu). I wouldn't necessarily say I was going out "for British food" when I was visiting them though.

Do Thai people say they're going out for Thai food if they head out to eat in their home country? (I have no idea!)

Your local is a nice looking pub, and I like the doggie menu, but would you call it Birtish food? The starters seem British but the mains are burgers, ribs and fish.

Why would fish not be a British food? We are an island nation and fish has always been a big part of our cuisine.

The rib meat in that main is slow cooked, shredded meat from short ribs, not served as "ribs". And with a horseradish gravy, yes that's very british.

It's a shortened menu due to Coronavirus, usually there is a roast lamb and a pork belly dish too.

Plus there are three shortcrust pies, not explicitly called out as they are rotating specials, served with gravy and mashed potato.

All in all it's a very British menu, though yes there are two burgers on there. There are burgers literally everywhere these days!

Sorry, no offense was meant. In my defense basic fish dishes are generic Western fare and burgers made up 50% of the mains menu. It does all sound delicious and that English take on ribs is mouth watering.

No defence needed, and yes, the burger has conquered the world :)

One of these days I will summon the courage to try the famous English jellied eels :)

Ha! Rather you than me! There are some things that are just a step too far :)

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel...

> It will be seen that we have no cause to be ashamed of our cookery, so far as originality goes or so far as the ingredients go. And yet it must be admitted that there is a serious snag from the foreign visitor’s point of view. This is, that you practically don’t find good English cooking outside a private house. If you want, say, a good, rich slice of Yorkshire pudding you are more likely to get it in the poorest English home than in a restaurant, which is where the visitor necessarily eats most of his meals.

> It is a fact that restaurants which are distinctively English and which also sell good food are very hard to find. Pubs, as a rule, sell no food at all, other than potato crisps and tasteless sandwiches. The expensive restaurants and hotels almost all imitate French cookery and write their menus in French, while if you want a good cheap meal you gravitate naturally towards a Greek, Italian or Chinese restaurant.

> British food is rather fulfilling but it is nothing to write home about

What about sandwiches(!), desserts, and gastropub fair? Tasty.

Not to mention afternoon tea (a fine tradition) and lots of nice grab-and-go lunch options in many shops. And items marked as suitable for (usually ovo-lacto-)vegetarians.

And cheeses, many cheeses (though they may not all be strictly British in origin.) And chocolate - even the humble Cadbury bar seems better than its US version.

There is also something to be said for the full English breakfast vs. the anemic "continental" breakfast.

You rarely get local recipes in pubs. Lancashire hotpot, roast dinner with a yorkshire pud, breast of lamb and peas, scotch broth, and other wonderful delicacies like the pie barm, a fish supper with good gravy, black pudding with your breakfast, mash potato with cheese and beans, etc.

The reason you don't see them on a restaurant menu is because they're mostly functional meals you can leave in a slow cooker, or throw together with whatever you've got in the cupboards.

You will never know local british cuisine unless you were raised with it.

> but never British

Rules [0] in Covent Garden, London's oldest restaurant, established in 1798, disagrees.

[0] https://rules.co.uk/

BZZZT

Pedant alert: Fish and Chips is not originally British! (It's only been a staple over here since the 1860s.)

The chips had their origin as Belgian frites, and the fish is from Sephardic Jewish immigrants from Holland, who picked up and modified the recipe for pescado frito. (Fried fish could be eaten cold the next day, so was suitable for shabbat.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips

Counter-pedantry alert: does a food or way of cooking have to all be 'originally' from somewhere, to be said to be characteristic of that place?

For instance, chili peppers were introduced to asia by the portuguese during the 15th century, but now chili-heavy dishes are characteristic of much SE Asian and Indian cooking.

Is pasta characteristic of Italian cooking or do we need to look further back to ancient greek origins and say it's not really from there?

Are we sure we should credit either France or Belgium with the British 'chip'? While they argue over the origins of fries between themselves, and certainly their 'frites' pre-date the British chip-shop, they are cut very differently. Or do they both owe their heritage to Spanish "Patatas", as Spain had the potato first, and really, frying the damn things is pretty obvious when you think about it ...

Personally I think things cross-pollinate constantly, and very little can be considered solely and exclusively the property of one culture or other.

Funnily enough, like British Chinese and Indian food, fish and chips are likely a pseudo-fusion import (they're believed to have been invented by Sephardic Jewish immigrants).

Chinese food is supposed to be remarkably good at adapting itself to local tastes and ingredients (I remember the gloopy dayglo orange sweet and sour sauce from 80s UK Chinese takeaways). Cuban Chinese is apparently amazing.

Not sure about Chinese, but Japanese food in UK is mostly not edible, by my standards at least. Being fusion is a huge disadvantage for me. I go to Japanese restaurant when I want to taste original Japanese cuisine not some generic Asian mishmash. Either this or some obscure version of the dishes. Like, where does it come from that kare (curry) must always be katsu? Funnily enough this katsu is chicken. First time in my life I see katsu chicken. It should be pork. Or katsudon without an egg on top. Or tonkotsu ramen (in super hyper popular and regarded place) that doesn't look nor taste like one. It was good enough ramen, but why call it tonkotsu if it doesn't resemble it? Sure there are one or two good restaurants in city but that takes 1h minimum from zone 4 - one way.

I've never been to Japan, so can't comment on how authentic anything in the UK is, but ...

We have 'wagamama' which at best can be said to be japanese influenced, and a few chain sushi places (like Yo Sushi) across the country. They really aren't all that great. But if you look at some of the smaller/independent Japanese places that are around and about, they seem to be far better quality. I think London probably suffers from its centre being dominated by chains.

But on katsu ... I've had Chicken Katsu Curry in the UK, sure, but also in Australia, in Singapore and in Bangkok. If that's not a big thing in Japanese Cuisine then quite a lot of the world might have grasped the wrong end of the stick!

> But on katsu ... I've had Chicken Katsu Curry in the UK, sure, but also in Australia, in Singapore and in Bangkok. If that's not a big thing in Japanese Cuisine then quite a lot of the world might have grasped the wrong end of the stick!

While I don't know about this specific case, it wouldn't necessarily be surprising to see 'fusion' food exported. You can get chicken tikka masala, which is a British Indian invention, all over the place these days (and in fact even the katsu curry might be a remote descendant of British Indian 'fusion' food; AIUI the Japanese navy adopted curry from the British in the 19th century).

I'm not saying that katsu kare is not existent in Japan, but in the UK it is basically the only kare you can get. On the contrary in Tokyo you have it among ten other options and it is definitely not the most popular one. I can say only about my experiences but I'd say the most popular is one with beef which is put in the stew.

The name of the dish is simply kare rasiu (curry with rise) and that's most common form. It's also super simple to make if you have rice cooker at home. Just pre-fry some onion, carrot and potatoes on the pan, then boil it with considerate amount of water and add curry blocks to it - done. You may add meat but it's just an additional ingredient which can be easily omitted. You can make it once and it lasts for couple of days. You can even freeze it if you want.

I already do make that at home sometimes, it's delicious :)

British sausages are better than any German wursts. Change my mind (don't try if you only had the cheapest stuff).

You mean "Emulsified High-Fat Offal Tubes"?

(No offence to British sausages intended, but I just had to sneak in that reference)