"british food" has come to mean "british food from ration times", which is obviously going to result in it being dogshit because people had to stretch a hunk of ham over an entire week.

I think it's more of a meme than real at this point. Most of the time when I see "British food", I think it looks pretty good, even if it's not flashy.

And traditional dishes like corned beef and cabbage. I love me some corned beef with lots of mustard. And cabbage, you can eat it by the head and it has so few calories plus it has lots of vit c and fiber. It is excellent diet food.

Always cracks me up when Americans diss British food. Many have no idea how many American staple foods originate from Britain, especially in the Midwest.

I can taste how much butter you put in the dough

There is great english food. It's just that your average brit ain't making it either. Ive been to Bournemouth on a school language program several times and we had amazing Yorkshire Pudding and more good stuff once. But we also had Microwaved raw Broccoli with soggy disgusting Pizza another time.

Also: You guys have an unhealthy obsession with vinegar.

I mean, it's the best thing available

The UK has some of the best produce in the world. What the average person at home does is of course something else but that's no different in a lot of countries.

As someone mentioned rationing didn't help the image but also the drabness of industrial canned food in the brown seventies. And people just forgot how to cook.