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submitted 8 months ago by robocall@lemmy.world to c/memes@lemmy.ml
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[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 93 points 8 months ago

The meme is funny :)

That being said, the only UK foods I've had were made by expats here in the states. None of it was bland, with the exception of breakfast beans, "because they're meant to be mild to start your day" as I was told by a lovely liverpudlian.

She would do fish and chips, and the batter was well seasoned. Not heavily seasoned, but some pepper, a little paprika, and a bit of onion powder to give it some aromatic kick. Well balanced, and imo, as good as any of the southern fried fish recipes I've had.

The chips were obviously just salted and vinegar used per person.

But when we did pot luck at work, she would bring in what she called "good english food", which included some curry a few times.

But her shepherd's pie? Holy hell, that was some great stuff. She said it was really cottage pie because it was beef usually. But it had the usual pepper, onion, garlic, and herbs.

And the other expats I ate with were similar. Maybe different amounts of a given herb or spice, but it was in there.

I think the UK food thing is a meme in itself, and likely arose the way things usually do, with the majority of cooks just being bad cooks, rather than representative of a cuisine or the way things are done properly in that country.

[-] MY_ANUS_IS_BLEEDING@lemm.ee 77 points 8 months ago

The reputation comes from the US military being stationed in the UK during the height of WW2 rationing when there was an extremely limited list of ingredients to cook with. They were unable to associate a country under an attempted siege from U-boats with a reduced supply of food.

We do have a love of beige food at times, but it's essentially our version of chicken tendies.

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 19 points 8 months ago

Ahhh, that makes sense. Kinda rough that the rep hasn't gone away yet, though.

[-] Aggravationstation@lemmy.ml 19 points 8 months ago

Boomers made that bland war time food linger. They were children during and just after WW2 so it was part of their childhood nostalgia and they fed it to their own kids. Also we've had Indian/ Chinese restaurants in the UK for a while but they were mostly just in major cities at first so the average person still had little exposure to foreign or exotic food until the late 1970s/ early 1980s.

[-] exocrinous@startrek.website 11 points 8 months ago

Boomers weren't children during WWII. Boomer means baby boomer, as in someone born during the baby boom. The baby boom happened after the war ended.

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[-] Dasnap@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

We also had rationing for a good while longer than other countries after the wars (right into the mid-50s), so we have a whole generation who were pretty much raised with limited food options. That kind of national trauma sticks around and took a while to shake off.

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[-] yeah@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

I don't think I'd recommend chilli peppers with your user name.

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[-] Simulation6@sopuli.xyz 10 points 8 months ago

Case proven, all the good cooks left.

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[-] Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 61 points 8 months ago

Meanwhile yanks with their two spices - butter and sugar

"Our food is the tastiest in the wuuuurld"

Aye but yous can't afford that coronary eh mate 😂

[-] 01011@monero.town 59 points 8 months ago

Is this where we pretend that Brits don't consume obscene amounts of sugar and butter?

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[-] Leviathan@lemmy.world 29 points 8 months ago

Clearly you've never had rich friends, they're notorious for having everything and never using it.

"Oh man, I didn't know you play guitar. That's a beautiful Orange double stack and Thunderverb."

"I bought that when I tried to learn guitar, haven't used it since."

[-] Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee 29 points 8 months ago

Most popular dish in the UK is Tikka Massala.

But:

Fat, carbs and protein do not come purer than fish and chips.

[-] foo@programming.dev 9 points 8 months ago

And vinegar so vinegary that it blows the taste buds of your descendants for 500 years

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[-] anticurrent@sh.itjust.works 22 points 8 months ago

Money can't buy you taste 😉

[-] flubba86@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

Well, the whole spice trade was literally wealthy people buying taste.

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[-] BreadOven@lemmy.world 19 points 8 months ago

Tell me you haven't had proper British food without actually telling me.

Don't blindly believe everything you hear.

Beans on toast can be done well also.

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[-] electric_nan@lemmy.ml 19 points 8 months ago

Hey, they also needed more people to play cricket with.

[-] saltesc@lemmy.world 18 points 8 months ago

I like the little flag. Classic move claiming fish fingers for the empire.

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[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 17 points 8 months ago

Embrace; Expand; Extinguish

[-] KillingTimeItself@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 8 months ago

i was told by a brit that american biscuits were "salty scones"

and i have never wanted to complain more in my life. Especially given the american propensity to make shit sweet as fuck.

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[-] yeah@lemmy.world 16 points 8 months ago

We use a lot of herbs, garlic and mustard traditionally.

[-] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 16 points 8 months ago

I heard once that when spices became so cheap that even the commoners could afford it, the upper class in Britain started to claim that really good food doesn't need any spices to taste good and that bland food is the best. This supposedly made the British cuisine way blander.

[-] robocall@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

I thought it was cuz they lost a bunch of ships during wwii and then they had the rationing of foods, and hadn't recovered their flavor palate since then.

[-] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 17 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

A lot of the "bland" food is just food that was made during the world wars that has evolved over time after the fact.

But to say British food has no spices completely disregards the whole curry scene over here. It's not just curry from India. A lot of "Indian" dishes were invented in the UK.

[-] Nythos@sh.itjust.works 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Aye like a lot of time that people are making fun of English cuisine they’re usually just making fun of meals that poorer families would make or that no one regularly makes in their right mind.

[-] MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I mean it's usually just cheap, lazy food. I like a good beans on toast every once and a while. Sometimes you just want a no effort meal.

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[-] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago

Ain't nothing wrong with fish and chips

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[-] Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Don’t get high on your own supply.

Guv.

[-] Nacktmull@lemmy.world 13 points 8 months ago

Chicken Tikka Masala entered the chat.

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[-] Black616Angel@feddit.de 13 points 8 months ago

British women and British cuisine... The birth of a seafarer nation.

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[-] ninjabard@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

And then purposefully mispronounce almost every foreign food.

[-] dejected_warp_core@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I look at it the other way around. The food was so horrible, England sent entire fleets of ships just to get takeout from India. It didn't matter that it took months on end and people lost their lives along the way, it was still worth it.

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[-] Zerush@lemmy.ml 9 points 8 months ago

After some trips to GB and eating there, I am happy to live in Spain

[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 9 points 8 months ago

What do you think tea is made of?

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this post was submitted on 24 Mar 2024
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