Alot of people judge British Food on looks only. I genuinely wonder how many people saying 'British food sucks' have actually eaten British food & are clearly not just regurgitating whatever the media says. British food isn't just Jellied Eels & some abomination from WW2 rationing, nobody eats that stuff anymore.
I live here and unfortunately a lot of people can't cook and eat awful diet. I don't think that British food sucks, I love fish and chips and I bring tea bags with me whenever I go abroad but in comparison to other cuisine it's mid. Obviously there are great restaurants here but average food served here is not that great and very stodgy.
You have the US that criticises it for a lack of 'seasoning' (something that betrays that American food is typically about what's on it, rather than what's in it).
The rest of the world criticise it for it's lack of elaboration or flavour complexity.
Then there's the internal frustration that we're a nation where personal or home cooking can be p!ss poor. We don't have a great home food culture. The amount of times I've seen family or friends boil the f#cking atoms out of something is frightening.
There are so many “fusion” recipies where it’s just like “you have made the exact same food, but swapped the Mexican sauce for a soy/teriyaki based one”
In Spain and Italy, food can be simple too. The taste comes from the quality of the ingredients. And I will admit that our Supermarkets let us down there.
Our tomatoes spent so much time at the “inert” stage when ripening, the sugars aren’t there. Our aubergines are like foam sticks, not sure what they do to them but they were better 10 years ago. Courgettes too, lacking the natural flavours and probably down to the refrigeration and storage.
Non-fruits are fine. We are just effing up the fruits that are culinarily treated as “vegetables”.
British cooking, like some other European cultures tend to use fresh herbs and aromatics, like onion, garlic, worcestershire, vinegar and wine to flavor their foods alongside well baked pastry. It's actually quite nice.
Most white Americans underseason their food terribly, no dry seasoning and lack of herbs and aromatics. They really shouldn't be talking about seasoning.
Black Americans really lean heavily into dry seasonings. Seasoning blends, tons of onion powder and garlic powder. I really enjoy this but it's not something I would want for every meal. I love ethnic foods of the world and tend to diversify my food choices heavily.
I criticize fellow Americans in general for being overly picky and have rigid rules about how their food should be flavored. Anyone with a developed palate can appreciate different preparations of meals and may have a heavily seasoned gumbo one day and a light and herbaceous meat pie another. Our taste shouldn't be so narrow.
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u/Vaxtez 22d ago
Alot of people judge British Food on looks only. I genuinely wonder how many people saying 'British food sucks' have actually eaten British food & are clearly not just regurgitating whatever the media says. British food isn't just Jellied Eels & some abomination from WW2 rationing, nobody eats that stuff anymore.