As an American who moved to the East Midlands I think I can explain it.
First, there's no artificial colouring in the foods, so they look more "plain" by comparison. Especially the sweets.
Secondly, there is SO MUCH LESS SALT in everything. It BLEW my mind when I first moved here how "flavourless" everything seemed, and I found out (because I'm diabetic and read nutritional labels) there is literally 1/10th the salt in prepackaged foods here, and that's just sodium, I'm not counting other salts.
After almost four years of adjusting to a British palette from an American one, I can tell you, American say British food is bland because it's not blasted with salt. I rarely add salt to dishes anymore, and if I do it's a pinch. I order snack foods from the States occasionally, and having the same flavor crisps on Lay's brand verses Walkers is insane. I can't eat lays anymore it's so salty.
The funny thing is every now and then there are articles in the UK about how food in this country has dangerous amounts of salt. So how much salt does American food have?
Firstly, yes it looks like Lay's Salted are called Lay's Classic in the US. They have the same nutrition stats under either name, so still 1.3g of salt to Walker's 1.2, basically no difference.
But you've read their SODIUM number from the label and thought that meant the same thing as SALT - but it doesn't. .5g of sodium per 100g is 1.25g of salt per 100g, because Chlorine weighs more per atom than Sodium does.
Edit: the purple should have taken their own advice and admitted to being wrong, rather than doing a reply-and-block to try and get the last word...
Actually, they didn't. They mentioned Lays being saltier. Yes, Lays salted and Walkers ready salted are basically even in salt content. But, as an example, Lays salt and vinegar has 1.2g of salt per 100g, while Walkers salt and vinegar has 0.6g per 100g.
It's exactly this. The food is generally well-cooked and has ingredients that taste good. Nothing wrong with it at all, I just will never again make the mistake of traveling to the UK without bringing my own salt and black pepper with me everywhere.
Do you disguise it? Is there a secret panel you keep it under?
The lack of salt is absolutely miserable. I would have noticed if it was there. So either I had an incredible run of bad luck, you're not eating in central London, or you guys just don't notice when it's not there.
I'm in Cumbria rather than London, but in the suburbs of London there's been salt, in pubs and restaurants in Cumbria and Lincolnshire there's been salt.
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u/heyo_throw_awayo 22d ago
As an American who moved to the East Midlands I think I can explain it.
First, there's no artificial colouring in the foods, so they look more "plain" by comparison. Especially the sweets.
Secondly, there is SO MUCH LESS SALT in everything. It BLEW my mind when I first moved here how "flavourless" everything seemed, and I found out (because I'm diabetic and read nutritional labels) there is literally 1/10th the salt in prepackaged foods here, and that's just sodium, I'm not counting other salts.
After almost four years of adjusting to a British palette from an American one, I can tell you, American say British food is bland because it's not blasted with salt. I rarely add salt to dishes anymore, and if I do it's a pinch. I order snack foods from the States occasionally, and having the same flavor crisps on Lay's brand verses Walkers is insane. I can't eat lays anymore it's so salty.