A lot of the "British food is bad" meme comes from older victorian sensibilities where the upper class sensibilities were very against unfamiliar or particularly flavorful foods. A common cook book at the time called potatoes "suspicious; a great many are narcotic, and many are deleterious", and also said things like garlic were offensive.
Another part of it comes from the fact that the UK went through rationing during and after WWII, lasting 15 years total, and the recipes that originated during that time were...not always great things, and they carried for a long time afterwards as people who grew up during the blitz ended up enjoying those recipes and continuing to make them.
The actual bad stuff is kinda hard to find nowadays. It's been outcompeted. Kidney pie, or blood pudding, or stuff like that is 'divisive' in the sense that it's something that some people are scared of, but they don't actually taste bad if you try it. The same book that holds the first recipe for steak and kidney pudding is the same one I got the quote from earlier from, and is also the same book that holds a recipe for a "Toast Sandwich". Stuff like that is more where this idea comes from.
This is the comment I came looking for. The American soldiers stationed here during world war two did us bloody dirty, and unfortunately the stereotype persists from people who've never even been here, let alone have actually tried beans on toast.
I know that you haven't even tried it then, so may I ask, what are you imagining "beans" refers to in "beans on toast"? Because I've seen so many people mess this up.
Ironically, the beans most Brits agree are the best are actually an American export. Hell, it might just be the zenith of US cuisine as far as I'm concerned. We're talking about Heinz baked beans in tomato sauce - a near perfect balance of sweet, salty, and umami; soft as you like without becoming mush; so full of lean protein and fibre that you can feel your body thanking you as you eat it.
Now slap that on some well buttered, well done toast while it's all very hot, and dig in while the toast is still crunchy. And trust me when I say the balance of textures and flavour profiles is enough to make anyone understand that this has never been British haute cuisine, nor is it a delicacy. This is simply comfort food that can be eaten at literally any hour, and will feel like a warm hug.
My sister moved to Canada and the first time she made beans and toast she was disgusted. She has to drive to Pete’s Frootique to get proper heinz (British import) as the Canadian ones were too sweet.
Ours are usually haricot or berlotti beans as well (personally I detest beans on toast and it has never made an appearance in my house no matter how skint I’ve been)
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u/alexxerth 22d ago
A lot of the "British food is bad" meme comes from older victorian sensibilities where the upper class sensibilities were very against unfamiliar or particularly flavorful foods. A common cook book at the time called potatoes "suspicious; a great many are narcotic, and many are deleterious", and also said things like garlic were offensive.
Another part of it comes from the fact that the UK went through rationing during and after WWII, lasting 15 years total, and the recipes that originated during that time were...not always great things, and they carried for a long time afterwards as people who grew up during the blitz ended up enjoying those recipes and continuing to make them.
The actual bad stuff is kinda hard to find nowadays. It's been outcompeted. Kidney pie, or blood pudding, or stuff like that is 'divisive' in the sense that it's something that some people are scared of, but they don't actually taste bad if you try it. The same book that holds the first recipe for steak and kidney pudding is the same one I got the quote from earlier from, and is also the same book that holds a recipe for a "Toast Sandwich". Stuff like that is more where this idea comes from.