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submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 46 points 3 days ago

Isn't "English food" just an amalgamation of foods from cultures they subjugated in the past, and beef?

[-] [email protected] 31 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I read somewhere that England eats like they're still hiding out from the Blitz. Seemed accurate.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

You joke, but yes the limited food availability before (WW1, Great Depression), during, and after World War 2 has had a lasting and profound effect on England's cuisine in particular.

It was never as well respected internationally as other European cuisines, consisting mainly of hearty soups, stews, savory pies, puddings, and roasts, but it's identity shifted dramatically during that time, often incorporating more international flavors and giving up on most of the needed longer (and less fuel efficient) cooking times.

Funnily enough many of those traditions were maintained more cohesively in some of the further-a-field colonies like Australia.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago
[-] [email protected] 23 points 3 days ago
[-] [email protected] 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Hey now, that’s reducing English food to an extremely narrow stereotype… You forgot to mention that they also boil their meats, or turn everything into pies.

[-] [email protected] 17 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

How could they not have English food like pizza, curry, or kebabs??

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

The article says they had kebobs but claimed she couldn't eat them yet wanted sausages and bacon for breakfast.

[-] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago

There's 3 sort of sections to British food.

  • Old staples, things like stews, pies, roasts etc. We exported most of these, with the empire. They are also shared a lot with Europe, making them even more ubiquitous.

  • Local specialities. Local traditional dishes, e.g. Yorkshire puddings, Cornish pasties, or Eccles cakes. These were town or region specific. Some have spread, others are still hyper local.

  • Imported. Mostly from the empire days. We tended to "discover" spices and flavours. When they came back, they were often reimagined. E.g. the curry was a Scottish invention, using Indian spices. We mostly dump all the related dishes under a label of the country we stole the flavours from. E.g. Chinese food tastes nothing like what they eat in China.

Basically, there is a lot of really good British food about. We also set the baseline for a lot of the comparisons, making us look bland by comparison. The London restaurant industry also does a complete number on tourists, making us look even worse.

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Chicken Tikka Masala was invented in Scotland, by a Scottish chef of Indian descent, in the 1970s. Cleopatra ate curry.

https://youtu.be/zt10iMRWg20

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

You forgot the fourth section: yellow / brown with beans.

  • fish fingers and beans
  • beans on toast
  • fry up (beans essential)
  • everything in Wetherspoon's

Only taking the piss of course.

Scotch egg is peak for me. Incredible invention. 99% sure that's British? Introduced to me by an English man anyway.

Used to love smoked kippers as a child. Different English man introduced me to them. They strike me as a very British thing also.

Never quite got the Yorkshire with a roast thing myself but my sister lives over there and is fully converted on them. I mean they're good like but I'd happily live without them.

Got gifted an Eccles cake by a lovely Scouser I know last year. Also delish with a mug of tea.

I do love a good pastie too (is that Greggs or am I mixing up?).

[-] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Baked beans are definitely a VERY British thing, along with fry up in general.

Scotch eggs are Scottish in origin, I believe. I bundle them in with British, though a good chunk of Scotland would disagree. Definitely good, either way. Kippers and haggis are also Scottish/northern England traditionally.

As for Greggs... I personally consider them an example of how British food got screwed over by mass production. I've been disappointed most times I've brought from them. I know a lot of people swear by them however.

As for Yorkshire pudding. It's a case of a good one is absolutely amazing, while an average one is just meh. It also needs a good gravy to dip it in. Hence why it goes so well with a roast.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

As for Yorkshire pudding. It's a case of a good one is absolutely amazing, while an average one is just meh. It also needs a good gravy to dip it in. Hence why it goes so well with a roast.

Ah she's an incredible cook and I'm reliably informed that her Yorkshire's are legendary level. As with everything she cooks them from scratch (like even her bread is home cooked on the daily) so they were pleasant alright.

I do find her gravy a bit thin myself (again she does it from scratch like some crazy woman). I like my gravy thick AF and have no problem taking it from a tub haha. No bisto though. That's muck IMO. Anyway I might like them more with my thick peasant gravy as you say.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Chinese curry, however, is a British invention, bizarrely.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Don't forget soggy, vinegar drenched chips.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

Comes with being the winner, every time

[-] [email protected] 1 points 3 days ago

No, it's instant soups and cookies.

this post was submitted on 03 Jun 2025
170 points (98.3% liked)

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