I know that it's mostly a joke, yet it is worth mentioning that those valuable spices were exclusively used by the rich and wealthy. Ordinary people and their food did not benefit from the spice trade at all. If you delve a little bit into culinary history and find out what the aristocrats did with (for example) extremely rare and precious nutmeg the British Empire fought wars over, you want to dig up their bones, revive them, just so that you can kill them again.

I dated a British girl in high school. She microwave broccoli in water. No salt or seasoning. No butter. No nothing.

She took it out, drained the water and told me her dish was done.

That was the last time she made anything for us.

Everyone always forgets that Chicken Tikka Masala is a British dish and one of the most popular meals in the country

Walking down a high street in the UK. I smell loads of spices from even the shit takeaways.

There's somewhere between 10 and 20 spices in the food pictured, why do you think its orange?

Funny how much the yanks bring this up to distract from their own food culture.

ITT people believing the self-deprecating jokes white cultures have been telling about themselves are actually 100% true

The rest of the world thinks that Britain doesn't use spices, what we don't know is that for some reason, we seem to use them in our confectionery.

We really like ginger.

The British eat so much Indian food it's crazy. There's a Nando's on damn near every corner in London.

The tragedy is that many of the spices most jealously traded for became so integral to British and international cuisine that memesters don't even realise that they were ever unusual or expensive. I guarantee you that those baked beans have a bunch of black pepper in them and guess what... pepper don't grow in Britain! It's in more or less every single kitchen thanks to a global spice trade that is now forgotten. Ginger is a main flavour in many British recipes and also doesn't grow in Britain.

But Britain was in fact not that big a player in the spice trade, being beaten by the Dutch, who got there first and had better financial backing. The British East India Company tried to make its way by raiding ships of the Dutch East India Company but after a bunch of wars eventually had to settle for less exciting endeavours - trade in cotton being a staple.

The Dutch are themselves not renowned for their food either, though it is my firm belief that every country has great food if you're willing to look past your prejudices, and stamppot is great.

Anyone shit talking fish fingers is going to get a visit from me and my sledgehammer in the middle of the night. You've been warned!

Leave my motherfucking fish fingers out of this!!!

visited a greggs for the first time this summer, i was genuinely shocked at what they served. it's like they went out of their way to not put any flavor in. and it was packed.

People think Britain doesn't use spices. Read Mrs Beeton's recipes from the 1800s. It's ALL the herbs & spices - all spice, curry, chilli, cardomom, fenugreek, ginger, mace, nutmeg, pepper, saffron etc. British cooking really hasn't changed that much if you look at it in its entirety.

You can't improve on perfection