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What could possibly be wrong with Beans on Toast!?
On the one hand, we really do have a rich culinary tradition that has some real high points that are only overshadowed by our neighbours like France and Italy because those countries are (rightly) regarded as being at the global pinnacle of food culture
On the other, when I went to the supermarket yesterday, some of the options on the shelves included ketchup-flavoured pasta sauce and “guacamole-inspired topping” with 3.5% avocado
France and Italy because those countries are (rightly) regarded as being at the global pinnacle of food culture
This is hella subjective.
There are extremely few French restaurants in our quite multicultural city (Melbourne), and almost no one citing it as their favourite cuisine (to eat out at restaurants, because it’s usually expensive as fuck and a waste of money for most people)
They have absolutely cornered the bakery market though haha
To be fair, the French mostly only come here on working holidays.
There’s a huge difference with french cuisine available abroad and French cuisine at home (in the country itself). I found that abroad, it’s always a luxury thing, seems just naming your restaurant something French justifies adding 50% to the bill regardless of the food actually being made there.
French cuisine is great not because of the top tier of it, but because of the extremely high standard even at the lowest rungs of the ladder (in the country itself). You can eat at a truck stop and get a three course meal for 10 bucks and it’ll be delightful (talking about the few actual truck stop restaurants left, not the corporate highway shit which does exist too). It’s also about home cooking and the way normal families cook. Also it’s about the culture around food, sitting together for long meals and sharing a good time.
I’m sure it’s lovely, just softly disagreed with calling it the pinacle of food, when it’s just personal opinion
And also because I wanted to get in a few jabs at french “fine dining” hehehe. Though, my dislike of overly expensive food is also just my opinion
Perhaps I’ll get a chance to experience down to earth French cooking overseas, but not here
I appreciate the response though, it was a good read :)
I think that’s at least partly explainable by how French cooking was so thoroughly adopted by European haute-cuisine in general - there are fewer specifically French restaurants because huge amounts of French cuisine became known as just general fancy cooking instead. I will say that when I have visited France, I have eaten exceedingly well without having to spend a lot of money
But yes, it is subjective. I do think it’s reasonable to say that France has a good reputation for food, though
Oh for sure, they have a very good reputation
and “guacamole-inspired topping” with 3.5% avocado
Came here to say that being in a shelf is not a sign of bad national cuisine, as we have that here as well. Then again, being German I probably ought to keep hush on that topic…
I have really enjoyed visiting your country every time I’ve had the chance, but I’m afraid you’re definitely down here with us on culinary matters
Your bread deserves to be better-known though, that stuff is great
I have really enjoyed visiting your country every time I’ve had the chance
So did I in yours!
And tbh I have some very fond culinary memories from my times there: be it a well-made shepherd’s pie after a wet autumn day or the probably best dessert I have yet eaten, some sort of trifle or similar that still regularly visits me in my dreams up until today… but yeah, it’s also been Britain that made me finally appreciate German bread. :)
I love eating in German restaurants, hearty, delicious food at reasonable costs, served with dirt cheap beer, what’s not to like?
I think the “joke” about bad British food has less to do with random crap in supermarkets and more with dishes that people consider weird or unappealing like jellied eels.
British food got bad due to 13 years of rationing during and after WWII. It is hard to maintain a more than low level cuisine when food is rationed, and after 13 years habits have changed.
To continue to take a shitposty matter much too seriously for a while:
I think that’s basically just the jellied eels and stargazy pie, isn’t it? You’d have to really go looking to find anyone making or eating those nowadays, and they were always regional dishes in the first place (London for the eels, Cornwall for the pie). You could toss haggis in there too, but it doesn’t have the same striking appearance as the other two, it’s usually just the ingredients that freak folk out. Haggis actually still is popular in Scotland, and I can attest that it’s excellent
The joke I usually hear is that way too much of our food is bland over-boiled under-seasoned mush. You know, “Britain conquered the world for spices and then refused to use any of them”. That one does have a basis in modern reality. The amount of vegetables I ate growing up which were just boiled until they’re barely holding together and then at most threatened with the mention of salt… it’d drive a Frenchman to madness, I swear it
As Kornblumenratte mentions, WWII rationing really did do a number on us whether it was the root of the joke or not. I personally find that explanation plausible because it comes with an explanation for why the reputation spread far and wide (soldiers from overseas being stationed here). I’ve read arguments for British food being bad pre-WWII, including early industrialisation and a poor climate for growing a lot of tasty ingredients. I don’t know enough to comment on how true each one is. Whatever the case is, my experience of it is just that our culture lacks the deep love of food that some of our neighbours on the continent seem to have. Any serious exploration of the topic is left up to those that take a personal interest.
Entirely anecdotally it does seem to me like while there is great food to be had here, including very traditional stuff, the general baseline of quality is a lot lower than somewhere like France or Italy. You can’t just walk into a random cafe and assume it’ll be great and you can’t just expect a random person to have a any sort of passion for food. There are plenty of people and establishments that do have that skill and passion, but the culture rarely gets anyone off to a good start on that journey
When I was in the UK the British food was okay but usually had very little salt on it compared to what you’d get in other countries. Salt was readily available on the table though so it wasn’t a big deal.
