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.
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.