In my opinion as a “foreigner” living in the UK the biggest problem with the British cuisine is marketing.
You have all the pies which are awesome, steak and ale, kidney pie, Toad in the hole, beef wellington, the Cornish pasties…
Then cottage and shepherd’s pie which are not in the same category even though they share name, because they’re not bread pies but a “potato mash lasagne”.
There’s the Sunday roast, and all things game are excellent - this country has a longstanding tradition of game and you often see in pubs things like venison wellington, especially in the countryside.
Also fish and chips has the reputation of being fast food, but a proper one from a pub rather than a chippie is usually excellent.
If we think about snacks, there’s many really nice things typical from the UK, that we routinely dismiss because we don’t think of a homemade version but what you can get from a supermarket. Sausage rolls, scotch eggs, things like that.
And desserts - this country has a sweet tooth. Trifles, anything with rhubarb in it (rhubarb is quite rare in Mediterranean countries), sticky toffee pudding, Eton mess, rice pudding, crumble…
I have missed many things like the ploughman’s, all of the cheeses, or the haggis which is hated almost exclusively by people who’ve never tried it before.
Yet all of this gets routinely reduced to “fish and chips”. It’s like saying Italian cuisine is only pasta or all Spanish can make is paella. I find quite sad that Brits don’t do a better job at marketing their cuisine.
I mean, steak pies are delicious.
In my opinion as a “foreigner” living in the UK the biggest problem with the British cuisine is marketing.
You have all the pies which are awesome, steak and ale, kidney pie, Toad in the hole, beef wellington, the Cornish pasties…
Then cottage and shepherd’s pie which are not in the same category even though they share name, because they’re not bread pies but a “potato mash lasagne”.
There’s the Sunday roast, and all things game are excellent - this country has a longstanding tradition of game and you often see in pubs things like venison wellington, especially in the countryside.
Also fish and chips has the reputation of being fast food, but a proper one from a pub rather than a chippie is usually excellent.
If we think about snacks, there’s many really nice things typical from the UK, that we routinely dismiss because we don’t think of a homemade version but what you can get from a supermarket. Sausage rolls, scotch eggs, things like that.
And desserts - this country has a sweet tooth. Trifles, anything with rhubarb in it (rhubarb is quite rare in Mediterranean countries), sticky toffee pudding, Eton mess, rice pudding, crumble…
I have missed many things like the ploughman’s, all of the cheeses, or the haggis which is hated almost exclusively by people who’ve never tried it before.
Yet all of this gets routinely reduced to “fish and chips”. It’s like saying Italian cuisine is only pasta or all Spanish can make is paella. I find quite sad that Brits don’t do a better job at marketing their cuisine.
Wow, well said