The British Food Debate

Is it really that bad?
What do you think of British Food ? 
 


Click here to participate in the discusssion about British Food.



Message: This site sounds VERY out of date! And no mention of toad in the hole, bubble and squeak, etc. I made a "trifle" from a Brit import yrs. ago. it tasted like library paste. Obviously, I need to travel to GB for taste tests myself.
Name: Kitty
Email: <howser@nemr.net>
Favouite food: stuffing
From: midwest, USA
Date of message: Sunday, July 10, 2005 at 04:17:40 (CEST)



Message: Very true and humourous description of British food!
Name: Fred \Bloggs

Favouite food: Proper fat British chips!!
From: UK ex-pat
Date of message: Wednesday, July 06, 2005 at 16:12:37 (CEST)
Message: i went to london last summer and the british are OBSESSED with baked beans! i mean, i enjoy baked beans every once in a while, but not for BREAKFAST! i saw someone but them on a potato! jeez!
Name: rinna
Email: <whee.>
Favouite food: thai
From: mt. juliet, tennessee
Date of message: Monday, June 27, 2005 at 20:50:10 (CEST)

Message: this website sucks
Name: osama binladin
Email: <osama1@sympatico.com>
Favouite food: ?
From: ?
Date of message: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 at 15:15:08 (CEST) Message: GIRL FROM SHANGHAI,CHINA


Message: Cake is a rather presumptious food. You cannot just have one slice and feel satisfied, yep its the whole cake or nothing! Coffee cake is the best especially enjoyed witha cuppa the stuff. Perfect.
Name: Clarissa Reeves
Email: <Clissa_190@msn.com>
Favouite food: cake
From: Essex, England
Date of message: Monday, June 13, 2005 at 11:46:35 (CEST)
Message: The information on this website looks like it was written in the 40's or 50's and is totally out of date and incorrect now. Most regions in Britain have their own special traditional dishes (i.e. Hock and Dough in Northamptonshire), which are becoming lost over time. Britain generally has a far wider availability of ethnic dishes and ingredients than in the USA, and doesn't deserve it's reputation of bad food - there are some wonderful chefs and restaurants in Britain today, and people are much more interested in cooking for pleasure now than they were 30 years ago. The typical USA supermarket has a VERY limited range of foods compared to say, Sainsbury's, (they are large, but you will find whole aisles stocked with different brands of the SAME product, i.e. 20 different manufacturers of chopped canned tomatoes), not to mention the prevalence of 'Hamburger Helper' type of convenience meals. You really have to go to speciality stores, wholefood stores and global markets to get ingredients such as Creme Fraiche, Fromage Frais, venison, decent lamb, indian foods etc., and Low Fat versions of only a very few items are available compared to the UK - although that is gradually improving during the 5 years I've lived here. I also wanted to mention how appalled I am whenever I visit a British website nowadays - the vast amount of banal replies, disgusting language and sheer immaturity that I see gives a very bad view of the UK as a whole. I prefer to visit USA websites - Americans seem to take the trouble to write decent, informative, polite replies to messages and comments sections. It makes me ashamed to be British.
Name: Grace
Email:
Favouite food: most things
From: British ex-pat living in USA
Date of message: Friday, June 10, 2005 at 16:57:05 (CEST)
Message: i dont think its fair to say that the english cover their bread in butter.. because i don't! i think that it's common image of english people. if you want another fact or something for your site, a lot of families used to eat sugar sandwiches as a snack a few decades ago, to fill up the childrens stomachs before tea.
Name: anon

Favouite food: chinese
From: birmingham, england
Date of message: Thursday, June 09, 2005 at 23:09:44 (CEST)
Message: I just want to say a few things regarding your thoughts on British food. 1 there is no such thing as 'british food' britan is several different countrys. Scotland for instance has haggis. 2 Do not compare english or BRTISH FOOD to american food. It is replusively discusting. Burgers and microwave meals. Americans have no manners they eat with one hand and cut there food up first. So all americans on this site...stop talking crap you country is all talk and ! and for Las Vegas its a tacky overated shithole. Europe has so much more class
Name: Lord Joshua James Shuardson-Hipkin
Email: <jhipkin21@hotmail.com>
Favouite food: roast
From: Mayfair London
Date of message: Monday, May 30, 2005 at 00:37:48 (CEST)
Message: Roast beef is the best British food ever! I would eat rosat beef every day if I could, but too much of anything is not good. Alexis, Coopman P.S. Roast Beef is Perfection!
Name: Alexis Coopman
Email: <lexistar69@hotmail.com>
Favouite food: roast beef
From: Canada
Date of message: Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 17:11:16 (CEST)
Message: This site is very good, we do miss England's Food, British people are brought up with certain food, like Heinz Baked Beans, HP Sauce and Marmite. A good site to buy all these foods is. ukfoodmart.com
Name: wb
Email: <bgo_pa@msn.com>
Favouite food: Heinz Baked Beans
From: England
Date of message: Saturday, April 30, 2005 at 01:08:02 (CEST)
Message: This is totally stylised - English people do not eat food like this - the most popular dish in the UK is Chicken Tikka Masala! This may be relevant for the 60s & 70s but not the 21st Century!
Name: Nick Jackson
Email: <nick@nickjack.co.uk>
Favouite food: Mussels & Chips
From: Northamptonshire
Date of message: Wednesday, April 27, 2005 at 15:48:33 (CEST)
Message: When I lived in England everyone ate at 5pm not at 8!
Name: .......

Favouite food: pizza
From: Canada
Date of message: Thursday, April 21, 2005 at 15:08:26 (CEST)
Message: Please lern to spell or use your spell check !!!!
Name: Valerie
From: Great Britain
Date of message: Thursday, April 21, 2005 at 05:14:06 (CEST)
Message: your website is good but you need to put info on roast dinners & school dinners
Name: emily
Email: <moet_em@hotmail.com>
Favouite food: fish & chips
From: england
Date of message: Wednesday, April 20, 2005 at 18:42:57 (CEST)
Message: Hello, we are Lara and Christine and we are from holland. Now we are on school and for English we have to make a English spreekbeurt ( what is this in English???) We are 14 and 14 jears old. We can speak English a little bit. haha.. So now we must go to the classroom. Bye!! Mutch love from Holland!
Name: Lara and Christine
Email: <laarjteloef@hotmail.com>
Favouite food: bapeau
From: Holland
Date of message: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 at 09:58:31 (CEST)
Message: I love food i was born to eat alot, my family was eating all the time. I would love to try some other countries food.
Name: Jesse
Email: <DUMISTKERL640@HOTMAIL.COM>
Favouite food: Fried Dough
From: Florida, U.S.A.
Date of message: Friday, March 18, 2005 at 17:36:00 (CET)
Message: Mc Donalds is better than any British food NAAAAAAAAAA
Name: Simplplan

Favouite food: Mc Donalds
From: America
Date of message: Tuesday, March 08, 2005 at 17:56:25 (EST)
Message: I really enjoy British food. I have a friend who lives in Norwich, Norfolk and I visit when i can. I love to wander through Norwich and Cambridge and try the many varieties of food which is available.
Name: Paul Parce
Email: <romans12_18@yahoo.com>
Favouite food: favorite British food is Scotch Eggs
From: North Carolina USA
Date of message: Monday, February 28, 2005 at 11:32:39 (EST)
Message: Hi i am from south africa i have visit scotland for two years i amsilutely love the people and theyre food. I am now studying Hotel and Catering Management and are doing a project on Scotish traditional foods if possible can you send me some recipes to my email adress. Thank you in atvance Kind Regards Suzanne de Lange
Name: Suzanne de Lange
Email: <suzdl@tiscali.co.uk>
Favouite food: Traditional scotish roast and pastry
From: South Africa
Date of message: Sunday, February 20, 2005 at 11:02:31 (EST)
Message: walkers crisps are no doubt the best in the world
Name: ashleigh
Email: <jeevsy@hotmail.com>
Favouite food: walkers crisps
From: Orignally Suffolk britain
Date of message: Tuesday, February 15, 2005 at 13:58:16 (EST)
Message: Lovely site. I spent a lot of time in England during my teen and young adult years. Back then (late 70's) the food was simple and I was not impressed. I did love Fish and Chips though. I recently traveled back to England and Scotland and was surprised at how the food had improved, probably as a result of European influences. The other side of the change, however, was that I had to go north of Glasgow to find a ploughmans lunch! The Yorkshire Fish and Chips was also a disappointment this go round. What brought me to your site was a search on "British bread" because I think it is the best bread in the world. I have been seaching for recipes for a while, but never found anything.
Name: Dona
Email: <waxwing@gmail.com>
Favouite food: Fish and Chips from Yorkshire
From: USA
Date of message: Friday, February 04, 2005 at 12:15:47 (EST)

Message: most of the food consumed in britain isntin fact british people in britain consume foods from a wide variety f plces all over the world such as italy, india, china and many others that i have not listed above.
Name: holly
Email: <holly_stafford1@hotmail.com>
Favouite food: pizza
From: kendal
Date of message: Thursday, January 20, 2005 at 12:43:57 (EST)


Message: I belive that the best is the mediterran food, because my country had a good health until the fast food arrived here. Now Spain have a big problem with the fat people, the number of this "kind" of people groaw.
Name: Rosa

From: Catalonia (is not Spain)
Date of message: Sunday, January 16, 2005 at 13:13:07 (EST)
Message: I love a bit of hake, me.
Name: john
Email: <lkjhklj@klj.com>
Favouite food: Fish
From: Grimsby
Date of message: Thursday, January 13, 2005 at 12:30:04 (EST)
Message: The views of British food on the site are archaic generalisations. Nobody I know eats Steak and Kidney pie, or has a fried breakfast on a regular basis. Britain is now a vibrant and multicultural place, and the food here reflects that.
Name: dougal

Favouite food: smarties
From: London
Date of message: Tuesday, July 06, 1999 at 19:53:14 (EDT)
Message: I was stationed at RAF Mildenhall for 2 yrs and grew to love many British foods and customs... We keep PG Tips in the cupboard at all times... Now... (this site needs some work e 29, 1999 at 16:58:05 (EDT)
Message: Yet another Brit in America here and i miss English food so much. Visitors to Britain who hate Brit food mustve eaten in the wrong places because the food and the quality vary so much in cafes and restaurants but you can't beat good home cooked British food. Here in Nebraska i can't get anything English and from what i've seen so far it is so expensive on the net. For the guy who says British bacon tastes terrible all i can say is...at least it has meat on it you can only buy bacon fat here. For anyone looking for recipies try SOAR on the net, it has thousands of them from all over the world.
Name: Pam
Email: <ebjamraney@hamilton.net>
Favouite food: british bacon
From: England
Date of message: Friday, June 25, 1999 at 15:59:40 (EDT)
Message: BEEF PASTE!! I go to bed thinking of it, wake up with the taste of BEEF PASTE butties on my mind, go throught the day with BEEF PASTE in my brain!!! But to no avail! : ( I can not buy it here in the states, I have tried to get it but they are not allowed to sell if over here. Give me a bone here.....I was raised in England during those wonderful years when the beef was tainted with MAD COW DISEASE! Do you think it will make any difference if I could just get a bottle of BEEF PASTE over here in Texas! I LOVE England food, especially BEEF PASTE, I hate American bread which either tastes like cardboard or fluff. It does not go well with BEEF PASTE, of course the only sort of good BEEF PASTE sort of bread, is the very well buttered french bread, thickly spread with BEEF PASTE and a bag of salt and vinigar crisps on the side. Does anyone know of a cure for my addiction to BEEF PASTE! I am addicted and can not get away from it! HELP!!!!!!
Name: Cristy Nobles
Email: <britcris@aol.com>
Favouite food: BEEF PASTE
From: Texas, but I am really from Manchester/Brighton, England
Date of message: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 at 15:39:15 (EDT)
Message: Well, I've gone and married an Englishman. He's moved from Chester to live here in San Antonio with me. I thought he'd be open-minded, but I fear I spend most of my time looking for ways to bring England into our home, especially to the dinner table. I've tried to find a Delia Smith homepage (to no avail) and his Mum is most helpful with her tips. We have a lovely Brit Imports section at our grocery store, where I can buy OXO and Hobnobs (he won't eat any of our cookies, and thinks our chocolate should be buried in the deep dark recesses of hell), not to mention those Heinz baked beans (which he DOES eat on toast! BLECCH!) and dried marrowfat peas for mushy peas (double blecch!) His favorite of mine so far is my Sunday dinner, with the peas, roasted tattys, roast beef, cabbage, and English gravy, but I've also mastered the steak and kidney (minus the kidney) pie and shepherd's pie, too. Sadly, Gareth is not only pro-English food, he's also a picky eater. He will not eat half of what we (Yanks) typically view as "English food". He hates onions, won't touch curry, and views most veggies as the enemy (I'm quite tired of sweet peas and potatoes). Overall, I enjoy going to e once or twice a week (weekends, holidays ect.) Since living in the USA, I have missed a lot of traditional english cooking and look forward to eating at English restaurants in the US. One thing I do miss is the Indian Take-Away. OK there are Indian Reataurants in the USA, but they tend to cater for Americans and the cooking differs from England (not so hot). If anybody can give me some info, on English meals in the USA, please email me.
Name: Rob
Email: <celtndixie@widomaker.com>
Favouite food: Sunday Roast Dinner
From: From England, but living in the USA
Message:  Does anyone know if it's true that Lady Diana's favourite food was salad cream sandwiches?
Name: Trevor
Email: <tttrev@hotmail.com>
Favouite food: Yorkshire pudding
From: From Yorkshire England
Message: I've just read about British food and I think I must be mistaken about which country I've been living in the last 31 years. Lets get this straight. We don't have big fry-ups every morning and roast beef every night although our beef is the best in the world, forget the BSE myth. Britain used to have influence in every corner of the globe so chances are that many so called foreign dishes come from British ideas. London is now the culinary capital of the world. Not Paris.
Name: Tim
Favouite food: Lamb balti
From: Gloucester, England
Message: If you are based in the US get me you full name and address and I'll send you some Branstons. The British Aisles, Ltd. 35 Progress Avenue, Nashua, NH 03062 is 1/2 mile from where I live and carry most items you can find in the UK.
Name: Joseph Perry
Email: <ashford@empire.net>
Favouite food: A full cooked Breakfast
From: USA
Message: When I first arrived in England I must say I was put off by the selection on eats at the local pub. Mostly consisting of red meat dishes. However, I soon found a love for curry, and since I was cooking for myself most of time it was very easy to find all the provisions I needed at the local Sainsburys. All in all, I find British (pub) food to be pretty much meat and potatoes, but if you look around you can find pretty much anything you'd like!
Name: Tiffany
Email: <plsteffen@mail.fwi.com>
Favouite food: moussaka
From: Indiana, USA
Message: I AM A FRENCH CHEF, AND DO COOK BRITISH FOOD. IT IS VERY BASIC.MOST OF THE DISHES ARE HOME COOKING DISHES,THAT WHY BRITS NEED THE FRENCH TO COOK...
Name: philippe
Favouite food: bouillabaise
From: france
Message: branston pickle is available in the u.s. have it in my fridge!
Name: Jenny
Message: I have problems with the question.Let me first say I am a Chef and have been so for many years. Its is hard to define whos food is whos . Almost all cultures are a mix of many food styles. having been an empire ouial"> Message: I have problems with the question.Let me first say I am a Chef and have been so for many years. Its is hard to define whos food is whos . Almost all cultures are a mix of many food styles. having been an empire ours is more so than most. Having said that, I beleive that there is a lot of lousy food bring served in England. I dont think its the food its self but the attitude of some of the people who prepare and serve it. If you have the money or are prepared to take the time to look for good food it is there. Perhaps my last word is that the quality of any product is a direct reflection of the tolarance of the people who buy the product.
Name: Victor L. Bagan
Email: <poacher2@aol.com>
From: Buxton , Derbyshire
Message: I like British food!
Name: Vivienne
Favouite food: Scone!!
From: Asia-Pacific area
Message: Hi, I've been in Ca since Feb this year, but went home for a few weeks in the Summer. I think that your picture of an English mealtime needs updating! Apart from that - I loved the site. Thanx.
Name: Joolz
Email: <jyhenroe@lucernevalley.net>
Favouite food: Marmite
From: Bedfordshire, England
Message: I at this time attempt my international semester in Sunderland(uk) to complete. I had genuine problems at the beginning with English cookery and was short before the may despair. Now I found eatable Britsh food, but I am looking forward to go home on chrismas and enjoying normal continental food!
Name: Andre Kres
Email: <akres@htwm.de>
Favouite food: hovezi raiskovoe omatchka houskove knedelik
From: Chemnitz(Saxony/FRG)
Message: Hi! I'm an Asian girl with Russian-Thai-Vietnamese-Chinese heritage("one melting pot", as someone told me!). This page is just what I've been searching for! I would greatly appreciate if there was something on "afternoon tea" and also what the British meals were like in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s. (I was born in '78.) Thanks!!!
Name: Elke Dawn Lovanne Chenovna
Email: <HOT4U_Lovanne@rocketmail.com>
Favouite food: Bread with butter and strawberry jam!
From: Singapore
Message: I have lived in England most of my life and have just recently moved to America. I MISS THE FOOD SO MUCH!! I really miss the fish and chip shops and sausage rolls.
Name: Amanda
Favouite food: Sausage rolls
From: England
From: bradford yorkshire
Message: Bonjour tout le monde moi je préfère le Couscous mais je ne connais rien de la bouffe anglaise.
Name: ouazragh Mostafa
Email: <ouazraghm@rocketmail.com>
Favouite food: Couscous
From: Morocco
Message: I just wanted to suggest you to provide similar texts about food from other parts of the English-speaking world: the USA, Australia, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Jamaica, etc. Wouldn't it be just great?!
Name: Martin Marquez
Email: <fcalles@pie.xtec.es>
Favouite food: Salmon
From: Barcelona, Catalonia.
Message: Hello, John. I was interested in your topic because I went to Europe (England, France, Belgium, Germany, Swittzerland, Italy, and Greece) this summer and ate different food from different countries. And I wanted to make a comment about your opinion. I've also heard that lots of people say that British food is not good, but I couldn't agree with it when I did homestay in England I didn't think British food was bad. But to tell the truth, I thought British food is so simple. I ate cereals and toasts everyday for the breakfast and one plate meal with dessert for dinner. I had some kind of potatoes for every dinner such as baked potatoes, mashed potatoes, and chips and it made me a little bit sick of potatoes. I thought British meal was so simple. Since my host mother watriduced, so if I have a chance, I would like to try them. I think British food is said not good because the countries around England is so famous for their own food such as France and Italy.
Name: Yumi


Click here to participate in the discusssion about British Food.