Why do Americans class British food as bad?

Question

I really can't understand this. Stones and glass houses come to mind.

Like we have chedar cheese and Americans have, American cheese. Which is just horible processed crap.

In fact most American food is crap, hamburgers, hot dogs etc.

Can someone enlighten me as to what I am missing here? I don't get it. Do Americans like this crap? Is the fact that english food isnt cooked in less than five seconds in a ton of oil turn them off it?

Wat up?

Answer 1

If your talking about junk/fast food then your absolutely right, our food is shite. But classic British cuisine knocks the **** of french, italian and whatever else you care to mention. All americans: go out to a restaurant that serves authentic british food and then try and tell me it's rubbish. American chef's aren't the greatest. fact.

Answer 2

British-style pubs (which typically conflate English and Irish pubs) are very common in the States, and typically feature fish and chips, shepherd's pie, etc. These pubs range from cheesy and sanitized to something approaching authenticity. Other than these pub-grub foods, British cuisine is rare. For one thing, Americans usually do not eat the organ meats that are a staple in Britain. In any major city and even in smaller markets in "old" (formerly colonial) America, there is usually at least a place or two that observes "High Tea." Italian , Mexican and Chinese are by far the most common "foreign" foods in the U.S., and they're generally (but not always) highly Americanized. (Even in their Americanized forms, Mexican is much better in Texas/ the Southwest, Italian in the Northeast, and Chinese in California. Also, Thai and sushi are now pervasively common throughout the States). One thing Americans and Brits have in common is that we both eat a lot of meat. We tend to prefer ours grilled.

Answer 3

I'm going to try to give my take on this without the use of stereotypes (it's kind of Socratic isn't it, like answering a question with a question or fighting fire with fire), so here goes...



Consider the sources Americans use to make judgments about British food, such as the Two Fat Ladies, who made some distinctively "non American" uses of meats, and travel shows that feature relatively large and rich British breakfasts. I think many Americans think of blood sausages and enormous breakfasts and pig livers and things like this when British food is mentioned. I realize that a lot of American foods are pretty...eh...interesting in composition (e.g. the hot dog), but many Americans are pretty squeamish when it comes to meats and cooking, and for many people, something that isn't done to death (Chinese, Italian, Mexican foods) in America is exotic and either wildly accepted (if it's trendy or has some benefit), or it's avoided. It's really a coin flip of sorts.



I'm an American and I enjoy British food. Nor do I live off of fried foods, Chinese, Mexican, or Italian foods. I don't know many people who do, in fact. I think Americans enjoy their McDonalds once or twice a week, and that gets them into trouble, especially with the stereotypes, and health wise. With what I've experienced, many Americans enjoy trying something new, and if they're presented with different foods, they'll try it, and chances are, they'll like it.

Answer 4

British cuisine was not that great but has improved immeasurably over the past 40 years. After the war rationing continued for ten years and crippled what cooking ability we had. With no fre4sh eggs, 4 oz of meat a week and even bread rationing at one point we Brits weren't able to do much in the way of haute cuisine.



In the fifties cooking in UK went two ways. One was the US way of convenience food and instant coffee and the other was led by pioneers such as Elizabeth David who introduced us once more to the cooking of France and southern Europe. When I was a kid in the fifties I had never seen an eggplant, a capsicum or a zucchini (I us the US name so that Americans and English both know what I'm talking about). We still have the two sides to our cookery but the foodies are making inroads.



TV chefs like Rick Stein have done wonders to let us know where we can get quality food. Our traditional cheeses have been revived (after the war only factory cheddar was available) and we also have new cheese made by local farms. Just try a Shepton Mallet cheddar and compare it with factory stuff.



We've also become more international. Our national dish is now reckoned to be curry and the balti curry is a curry born in Uk created by our Pakistani origin immigrants. Indian and Chinese restaurants started with cooks who had really rather little knowledge of their own cuisine and tended to cook in a way that they thought the locals would accept but now we have some very excellent ethnic restaurants.



We travel more than US residents and although some Brits aboard insist on chips and "food you can recognise" ( restaurant advert seen in Corfu in the 70s) many have enjoyed foreign foods and have returned from holiday to create them themselves.



So we have more interest in traditional Brit food, seeking out the best traditionally smoked kippers and cooking traditional Lancashire hot pot with oysters. We have an immigrant population who have spread knowledge of their cuisine and we have a well travelled population who are more sophisticated in their tastes than previously.



Sure, the tomato ketchup slurping TV dinner fans are still there but I can usually find pretty good food whenever I go back to UK. Just go to somewhere like Borough Market in London and see what we have to offer.



I don't know the US and US exports to my home town, Hong Kong, tend to be fast food joints and steakhouses. We don't get very good US food over here, just places that do oversized portions of fairly plain dishes. Australian cutting edge restaurants are much better if you want western food in HK. I am sure that US has plenty of good food other than the mass produced factory junk and hormone stuffed meat but it doesn't travel.



I think you have to compare like with like. US and UK factory food is pretty disgusting but there is good food in both places. Fifty years ago our food was pretty sad and London was beset by smog. We've changed and I think we are in some ways better than the US. One of my US colleagues was amazed to find that there were 2 kinds of tortilla

Answer 5

I find all foreigners of one ilk to be the same, not like us British who are all individuals! i.e. If a foreigner gives an opinion we disagree with then it is an opinion of that race, and they are just plain wrong. If a British person gives an opinion we disagree with then they are either a victim of the class system, just plain odd and should be ridiculed or they are emotionally disturbed and should seek help from a trained professional.

That's the good thing about the Internet. We can hate each other and let them know it without queueing at immigration.

Hamburgers are fantastic if well made. So is any dish.

Answer 6

I happen to love British food. There are wonderful cheeses made in America though, if you have the chance try a Vermont Cheddar. America is a fast food nation, the art of cooking from scratch is almost lost in some areas.Most of the best loved dishes are imports. You have valid points!



British cooking is great ....Give me liberty or give me Bubbles and Squeak. Darn it now Im hungry.....

Answer 7

Hey I live in America and I do not eat processed cheese, I eat cheddar cheese. And I do not deep fry anything in my house, it's too messy. What's wrong with a hamburger? They are great! I don't eat hotdogs, they are nasty. I actually like some English food. But fish and chips isn't exactly the best for you, fried potatoes and battered fish sounds like "cooked in less than five seconds in a ton of oil"



Sounds to me like some English people lump all american food together "In fact most American food is crap," Well now, who lives in the glass house?????

Answer 8

I live in the UK and can honestly tell you that a lot of British food is tasteless, some of the restaurants I have visited have no idea about good food. To make food taste better and more interesting you need to add herbs or spices, but it is knowing what herb or spice compliments which dish. British food is great when cooked adding the correct herbs and any American who could sample this would probably change their view regarding proper food served in the UK.

American fast food provided over here in the UK is mainly beefburgers, hotdogs and Southern fried chicken which are all bland really and also extremely fattening. If I could visit the USA I would like to see what alternatives you have to these and sample some real food that is savoury,tasty and healthy. I would then probably change my attitude of the American fast junk they serve us over here.

Answer 9

They probably don`t know what we eat most of the time. I`m in England and i cook all kinds of food, tonight i did a Thai red curry, last night i made chicken fried rice, not very typical English cuisine.

Answer 10

It's an old stereotype. It's been true for along time, up to the 90's maybe but it's increasingly out of date. The truth is that

because most americans have never been to britain, they learn about other cultures from sitcoms, and form their opinions fom there.

Answer 11

It's interesting that you take offense when Americans insult British food and yet you insult American food. Do you not recognize your own attitude or did you go to school on the short bus?

Answer 12

I personally love English food. I love going to the UK and getting a cornish pasty or a traditional English breakfast. And nothing says Sunday like a Yorkshire roast.



We have American cheese like France has french fries. You plainly haven't ever visited the US, but thanks for assuming. Talk to someone from Wisconsin if you want to talk about cheese. Their cheese pwns most of the English cheese I had, except in Wensleydale. So good.



I have to be honest. Most of the food I eat in the UK is absolutely terrible for you. I don't know what you eat over there that YOU think is so healthy, but I assure you you're mistaken.



It sounds to me like you have just as snobby of an attitude, saying we only have American cheese and McDonalds, or that that's all we eat, when that's very much not the case. Yeah, we're a nation of convenience, but it's just ignorant to assume that we don't have any nice restaurants.



I do like English food. I wouldn't call it better or worse than "American" food, which for the most part is usually a combination of other cultures, just like our people.

Answer 13

Some british food is good, your fast food and candy is actually much healthier than the stuff in america too.

Answer 14

Why is there a macdonalds in almost every major city in the world? Because the americans want us all to be obese like them in 2010 LOL



Yeah your food is delicious i love the junk food honestly i like it but our traditional healthy food is the reason we arent all a bunch of fattys in the uk.



Peanut butter and chocolate sandwhiches? Thats american traditional food now that sucks.

Answer 15

Damn Yankees, always looking down out noses at us!



Actually, I like American food. Over here, everything is crammed full of wheat unnecessarily, which pisses me off as I'm wheat intolerant! And everything is focused on wheat products - bread, pastry, cakes, etc etc. Dining out for me is a minefield!



Also, you get a decent portion in the US! And you get stuff like Mexican food which is so yummy when made fresh. And lovely Cobb salads. And big fat burgers with big gherkin slices on them.



The Americans do food well - that's why so many of them are such fat knackers!

Answer 16

Most vegetables and meats, cooked simply are delicious.

Answer 17

British food is crap, and I can understand the traditional american view of it as being worse than their own - imagine mushy peas and fish and chips. Sick! Even though most british people do not eat this type of thing.

But then my view, as British, is that all american food is worse - like you said; hamburgers, hot dogs, fries etc. Although, again, this is just the traditional view and may not actually be what most americans eat.

I'm not a big fan of british or american food anyway.

Answer 18

O.K. Every other nation in Europe thinks British food is bad.

French, Italian and Belgian is the way to go.

Americans, well... Fast and bland. Just like they are.

Answer 19

Have you ever eaten any real American food? We have more than just McDonald's, you know.



What are some examples of British food, anyway? Fish and chips is the only thing I can think of, and I really fail to see how that is any better than a hamburger and fries.

Answer 20

American people have bad taste generally. I've been disappointed too many times by their recommendations of 'great' food. My guess is that, they don't like the british, so they snub them in every little way possible.

Answer 21

Surely you must know that Americans think most things unamerican are bad.Oh what joy to be perfect.

Answer 22

Because "BRITISH CUISINE"... is an OXYMORON.

Answer 23

they have no taste, have you seen what they wear?

Answer 24

because british food sucks