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I’m British and I see it’s wrong because it simply isn’t true… We have a ton of spicy foods. The stereotype that we only eat comfort foods like in the meme is old and worn out. Maybe that’s all you eat, but that’s on you.
Yeah never got this. The nation’s favourite dish is curry. My favourite dish is curry. Isn’t it a running joke amongst Indians how much the Brits love curry?
Things like beans on toast and fish finger sandwiches are cheap and easy lunch snacks for students but not our actual diet.
Yep, just seems disingenuous to act like the history of the spice trade hasn’t affected our food culture when it clearly has massively. Hell, even curry in Japan is popular not because of India but because of British influence. The reason “Katsu Curry” is called Katsu is because of the English word “Cuts” referring to the cuts of meat in the curry, which is Japanese sounds like ‘katsu’.
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We also gave currywurst to the Germans
But that’s just the thing, all the best food in the UK comes from India, France, or Italy.
Stops carving the Sunday roast and holds off putting the apple crumble in the oven…
But we are one of the most multicultural societies in the world and have long since adopted everyone else’s cuisines.
By this logic the Japanese don’t have curries and the Americans don’t have pizza, or any other food for that matter.
Exactly.
And India doesn’t have chillies add Italy doesn’t have tomatoes… Where do we stop?
chillies is neither a dish nor a cuisine, so we do stop there
Stops carving the Sunday roast
Fun fact: Britain didn’t invent roasting hunks of meat. Or Sundays. Or the combination thereof.
apple crumble
That’s not a real thing. That’s just something English people say to sound whimsical.
By this logic the Japanese don’t have curries and the Americans don’t have pizza, or any other food for that matter.
Correct. Only Neolithic cultures have their own foods.
Edit since it’s apparently not as obvious as I thought it would be: jk 😄
Apple crumble is 100% a real thing and it’s delicious with warm custard.
Americans know it as Apple Crisp, because the US has to perpetuate the myth than American English is anything but a bastardisation of an existing language and therefore have different words for the same thing.
And yes. Hot Ambrosia® custard, not ice cream, and not Birds®. Just as I was served at school dinners (which somehow bow are called lunch).
I know lol, I was kidding around 😁
Fun fact: Roasting meat alone does not a Sunday roast make.
Gotta have lashings of Bisto gravy, yorkies and good ol’ British Maris Piper potatoes too. Occasionally carrot turnip mash if you’re feeling posh. Cauliflower and broccoli if that’s your thing. Served by Lynda Bellingham.
Chuck some cheese sauce on that cauliflower, add some stuffing and we’re getting there…
Suddenly this hummus I’m eating for lunch doesn’t quite cut the mustard. Actually on that note, include some mustard in the cauliflower cheese pls.
Slightly ho-hum fact: I was being quite tongue in cheek throughout 😁
Oblivious fact: Me
Eh, to some extent, but we’ve got the foresight to accept these dishes as being British when you consider that the foods we eat aren’t authentic to those areas. Spag Bol isn’t being eaten in Italy, nor is Chicken Vindaloo in India.
We’ve got a long enough history that we can trace back when the Normans and Saxons came here, alongside the culture changes of Indian settlers, Jamaican workers, Irish, etc. That acceptance is not only why there’re a lot of distinctly British versions of different cultures’ food, but why many cities in the UK also serve decidedly authentic food at some of the best restaurants in the world - and that doesn’t even factor in how some cultures have fused over time.
Good luck getting a decent fry-up in any of those hellholes.
But why don’t your comfort foods have spices?
In this context I think it’s comfort food because it’s kiddy food. Something simple and familiar that reminds you of being younger. In England, children’s menus will usually contain basic things like chicken nuggets and fish fingers that aren’t (heavily) spiced.
Yes, they have an infantilized culture.
I see you were asking the question in bad faith and you didn’t really want an answer.
yeah i was just havin a laff
My and many others’ comfort foods have spices. It’s really fuckn weird that some people find comfort in bland food for babies
Oh yeah? My comfort food is necking straight paprika
Mine is soy sauce ramen loaded with chipotle, garlic, onion, black pepper, and chili flakes. Throw in some sweet peas and green onion, maybe some fried tofu, fuck yeah.
What in hell is comforting about that picture?
yea personally I feel quite distressed
As you say, lots of spicy food options. Our National Dish is actually a curry - chicken masala and Phall, the hottest curry, was invented in Birmingham.
Also - in the picture are baked beans. They’re invented in the USA. We adopted them, but they’re not ours.
Did an ethnically British person invent the chicken tikka masala and phall, or was it an immigrant from the Indian subcontinent or one of their kids/grandchildren?
“No, where are you really from?”
Bruh I’m a British Turk.
I get mad when Germans try to bullshit they invented the döner kebab. The roots of those curries are based on recipes from the Indian subcontinent.
John Curry did not invent the tikka masala in Kent, the same way the döner kebab was not invented by Hans Döner in Stuttgart
The perception of Britain that most Americans have is that of the 40’s and 50’s. It’s hardly surprising that it’s completely fucking wrong.
I think it’s just Baby Boomers perpetuating the same old ideas in their echo chambers.
We’ve all been struggling to move onward for like 40 years.
I see nothing wrong because buttered bread, fish fingers and beans is a banger of a meal
If you’re five, sure.
Yeah yeah, we know y’all love Tikka masala over there.
Brb, gonna go have hamburgers and french fries for breakfast and shoot my guns for lunch.
Just like when British people assume all America is Texas
What examples can you give of British food?
Jellied Eel.
God, finally someone else is saying it. I feel like a stick in the mud whenever this comes up.
Lol, thx actually. I finally upgraded my perspective.
The only people I know are polish relatives who live in scotland and well, do have their own custom and creative dishes
Oh my god no one cares, Clive!
Popular misconception that they invaded for spices. They were actually looking for someone to play cricket with.
They conquered the whole planet in search of someone they could beat at cricket.
England is good at inventing games that they then lose at. In America we just try to make sure no populous countries play them. Canada is just being magnanimous by letting others win sometimes.
This is why Scotland invented Curling, a sport that no-one else wants to play.
Except the canucks
Better than cricket conquering the universe…
Absolutely captured the vibe lol.
See this game documentary for more details: Cricket through the ages
I’m partial to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwB4Bps3pT4
hihih
Heh
Tbf, wouldn’t coffee, tea, chocolate and sugar cane have been considered spices by then’s definition?
So were opium and cocaine
Poppy seeds are definetely also a spice tho. And coca is an herb, which I guess can also be used as a spice… Use of coca by native populations seems to have been mostly medicinal… But then again, that’s also how many spices were used until the 19th century.
Ironic because poppy seeds have very little flavor and coca literally numbs your tongue.
Shhh. That’s the secret ingredient.
And it’s very more-ish.
Yeah I’ll have that everything bagel
The more I think of it the more not fun that bagel sounds. I’ll have mine with just the Columbian sugar please
Tea would be a herb.
“Herb” and “spice” aren’t mutually exclusive tho.
Generally I find they are. Herbs are leaves, flowers and (herbaceous) stems, spices are other parts. A plant might provide both a herb and a spice, but they will typically be different parts of a plant.
Saffron is from a flower and is considered a spice tho. It might be the way it’s processed that makes a difference. Regardless, when talking of the East India Company, the spice trade, and how that led to conquests, tea is always an important part of that story.
Like coriander vs cilantro. Actually that’s the only example I know.
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How the fuck are you spending 10 quid on spices?! You can get a good few for 5 at Lidl or Aldi.
Also, having been someone that poor, people in that position should understand spices and at least have a few of them because it was one of the few things that kept me going that at least my toast and tinned veg & hotdog pasta both had some flavour.
How the fuck are you spending 10 quid on spices
If it isn’t saffron and Italian white truffle, it doesn’t go on their toast.
Yeah the meme pretty much ignores the classism aspect of who ended up getting the spices
British fish fingers are usually mind-blowingly tasty compared to American fish-sticks. That might explain some of the disagreement.
I’m actually having fish fingers, chips, and beans tonight.
I’m late thirties and there is nothing wrong with fish finger and beans.
Edit: Don’t even have to be poor to enjoy it by the way.
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I learned from experience that there is something wrong with fish fingers and custard
It must be a cultural thing you guys are used to, cause the idea of beans and fish sticks turns my stomach. Replace the fish sticks with scrambled eggs or sausage and you got a good breakfast though
Not only “spices” but paprika and white pepper too!
What the hell is reduced sodium sea salt?
We have something in the US called light salt, it’s a blend of sodium chloride and potassium chloride, maybe it’s similar?
Yeah, I guess so. It’s probably so they put lower overall salt on the packaging.
Battered fish uses tumeric to get the yellow colour (fish and chips)
They’re also the curry capital of the world
What do you think is in the beans??
I just thought it was flavored with rain water and depression
I was there. 3000 years ago, when they murdered an entire culinary culture.
The taste of their food and the beauty of their women made them the best sailors in the world.
Have a spoonful of horseradish and tell me British food is all bland. Or Marmite.
Or Colmans English Mustard. English Wasabi, I call it.
perhaps a tiny bit of tartar sauce for the fish sticks, but otherwise its a delicious and fast meal :)
Fish sticks?!?!?!?
Fish fingers.
