Most popular dish in the UK is Tikka Massala.
But:
Fat, carbs and protein do not come purer than fish and chips.
Yes, there have been a few comments mentioning Tikka masala, but can you name another British dish with flavor? I don’t think so.
How do you feel about thanks giving dinners and apple pie?
Edit: because they’re both British.
Turkeys are native to the Americas.
Now that I think about it, so are potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, corn and cranberries. Thinking about my own Thanksgiving dinner table, the only thing I can identify as an Old World food are yeast rolls.
Its almost as if they just swapped out the chicken for turkey, having discovered and been using potatoes for years beforehand.
Nothing on the apple pie then? Just the one you thought you could refute, it would seem.
By your wild “logic” that would make every pork dish ever Chinese and Southern fried chicken Indian, as the pigs we eat today and chickens come from China and India respectfully.
Yeah, apples aren’t native to the New World and apple pie wasn’t invented in the Americas. It’s not specifically British, either; it seems to have emerged independently across Western Europe in the middle ages, and was first brought to the Americas by the Dutch rather than the English. Hell, not even the quintessential American pie apple was invented here; the granny smith is Australian.
The British invented roast turkey about as much as they invented roast bison. You want to get into more specific recipes, I’d say chicken tikka masala is British and chicken parmesan is American, but I’m not letting the British have right of way over “get bird, add heat.”
Pumpkin pie is kind of a strange one; the first thing you’d call a “pumpkin pie” was more of a savory soup eaten by Dutch settlers in Massachusetts in the 1600s; the first pumpkin served in a pastry crust was French, and the modern pattern of “sugar pumpkin puree in a shortbread crust” was invented a few minutes after the US Constitution was ratified.
Sweet potato pie is less ambiguous; it seems to have popped into existence fully formed in the American south in the 18th century.
Basically all corn products including popcorn and cornbread were known to the Native Americans for thousands of years before Europeans arrived.
The first known recipe for cranberry sauce as we would recognize it today was written in 1796 in the United States.
Green beans are native to Central America, green bean casserole was invented in New Jersey in 1950…
Again, what of this is particularly British? An American thanksgiving meal is as British as pizza.
Apple pie is from England, even if you don’t want it to be. Its not even about it not being American but it having flavour and being nice to eat.
They swapped out chicken for turkey and used the exact same recipe and cooking style. Declaring it unconnected changes nothing.
Green beans is a substitute for the exact same green veg you get with a British roast meal. If I put peas into a stir fry, it doesn’t make the meal not Chinese lol.
Again, how can you not see those mildy adapted British things as British?
Because I’m from a country with an actual national identity of its own, not some washed up little island whose national museum has on display a lot of things stolen from elsewhere and not much of its own, because their national culture has extremely little to show for itself.
I don’t have to pretend we invented (checks notes) cooking food to feel like have any kind of national identity. You do, and it’s hilariously pathetic.
Chicken Tikka Masala entered the chat.
Indian food?
Chicken Tikka Masala is a British national dish and that is common knowledge.
If by common knowledge, you mean that a significant portion of the population believes it, I’m not sure how reliable that evidence that is. People will believe a whole lot of strange stuff.
On topic, even the first paragraph of the Wikipedia page states that it was “popularized by cooks from India living in Great Britain”. Regardless of where it was first created, this is clearly the product of Indian immigrants. I don’t believe their heritage should be ignored just because they moved. Although, I don’t want it to sound like I believe in a 100% black and white distinction here. It’s clearly a fusion dish with British influences. The original chicken tikka was a lot dryer and the “masala” sauce was added to make the dish creamier to appeal to British tastes.
However, I don’t go around claiming General Tso’s chicken isn’t Chinese food, just because it was first made in New York; or that the chimichanga isn’t Mexican food, just because it was originally made in Arizona; or that a Cuban sandwich isn’t Cuban, just because it was first made in Florida. These dishes wouldn’t exist without the immigrants who modified their cultural recipes to adapt to a new environment.
To me, chicken tikka malala is an Indian dish with British influences.
E: Tao to Tso.
Go to China and tell them that General Tso’s is Chinese cuisine, I dare you.
Meanwhile yanks with their two spices - butter and sugar
“Our food is the tastiest in the wuuuurld”
Aye but yous can’t afford that coronary eh mate 😂
Is this where we pretend that Brits don’t consume obscene amounts of sugar and butter?
No, there’s no point pretending they’re not fat cunts as well
But we’re pretending they don’t consume vast amounts of spices too. They’re fat smelly cunts tbh
You are clearly making a poor joke, but… Butter is literally what the French are known for. Sugarcane is from the South Pacific and sugar itself originated in India.
Southern and Creole cuisine originated in America however, and that uses a ton of spices on par with native Indian cuisine.
Industrial use of high fructose corn sirup is all American Capitalism, though.
… And southern france hardly uses butter btw.
sugar itself originated in India
Lol, what? Also: it’s not about where the stuff came from but rather what the cuisine does with it. Italian or German cuisine doesn’t become south american all of a sudden cause of tomatoes and potatoes.
Just curious, but what does Southern France use as their fat to cook with, then? I’m visiting in a month.
Olive oil, just like any other mediterranean cuisine. In that climate, butter goes rancid in a heartbeat.
Olive oil
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I mean obviously you’ve never taken the time to explore the US. US food is utterly fantastic.
Our beer is better too.
What’s the difference between the US and a cup of yoghurt?
Yoghurt will have developed a culture after being left alone for 250 years. /j
Edit: Sorry, should have said "what’s the difference between white Americans.
You have your yoghurt. I’ll take the bbq, whiskey, and our massive dining industry that produces the best food on the planet.
Lol. You can keep your bland Whisky (I’ll take Irish, thanks) and your industrially processed junk food, filled to the brim with corn sirup.
Yank here. Most of us were raised on American Exceptionalism which has been pounded into our head since birth, for a few generations. There’s no point arguing this, because murica…
American here. I have never seen a fellow American refer to themself as a Yank. I thought that word was reserved for WWII British soldiers.
You never sang “Yankee Doodle,” or “Yankee Doodle Dandy” on July 4, even as a kid? I’m southern as can be and these were staples on the Fourth, Memorial and Labor Days, as well as bright red hotdogs, chips (crisps), soda and Budweiser and PBR.
American “beer” lol. Laughs in German.
Edit: Grumpy Muricans, your downvotes only prove my point!
We do dopplebock far better here.
Lol. As if you’ve ever even tried the local bavarian breweries (the stuff they sell on Oktoberfest doesn’t count)! xD
While I haven’t lived there I’ve done several trips through the country. Maybe 7 weeks in total? I’d choose Belgium if I were to choose a regional winner.
So you say the only good beer you got is a beer you copied from us?
I’ve never had a decent American beer. PBR is the closest to decent I’ve ever had.
I appreciate you admitting you’ve never stepped foot in an American beer store.
The meme is funny :)
That being said, the only UK foods I’ve had were made by expats here in the states. None of it was bland, with the exception of breakfast beans, “because they’re meant to be mild to start your day” as I was told by a lovely liverpudlian.
She would do fish and chips, and the batter was well seasoned. Not heavily seasoned, but some pepper, a little paprika, and a bit of onion powder to give it some aromatic kick. Well balanced, and imo, as good as any of the southern fried fish recipes I’ve had.
The chips were obviously just salted and vinegar used per person.
But when we did pot luck at work, she would bring in what she called “good english food”, which included some curry a few times.
But her shepherd’s pie? Holy hell, that was some great stuff. She said it was really cottage pie because it was beef usually. But it had the usual pepper, onion, garlic, and herbs.
And the other expats I ate with were similar. Maybe different amounts of a given herb or spice, but it was in there.
I think the UK food thing is a meme in itself, and likely arose the way things usually do, with the majority of cooks just being bad cooks, rather than representative of a cuisine or the way things are done properly in that country.
We do have a lot of very bland food over here, but a lot of us like that.
It’s a lot more about the texture sometimes, some of us (not me) can do some amazing roast vegetables and everyone seems to have their own ancient tradition for how to make them
The reputation comes from the US military being stationed in the UK during the height of WW2 rationing when there was an extremely limited list of ingredients to cook with. They were unable to associate a country under an attempted siege from U-boats with a reduced supply of food.
We do have a love of beige food at times, but it’s essentially our version of chicken tendies.
Ahhh, that makes sense. Kinda rough that the rep hasn’t gone away yet, though.
Boomers made that bland war time food linger. They were children during and just after WW2 so it was part of their childhood nostalgia and they fed it to their own kids. Also we’ve had Indian/ Chinese restaurants in the UK for a while but they were mostly just in major cities at first so the average person still had little exposure to foreign or exotic food until the late 1970s/ early 1980s.
Boomers weren’t children during WWII. Boomer means baby boomer, as in someone born during the baby boom. The baby boom happened after the war ended.
I’ve heard that food in the US is generally bad, so maybe not the best comparison 😜 😂
I like the safety third crew but they’ve also ate dog food and didn’t find much issue with it.
That’s a really good point 😂
