tutti-frutti

I have to say that this is a truly fascinating question. And some of the answers have been illuminating.

Right on, Steve!

Whats a troll? I am certainly not baiting anyone. I thought I would supplement Steve's argument. Can Britain really show anything close to the sophistication of Bordeaux, Burgundy, foie gras, cassoulet? Olive oil, pasta, sun burst tomatoes, fresh, varied seafood? Elegant, complex, wonderful seasoning?

Mr. Tony Finch, If you go to any restaurants in your exhaustive list of those serving British food, you will occasionally see a few people with a pained, suffering look. A little bit like you see on the faces of well-bred people in a crowded lift when somebody's just let go some wind. Those are the Europeans, wondering what to make of this frightfully expensive bilge on their plate. You should just face up to it, Britain is the unsophisticated country bumpkin amongst the aristocrats of Europe. Lafite versus Greene King? When you stop exporting your exquisitely well bred lager louts, we might begin to take you seriously.

Now that we've explained to the Brits how lousy their food is, lets play Ring o' Roses. Yvonne, I hope you don't feel I'm presuming your acquaintance, I was just showing my respect for your magnificent posts.

I hope you are not suggesting that Mr. Plotnicki is a boring old wind bag, Yvonne. You know I have tremendous respect for your opinions.

British food is awful, everybody knows that. This isn't myth, it is reality. There are somethings the British are good at (at least one or two) and things they are bad at. Dentistry, for one. Notice the higgledy-piggledy, yellowing teeth everywhere? Is anyone seriously going to argue about the state of British dentistry? But food seems so much more emotive an issue, I wonder why. Why can't the Brits among you lot just accept it? Statistics show that Britain is at the bottom end of every quality of life measure for Western European countries - why is it so hard for you lot to accept that is true for food as well? I mean, have you ever seen a Frenchman/Italian drinking ale?

Hi, I'm new in here. My word, what a confused bunch. Everybody knows that British food sucks. Thats the reputation the Brits have, innit? And poor Mr. Potnicki, trying to volubly stick to a point, and everybody else talking about pies. Me, I know what pie I like; its gamey too. The world wide net is a blast.