English food

[Magictofu]

Perhaps so.  As I am American, I find nothing wrong with the assumption that the outside influences of immigration and travel make for a richer tapestry of society.  I certainly believe that American cuisine would be much plainer and poorer and less varied and interesting without influences from our returning international travelers and our many immigrants from across the globe.  Perhaps that's because we started off primarily British as well.

ETA:  Have you ever been to Belize?

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I totally agree with you about how cultural mixing enrich societies all over the world however when people refer to any national food culture, they tend to refer to a somewhat traditional version (real or perceived) of the said food culture.

That being said, most of the time what we call a national food culture is a contemporary construction which often include various regional elements and cultural influences. In other words, when we talk of Italian cuisine, we should probably talk about the many regional traditions that it encompass en probably ask questions about outside influences (e.g. the new world origin of the omnipresent tomato or the corn used to make polenta, the Arab influence in Sicilian food, etc.).

I have never been to Belize but I am curious about the reasons you are mentioning this country here, could you elaborate?

[Jaymes]

I have never been to Belize but I am curious about the reasons you are mentioning this country here, could you elaborate?

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Belize is generally considered by frequent travelers to have the worst cuisine in this hemisphere. It's startling, too, because one would think that what is basically a Caribbean/Latin American country would have food full of taste and flavor, fresh fruits, fish, local meats, interesting vegetables, unusual herbs and spices. Instead, it's bland and boring, few herbs and spices, often relying on such staples as canned vegetables (peas are a favorite), canned evaporated milk, and even canned meats. The food there without question surprises and disappoints uninformed and unsuspecting visitors.

The previous name for Belize is British Honduras. It was colonized by the Brits in 1638.

Coincidence?

But like I said, the British reputation for bland and boring food is fading - especially as the older generation that takes it as gospel passes away. However, because it's no longer true doesn't mean that it never was.

Edited November 2, 2008 by Jaymes (log)

[maggiethecat]

In The Daily Gullet there are a couple of articles talking directly about English Food: Tim Hayward's brilliant That Sweet Enemy and my own Bane of a Small House,about Jessie Conrad's cookbook.

My grandmother was English and her food was mind-bendingly delicious. When as a kiddie, I visited her in Toronto, she's have fresh fruit and nut bread (baked in a can which formerly held Heinz baked beans)and a dish of strawberries and cream ready for my breakfast.

Her standing rib was never grey, her Yorkshire Pud puffy and crisp, her trifle and scones and lemon curd still marks I shoot for. And heavens -- her sausage rolls and Summer Pudding! I make to this day (note to self: better start soon) her Plum Pudding. Her vegetables were cooked through and lashed with butter.

I'll never forget that afternoon when I was twelve in Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, when she convinced my always waist-conscious Mother that she wanted to make a dish from her Lancashire childhood called Dabs. No joke, it was my introduction to deep-fat frying and it was as powerful a gustatory memory as that first oyster. I remember Mummy and Nana checking out a stock pot half-filled with bubbling corn oil. Nana had dipped potato wedges into a tempura-like batter of flour and water, and we watched them surface, golden and magnificent. A rest on some paper towel, some salt, and it was my maiden glimpse into the majesty of deep fried.

Memoir aside, I suspect that the decline of reputation for English cooking was tied to the fierce and glum rationing during WWII and way too many years thereafter. Half a generation had forgotten how to cook, had nothing to cook with, and after the war there were kids who'd never eaten an orange.

I'm going to make Elizabeth David's Spiced Beef for Christmas, as well as Delia Smith's Sausage Rolls (Brill pastry tip: grate frozen butter into flour for the flakiest pastry.) Read Jane Grigson, Elizabeth David and understand that the best English cooking is the same as the best cooking anywhere.

Edited November 3, 2008 by maggiethecat (log)

[Jaymes]

Read Jane Grigson, Elizabeth David and understand that the best English cooking is the same as the best cooking anywhere.

Well, whatever the reason for the past reputation, you're indisputably correct now, Maggie, as witnessed by the many fine UK restaurants that have taken up permanent residence on the various lists of World's Top 50 Restaurants.

[CDRFloppingham]

Read Jane Grigson, Elizabeth David and understand that the best English cooking is the same as the best cooking anywhere.

Well, whatever the reason for the past reputation, you're indisputably correct now, Maggie, as witnessed by the many fine UK restaurants that have taken up permanent residence on the various lists of World's Top 50 Restaurants.

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Should we base the "quality" of a cuisine overall on its best restaurants?

Or, if the cuisine is all that good, shouldn't one be able to eat a good to transcendent meal at any resturant?

I will argue that in France, with a very few exceptions, you can find good food without having to look hard. I will similarly argue that in England, you are not likely to get good food (at least as defined by me) without expending some effort and research.

France 1

England 0

[prasantrin]

I have another very simplistic theory Magictofu might like...

England has always been very much a class-based society. I think the "bland food" associated with England is really the food of the working and lower-middle classes who really couldn't afford many luxuries in food. But if you look at the food of the upper and middle (solidly middle) classes (Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David fit here, I think--at least according to wiki), you'll find better eating.

The same could be said of the food in many other class-based societies.

[Jaymes]

I have another very simplistic theory Magictofu might like...

England has always been very much a class-based society.  I think the "bland food" associated with England is really the food of the working and lower-middle classes who really couldn't afford many luxuries in food.  But if you look at the food of the upper and middle (solidly middle) classes (Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David fit here, I think--at least according to wiki), you'll find better eating.

The same could be said of the food in many other class-based societies.

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And although I am certainly not a food historian so any speculation by me is just that, I've always wondered if the climate in the British Isles might have something to do with it. Mexico, for example, is a class-based society. But when peppers and corn and tomatoes and epazote and cilantro and all sorts of fruits and many other foodstuffs grow wild, and there's plenty of room to cultivate those that do not, it's much easier and more logical to develop a flavorful cuisine. The UK is crowded, with much less land and a much shorter and less-favorable growing season.

And perhaps the temperament of its people has had an influence. Maybe as a culture, they're less likely to experiment and more comfortable with the traditional, the known, the familiar. I don't recall, for example, ever hearing anyone say anything like, "If you date her, be careful because she's got that famous hot, temperamental, fiery British blood"; or "Come to my big, fat, crazy, wild English wedding."

Edited November 3, 2008 by Jaymes (log)

[Magictofu]

I have another very simplistic theory Magictofu might like...

England has always been very much a class-based society.  I think the "bland food" associated with England is really the food of the working and lower-middle classes who really couldn't afford many luxuries in food.  But if you look at the food of the upper and middle (solidly middle) classes (Jane Grigson and Elizabeth David fit here, I think--at least according to wiki), you'll find better eating.

The same could be said of the food in many other class-based societies.

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I do love simplistic theories and I do think that a society with an important class divide has a good chance of developing a great culinary tradition and/or a restaurant culture that will inevitably translate in the availability of good food. The logic is simple: if good food can be prepared relatively cheaply thanks to low wages and bought at a good price thanks to those who have the money to do so, it becomes profitable to run a restaurant. The more restaurant, the greater the competition for customer and the quality and diversity of the offering increase. ultimately,the greater the rift between the poors and the rich, the more you can find refinement and variety in food.

However, important class divisions can be found in many other places on this planet so I am not sure this explains the bad rap british food gets internationally. Also, I believe that a strong restaurant culture took quite some time to establish itself in England but then my knowledge on this topic is quite limited.

I think that it had to be said too that the British Islands were the first to reach a state close to overpopulation around the industrial era when food production was pushed to its limits and import became a necessity. Add to this the catastrophic damages caused by WWII (see Maggiethecat's post bellow) and it does not leave much space for excentricities outside of the priviledge class. That might also contribute to the explanation of why the food we think of when we talk about British food traditions is often the food of the wealthy (or the food of those with access to meat).

But then, when we think of it, some of the best dishes on the planet are the dishes of peasants, poor fishermen, or foragers. Ah! maybe simple theories don't work so well!

[Soupcon]

"Most insightful post. The reputation for bland, boring, underseasoned, tasteless, unimaginative, uninventive, traditional, often-boiled textureless food, while deserved at one time, is certainly a thing of the past. All of the influences you cite have played a large role, especially travel and immigration. I remember a time when the only place you could get a highly-seasoned and flavorful meal in London was at a curry house."

This quote is reflective of most food found in N.A. today with the exception of high priced restaurants. My parents were English and I lived in England in the 50's and 70's and found none of the above to be true. Yes there was rationing which I do remember but meal times were never "Chef Boy-ar-dee" glop from a can which my sons' friends today equate to a decent meal or the ubiquitous pasta and the contents of a bottle or can and a salad of iceburg lettuce and a cardboard tasting tomato which more frequently passes for dinner/supper of my work mates today.

My mother was a great meat cook (learned of course from her mother who was an even better all round cook) and rare meat was the order of the day with the exception of poultry and pork of course but lamb and beef - always. Stews, deep dish fruit pies with cream for desert, yorkshire puds, roast and baked potatoes, all kinds of fruit puddings and deserts. I remember eating duck, goose, rabbit, venison and pidgeon as a child. - certainly not the average N.A. fare even today.

My parents were not wealthy by any means and my English grandfather grew a lot of the produce we ate in his garden and on his allotment - extra land used for vegetable growing most English people had/have. My grandmother had a chicken coop at the bottom of the garden for many years - fresh eggs daily and my grandfather had a greenhouse he built to grow tomatoes and seedlings for planting out in the spring. Much better food we ate then than most of us eat today.

[Paul Higham]

Britain was so broke during and after WW2 many of the traditional recipes never recovered properly until quite recently. The many different types of cheese that the UK produced originally before the war were unified into a cheese closely resembling Cheddar. Many different types of sausages disappeared leaving only cheaply produced bangers filled with about 50% meat content. Rationing went on until the start of the fifties and there where food shortages after that. It's not surprising really that it has a bad reputation for food. Even restaurants had a limit of how much they could spend on a meal for a while.

Obviously it didn't help having Mrs Beeton as the author of one of the most influential cookbooks.