We will not be here to comment on British recipes, which of course can also be delicious, glitzy, interesting and full of tradition.
We will only contest the anomalies ...
For example (and the post might end here), the Britain national dish is Chicken Tikka Masala.
An Indian dish. Which is a symbol of multiculturalism and modernity (and a good dose of colonialism) etc., but it is frankly anomalous.
Apart from that, what we perceive as problematic is that in the typical English course there are about 4000 overlapping, intertwined, liquid ingredients that are exchanged, tastes that add up, cancel each other out, do things, have an own life. An orgy that does not fit well with our food minimalism.
In the classic Sunday roast there is the juicy roast beef that releases juicy blood, carrots, cabbage, turnips, the Yorkshire pudding, potatoes, gravy, sauces ... all together, everything contaminates the taste of others.
Unbearable.
Often the ingredients are stacked in a tower. If you look at Master-chef UK (don't do it…) you will only see turrets in the middle of the plate with many layers.
Fish and meat together. A turret of cheese and fish together... garnished with cauliflower and mint puree, diced pork rind, quinces, coriander and dill (omnipresent).
Heresies one after the other. Secular dogmas broken.
What can we understand about it... We are countryside people, if you ask us what is the best food in the world we answer a slice of bland bread with new oil. Or a small piece of toma cheese...
We know absolutely nothing about culinary overlaps. About complexity.
Because we give exaggerated importance to every single element, we are obsessive maniacs.
If we don't know what it is, we just don't eat it.
THEY eat Marmite, on the label it says YEAST EXTRACT. What the hell is that??
It tastes like broth concentrate, like a stock. They spread it on bread, perhaps with a little butter.
We are struck by the lack of interest that British have in their daily food.
For lunch they usually eat a packaged sandwich, accompanied by chips.
It seems super strange to us that adults can eat chips for lunch, every day.
It’s nor really healthy, probably.
Then they lick all their fingers, and lunch is done.
There is not much care, here. Just as there is not so much care in putting a can of beans on a piece of bread. It doesn't have to be very good either.
Or to open a can of meatballs, spaghetti, or oxtail soup ...
There is not much care even in how they eat.
In most restaurants there are no tablecloths and you eat directly on the table, which is often very very sticky. Like you have to be careful not to lose the skin of the forearm, especially in pubs, due to layers and layers of sticky beer.
Napkins are not always available, dogs are also allowed on the table...
Basically in the UK, even more so than in the Mediterranean countries, contact with the food production phase has been completely lost, people have no idea of what they eat, how what their food is produced or what it contains. They just put in the microwave packaged food bought at the supermarket. People don't know that pasta is made with water and flour, they don't have the faintest idea what rennet for making cheese is, are not rare adults who have never cooked absolutely anything in their life .
This obviously applies to many, but not all.
In fact, in the face of the mountain of junk food consumed every day, there is consumer awareness, solidarity purchasing groups, food banks, and above all wonderful urban allotments such as those of Fairfax street in Cambridge.
The fantastic meat pie
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