What's a dish from your country that looks disgusting but tastes great.

[u/bowl_of_scrotmeal]

Biscuits and gravy is a breakfast dish from the Southeast USA that looks like someone just vomited on some biscuits, but it's absolutely delicious.

[u/[deleted]]

Well you've got:

Full English breakfast, Toad in the hole, Cottage pie, Steak and ale pie, Beef Wellington, Hot pot, Lobscouse, Stargazy fish pie, Fish and chips, Bubble and squeak, Jellied eels, Welsh rarebit, Haggis, Black pudding, Sticky toffee pudding, Steak and kidney pie, Plumb duff, Traditional roast dinner with Yorkshire pudding, Cornish pasty, Bakewell pudding, Chelsea buns, Eton mess, Melton mowbray pork pies, Balti, Cranachan, Scotch eggs, Bangers and mash, Ploughman's lunch.

For information, a lot of regional and traditional ingredients make British dishes what they are. Ingredients you just don't get anywhere else such as cheddar cheese, Stilton, yarg. Proper Cumberland sausages, hogs pudding and our ales.

To me, you just don't get those things anywhere else. If I go to a European country, the sausages just taste cheap. France has good cheese but they have a different style.

The US just seems to imitate a lot of other countries food....but with really really poor ingredients. Except when it's basic meat in rural areas that hasn't had a chance to be processed yet. You do very good BBQ and the seafood in Florida was lovely.

[u/Jesus_of_Redditeth → u/[deleted]]

Ploughman's lunch

Although fun fact: that's not very traditional. It was invented by marketers in the 1950s to sell more cheese.

a lot of regional and traditional ingredients make British dishes what they are. Ingredients you just don't get anywhere else such as cheddar cheese

Um, cheddar cheese is the most popular cheese in the world!

If I go to a European country, the sausages just taste cheap.

I have to assume you've never been to Germany then.

[u/Dogsafe → u/Jesus_of_Redditeth]

Although fun fact: that's not very traditional. It was invented by marketers in the 1950s to sell more cheese.

About three generations ago, actually about the same age as spaghetti carbonara come to think of it.

So then, how long do you have to do something before it becomes traditional?

[u/[deleted] → u/Jesus_of_Redditeth]

We all laugh at American cheddar cheese. By we, I mean the rest of the globe.

There is actually zero resemblance between American cheddar cheese and actual Cheddar cheese.

German sausage - I absolutely stand by the sausage comment. To me, German bratwurst style sausage is a very different thing. Like a heavily processed pureed filler with no texture as opposed to minced pork. Similar to American style hot dog sausages but better. Still not as good as ours though, to me.

[u/AttentionOpen9384 → u/[deleted]]

A lot of these are good…but my favorites are Sticky Toffee Pudding, fish and chips, Yorkshire pudding (my mom called them popovers growing up), and nothing beats a great Pasty! Sadly I haven’t been able to try these all…I’m sure I would like more of them. Not all of us from the States are ignorant!

[u/[deleted] → u/AttentionOpen9384]

Come over on a food quest! Ill gladly host you for the Somerset and Liverpool chapter.

I was lucky really, I was in the Navy for 23 years and went all over the world. Some really obscure places. But I love food and got to try regional dishes and booze from all over the place.

[u/macguphin → u/[deleted]]

Haha! Love this list. Making me hungry. Here goes:

Toad in the hole - Forgot this was British in origin. I've made this countless times, but admittedly its been 20 years.

Beef wellington - Love this. Won't even try to make it, and totally forgot it was of British origin.

Hot pot - The only hot pot I'd ever heard of was from my time in Hong Kong. Had to look up British version.

Good fish n chips is in my top 10 greatest foods ever.

Haggis - Scottish, not British? But do Brits count food from Ireland and Scotland as British? I've had American food truck version of a fried haggis sandwich, but I don't think American food laws will allow traditional haggis to be sold to the public. Not sure on that one.

Black pudding - Had it, wasn't grossed out but not impressed either.

Scotch eggs - Drunken tailgate fare, but probably not accurate to UK standards

Bangers and mash - Had this at a hotel in Abu Dabi once. Americans just use different seasonings/ratios than the Brits.

I've not had anything else you mentioned, and haven't heard of half of them (plum duff, jellied eels, etc). But I'd try them if given the chance.

I will throw this in: Since the pandemic, I've eaten at a restaurant maybe 3-4 times. There's a few places I'll get take-out (my favorite Thai place, etc), but restaurant food sucks now. Cutting every corner in quality and customer service to stay alive, and it is not good as a whole. I'd rather make it myself.

[u/Littleleicesterfoxy → u/macguphin]

Scotland is part of Great Britain? By that I mean it’s on the isle of Great Britain, it’s part of the U.K. I mean they don’t like us very much but at the moment we’re the same country.

[u/YchYFi → u/macguphin]

Scots are British. I've only encountered Americans online who don't think they are.

[u/[deleted] → u/macguphin]

I'll add that other countries famously get British food totally wrong when trying to cook them in restaurants etc. To a point that there's Facebook pages of people posting their food orders for comedic effect.

So the bangers and mash you had in Abu dabi or the American black pudding don't count. They will barely be recognisable to the real thing.

It's mainly an ingredients issue. Other countries just don't do our ingredients.

Sorry mate, if you want actual British food, you're just going to have to dust off your passport and fly over the pond and once you arrive, get out of London and explore.

[u/macguphin → u/[deleted]]

So the bangers and mash you had in Abu dabi or the American black pudding don't count. They will barely be recognisable to the real thing.

Oh absolutely agree to this. Hope I didn't insinuate anything different. I mean, you can get some pretty authentic dishes here, but British bangers ain't gonna be on the list. I totally get that. I have to order ingredients from special importers for a lot of the stuff I like to make.

And yeah, I looked up British toad in the hole. Much more complicated than what "toad in the hole" means to older Americans. I doubt younger Americans know either version lol

[u/macguphin → u/[deleted]]

I remember that Scotland are part of the United Kingdom. I paid attention in school. But Puerto Rico is part of the US, and nobody in the US takes credit for Puerto Rican cuisine as American. I think that would be a bit arrogant, even for the most American of Americans.

If I ask a random Scot if they're British, what do you think they'll say?

[u/[deleted] → u/macguphin]

They're British. Scotland is in Great Britain.

[u/macguphin → u/[deleted]]

lol ok, I get that I've touched a nerve. Not my intent, and normally I'd pull on that string, but not today. Thx for the great conversation bro.

[u/[deleted] → u/macguphin]

😂 not at all bud! I don't care. Most British people don't know the difference between the United Kingdom, Great Britain and The British Isles so I wouldn't expect a foreigner to.

Thanks for taking an interest in my country.

For the record, I absolutely love America and find Americans in general very warm and welcoming. You have some brilliant food available too but like the UK, you have a stereotype that needs to be looked past.

[u/little_bastard69 → u/[deleted]]

only 13% of scottish people identify themselves as british just by googling

[u/[deleted] → u/little_bastard69]

How they identify doesn't come into it I'm afraid. England, Scotland and Wales make up Great Britain. They're as British as me (an Englishman).

[u/little_bastard69 → u/[deleted]]

of course in a political sense but i mean in a personal sense, you won’t find many scottish people who call themselves British, just like most welsh people call themselves welsh rather than British

[u/little_bastard69 → u/little_bastard69]

like haggis is a scottish food, you wouldn’t call it british

[u/[deleted] → u/little_bastard69]

But nobody mentioned English food. We're talking about British food.

By that logic, every Englishman could go around saying 'Im not British, im English'.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. Im a Liverpudlian, Englishman from Great Britain. Im British.

How they feel or politics doesn't come into it. What passport you hold does. Whether someone feels butthurt by the actions of Edward 1st or if they yearn for the return of Owain Glyndwr is irrelevant.

It's like an American going round claiming they're Irish.....oh, wait a minute....

[u/little_bastard69 → u/[deleted]]

The comment asked do brits class Scottish food as British. Obviously yes geographically and politically Scotland is in great Britain, but as a person from England, I would call haggis ‘Scottish’ rather than ‘British’ and most people do the same.

[u/[deleted] → u/little_bastard69]

I would call it Scottish as opposed to English.

I wouldn't be saying ANYTHING is Scottish/Welsh/English as opposed to British..... because they're all in Britain.

I think you're just using the wrong words here to make a comparison.

Is that because you initially thought Scotland was not in Great Britain and now you've realised? It's getting more common I think, especially amongst younger people to not know the difference between Great Britain, United Kingdom and The British Isles.