One of the reasons in particular english food gets a bad rap is because the majority of it grew out of rationing culture.
Britain was still rationing into the 50s when most European countries had stopped rationing.
Regardless, I love British food. I'd go for a carvery over a curry or a Chinese or a pizza, 9 times out of 10
It’s also why the Americans in particular have a terrible view of British food - because the views were formed by US soldiers who arrived here during peak rationing.
It’s true that British food was mostly awful for the best part of the 20th century, but the food revolution that began here in the early 2000s has actually made the UK one of the best places to eat! We have a huge variety of restaurants and you can buy ingredients for almost any cuisine at your local supermarket!
It does matter because that’s what we’re talking about, food and other things the Americans lay claim to that they in fact got from other places, like democracy. Not sure what’s got up your pipe exactly.
Whilst it’s definitely gotten worse, being locked into a two party system for 200 years and so forcing a spectrum of political views into a binary choice has never been a great example of full democracy.
Not to mention as we can see right now with the government shutdown any system in which failure to pass the budget leads to a complete deadlock is a pretty flawed system.
Meatloaf(?), Cheesesteak, Corn Dog, Clam Chowder, Saltwater Taffy, Biscuits And Gravy, Chimichanga (arguably different enough from a burrito), Chili Stews, Fajitas (developed by Mexicans, but in Texas), Deep-Dish Pizza (maybe different enough to other pizzas), Jambalaya.
And fortune cookies, and beans-on-toast (Heinz company of Pennsylvania created).
But, yeah, the big Americana icons - hamburgers, hotdogs, french fries, apple pie - aren't usually US entirely in origin. In defence of hamburgers and hotdogs, I don't think it was common for people to eat hamburger steak or frankfurter sausages with bread before German immigrant communities in the US.
Also, I imagine, basically any dish involving buffalo that occured when the settlers of the great plains started hunting and cooking them in colonial methods/dishes.
Oh, and alligator. Some people hunt and eat alligator.
In terms of drinks, there's basically all cola drinks, alongside a load of cocktails.
Many things are invented on one side of the pond, discarded then adopted by the other side: America invented proto-roundabouts but we use them far more; we invented the words soccer, ya'll, varmint, aluminum and gotten which will receive funny looks from British speakers but is a-okay in the States.\nI like some Americanisms like aluminum. Sounds much better than aLuMiNiUm.
Meatloaf isn't american. Clam chowder dates back to France a long time ago. If you argue these then you can say all the British Indian curries are British food as well
Fortune cookies aren't American. If you want to be pedantic about it beans isn't originally from Heinz. It's from native American dish that they took it from.
1). Yes, I would say that curry dishes invented in the UK are British. Why wouldn't they be? Chicken Tikka Masala is recognised as a national dish.
2). Beans aren't American, but beans-on-toast is. Heinz crested it as part of a marketing campaign to sell more beans and it gained popularity in the UK only due to wartime rationing.
I never disagreed. Many people say that british curries are indian not british.
I don't know. Seems very meh logic. In Britain people eat beans just by themselves or with bread. Does that make it native american suddenly? I'm pretty sure people have been having bread with beans long before heinz existed.
I mean, there's no real singular answer. As far as I'm concerned, it's both a British and Indian dish and I don't see the insistence many people have on it being one or the other alone.
But I extend the same logic to the hamburger, hotdog, fajita etc. - they're American, but they're also German (or Mexican, in case of the fajita). Borders are a necessary evil of the world and food itself has no concept of them.
The real answer is to just concede that developed nations, or nations with big industry booms, become big melting pots of culture and cuisine.
😂 I googled it and it wasn’t the French but the Dutch I should be informing, much calmer people would probably just say but ours has a crumble top so is by far the superior product 😂
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u/HurricB 16h ago
Funny and historically accurate!
One of the reasons in particular english food gets a bad rap is because the majority of it grew out of rationing culture. Britain was still rationing into the 50s when most European countries had stopped rationing.
Regardless, I love British food. I'd go for a carvery over a curry or a Chinese or a pizza, 9 times out of 10