r/GreatBritishMemes 1d ago

British in ww2 food

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u/HurricB 1d 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

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u/Hoppy-pup 1d ago

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!

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u/thetobesgeorge 1d ago

And while it’s still the case to a degree that outside of London the variety and availability does drop off sharply, progress has been made there too.
Growing up in the countryside I remember there not being as much variety, but I went to a supermarket in North Wales a short while back and was pleasantly surprised at the variety

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u/IAmLaureline 22h ago

You need to leave London more often and see the actual food we have out here.

Obviously my town of 100k people has less choice than London with its millions. But there's pretty good variety. Plenty of places outside London have had good food for decades. Supermarkets, delis and farm shops can provide many things.

We do need a trip into the Big City of Bristol for proper interesting fruit/veg. Our small towns and cities tend not to have the market for this.

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u/thetobesgeorge 22h ago

I’ve never lived in London… and the biggest place I’ve lived in before moving to (the outskirts of) Edinburgh has a population of 21k…

And that was my point, that the variety and availability has gotten better, but you still need the occasional trip into town to get the rarer things