Europe Up Close

  • Home
  • About
    • Writers
    • Contact
  • Travel Gear
  • UNESCO Bucket List Challenge
  • Work with us
  • EuropeUpClose - Europe Travel Blog that helps you plan your next Europe vacation
prev next
  • Travel Tips
    • Beyond Europe
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Caribbean
    • General Tips
    • Money Matters
    • Packing Tips
    • Travel Health and Safety
  • Top Cities
    • Amsterdam
    • Athens
    • Berlin
    • Dublin
    • Edinburgh
    • London
    • Madrid
    • Paris
    • Prague
    • Rome
  • Western Europe
    • Belgium
    • Channel Islands
    • England
    • France
    • Ireland
    • Luxembourg
    • Monaco
    • Northern Ireland
    • Scotland
    • The Netherlands
    • Wales
  • Central Europe
    • Austria
    • Czech Republic
    • Germany
    • Hungary
    • Liechtenstein
    • Poland
    • Slovakia
    • Slovenia
    • Switzerland
  • Northern Europe
    • Denmark
    • Estonia
    • Finland
    • Iceland
    • Latvia
    • Lithuania
    • Norway
    • Sweden
  • Southern Europe
    • Andorra
    • Croatia
    • Cyprus
    • Gibraltar
    • Greece
    • Italy
    • Malta
    • Montenegro
    • Morocco
    • Portugal
    • Serbia
    • Spain
    • Turkey
  • Eastern Europe
    • Bulgaria
    • Moldova
    • Romania
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

My Love Affair with Great British Food

Published/Revised August 19, 2015 By Anne Siders This post may contain promotional and affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Share20
Tweet9
Pin
Share
Email
+1
Buffer4
Flip
Reddit
33 Shares

I love British food. When people ask me what I love about the United Kingdom, what keeps me coming back, I often blurt out “food!” Some people laugh. Most think I’m joking. Britain, they note, is not exactly known for its cuisine. But I beg to differ.

Full English Breakfast

Here’s a Full English Breakfast

Perhaps it’s because I’m a Minnesotan. Midwesterners, Northerners, we like our meat and potatoes and we like them covered in gravy so thick the spoon stands upright. We don’t eat kale, or quinoa, or go gluten-free. It’s cold out there. You need something that sticks to your ribs. Three years into living in California, my mother was still feeding her kids hot porridge and pancakes to keep us warm.

We like portions we can see on our plates. Without a microscope. And, as my sister-in-law once pointed out, most of our family recipes involve piling meat and potatoes (vegetables optional) into a pan and baking it until it’s past recognition. When in doubt, roast something.

Sunday Roast Beef - Wikipedia

Sunday Roast Beef – Wikipedia

It should be no surprise, then, that what I love about waking up anywhere in the United Kingdom is not only that I am in a beautiful, historic, lush green country, but that somewhere, in some kitchen within walking distance, there is a good English (or Scottish, or Irish) breakfast waiting for me. Eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, baked beans, tomatoes, mushrooms (add Scottish haggis, black and white pudding, depending on location) and toast. Not your whole-wheat 8 grains kind of toast but proper crispy-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside, dripping-with-butter, so-tasty-Nigel-Slater’s-biography-was-called-Toast, toast. And that’s just breakfast.

If you’ve managed to work your way through that, and your arteries are still flowing, you can find an increasing number of gastro-pubs for lunch. Irish Bangers and mash? Shepherd’s pie? Beef Wellington? Lamb roasted to fall off the bone and served with mint jelly? Yes, please.

British meat pie -Flickr

British meat pie -Flickr

A few hours later, would you like tea with sandwiches, cakes, jams, jellies and puddings? I’d be delighted. I’ll be especially delighted if the scones come with clotted cream: the most delicious thing ever created by man and a heart-attack on a teaspoon. Dessert? Have a sticky-toffee treacle pudding drowned in butter caramel sauce.

Sticky Toffee Pudding

Sticky Toffee Pudding – Flickr

True, I can find a Shepherd’s pie in almost any faux-Irish pub in America (usually listed on the menu right after the nachos but before the pizza). Fish and chips are almost a staple, but nowhere so delicious as hot, greasy, wrapped in newspaper, out of a proper chippy stand.

More importantly, nowhere (at least, nowhere outside of a fast food chain) are people quite so unapologetic about their food. This is it. Love it, or leave it. Or try the kebob shop next door. Salad? Try France. Gluten-free? What’s a gluten?

This is not to say that English food is by any means unimaginative. Who else could give you stargazey pie – so named because the fish heads stick directly out of the pie and appear to be gazing at the stars? Or invent marmite? Granted, these weren’t necessarily wild successes. But it has to be a mark in favor of a cuisine that it is willing to try new things.

Stargazey Pie

Stargazey Pie – Flickr

In fact, one of the better holdovers from Britain’s long colonial history is its desire to try new foods and its ability to absorb them into every-day cooking. Pub down the street? It serves Thai food. And why wouldn’t you want to eat a pad see ew while cheering for Arsenal and drinking a pint of bitter? London is where I first met falafel, out of a delicious street vendor in Piccadilly Circle, and England has adopted the curry so thoroughly that it is now declared a “national food.” There are even British-original curries, including the Birmingham Balti, for which fans are seeking protected status under the EU.

None of this is fancy restaurant fare, two-bites to a serving, impress your boss cuisine. This is good, solid, hungry (wo)man, savory, comfort food. And, to be quite frank, what’s wrong with that?

Written by Anne Siders for EuropeUpClose.com

Find the Best Pricing on U.K. Hotels Here

More Travel Tips

  • The Best Places to Eat (and Drink) in EdinburghThe Best Places to Eat (and Drink) in Edinburgh
  • Scottish Food DecipheredScottish Food Deciphered
  • The Foods of Franconia, GermanyThe Foods of Franconia, Germany
  • Edinburgh Insider GuideEdinburgh Insider Guide
  • Six Nations’ Rugby ChampionshipSix Nations’ Rugby Championship
  • Visit UK Heritage and Historic Sites and Save MoneyVisit UK Heritage and Historic Sites and Save Money
  • Enjoying Czech Cuisine and More in PragueEnjoying Czech Cuisine and More in Prague
  • The Oxford Experience: A Summer Learning ProgramThe Oxford Experience: A Summer Learning Program
Share20
Tweet9
Pin
Share
Email
+1
Buffer4
Flip
Reddit
33 Shares

Filed Under: England, Northern Europe, Scotland Tagged With: english food, english breakfast, scottish haggis, british food

This post may contain affiliate links. EuropeUpClose may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

About Anne Siders

Anne Siders is a foot-path traveler who delights in the off-beat, the ancient, and the active. She travels for work and for pleasure, and for the opportunity to write and photograph it all.

Comments

  1. Marilyn says

    August 21, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    Thanks! This gave me a chuckle of recognition. Coming from Scottish and then Canadian forebears, it’s all familiar. I must admit to eating kale and quinoa now. But only occasionally.

  2. KareninCalabria says

    August 26, 2015 at 7:17 pm

    Very amusing, and you also make some good points in favor of British fare. Nothing can be all bad …. I just had a fleeting image of the most wonderful scone with clotted cream…

    When I read the headline of your piece, It reminded me of a comment once uttered by an acquaintance, “I’ve never had a bad meal on an airplane.” Well, she certainly wasn’t what I would have described as a culinary connoisseur, but I was so stunned I wasn’t able to challenge her on it. Perhaps she didn’t fly much and only went first class…

    Continue to enjoy that roast beef!

Follow EuropeUpClose

Facebook Instagram Twitter

Copyright © 2019 Europe Up Close · All Rights Reserved · Privacy Policy · EuropeUpClose.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Log in

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkDisclosure Policy