• Egg_Egg@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    76
    arrow-down
    13
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    I’m British and I see it’s wrong because it simply isn’t true… We have a ton of spicy foods. The stereotype that we only eat comfort foods like in the meme is old and worn out. Maybe that’s all you eat, but that’s on you.

    • Redacted@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      42
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      Yeah never got this. The nation’s favourite dish is curry. My favourite dish is curry. Isn’t it a running joke amongst Indians how much the Brits love curry?

      Things like beans on toast and fish finger sandwiches are cheap and easy lunch snacks for students but not our actual diet.

      • Egg_Egg@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        30
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Yep, just seems disingenuous to act like the history of the spice trade hasn’t affected our food culture when it clearly has massively. Hell, even curry in Japan is popular not because of India but because of British influence. The reason “Katsu Curry” is called Katsu is because of the English word “Cuts” referring to the cuts of meat in the curry, which is Japanese sounds like ‘katsu’.

        • Redacted@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          28
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          Stops carving the Sunday roast and holds off putting the apple crumble in the oven…

          But we are one of the most multicultural societies in the world and have long since adopted everyone else’s cuisines.

          By this logic the Japanese don’t have curries and the Americans don’t have pizza, or any other food for that matter.

          • Zeshade@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            13
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            2 months ago

            Exactly.

            And India doesn’t have chillies add Italy doesn’t have tomatoes… Where do we stop?

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            7
            arrow-down
            10
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            Stops carving the Sunday roast

            Fun fact: Britain didn’t invent roasting hunks of meat. Or Sundays. Or the combination thereof.

            apple crumble

            That’s not a real thing. That’s just something English people say to sound whimsical.

            By this logic the Japanese don’t have curries and the Americans don’t have pizza, or any other food for that matter.

            Correct. Only Neolithic cultures have their own foods.

            Edit since it’s apparently not as obvious as I thought it would be: jk 😄

              • topher@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                2 months ago

                Americans know it as Apple Crisp, because the US has to perpetuate the myth than American English is anything but a bastardisation of an existing language and therefore have different words for the same thing.

                And yes. Hot Ambrosia® custard, not ice cream, and not Birds®. Just as I was served at school dinners (which somehow bow are called lunch).

              • topher@lemm.ee
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                2 months ago

                Gotta have lashings of Bisto gravy, yorkies and good ol’ British Maris Piper potatoes too. Occasionally carrot turnip mash if you’re feeling posh. Cauliflower and broccoli if that’s your thing. Served by Lynda Bellingham.

                • Redacted@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  Chuck some cheese sauce on that cauliflower, add some stuffing and we’re getting there…

                  Suddenly this hummus I’m eating for lunch doesn’t quite cut the mustard. Actually on that note, include some mustard in the cauliflower cheese pls.

        • gmtom@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          6
          arrow-down
          1
          ·
          2 months ago

          Except all the most popular curries in the UK aren’t Indian, they’re British, and infact pretty much any curry outside of southern Asia was introduced by the British (or occasionally Portuguese) like Japanese curry for example.

        • EnderMB@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          2 months ago

          Eh, to some extent, but we’ve got the foresight to accept these dishes as being British when you consider that the foods we eat aren’t authentic to those areas. Spag Bol isn’t being eaten in Italy, nor is Chicken Vindaloo in India.

          We’ve got a long enough history that we can trace back when the Normans and Saxons came here, alongside the culture changes of Indian settlers, Jamaican workers, Irish, etc. That acceptance is not only why there’re a lot of distinctly British versions of different cultures’ food, but why many cities in the UK also serve decidedly authentic food at some of the best restaurants in the world - and that doesn’t even factor in how some cultures have fused over time.

      • GiveOver
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        2 months ago

        In this context I think it’s comfort food because it’s kiddy food. Something simple and familiar that reminds you of being younger. In England, children’s menus will usually contain basic things like chicken nuggets and fish fingers that aren’t (heavily) spiced.

          • GiveOver
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            9
            ·
            2 months ago

            I see you were asking the question in bad faith and you didn’t really want an answer.

            • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              3
              ·
              edit-2
              2 months ago

              yeah i was just havin a laff

              My and many others’ comfort foods have spices. It’s really fuckn weird that some people find comfort in bland food for babies

              • GiveOver
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                2
                ·
                2 months ago

                Oh yeah? My comfort food is necking straight paprika

                • queermunist she/her@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  1
                  arrow-down
                  2
                  ·
                  2 months ago

                  Mine is soy sauce ramen loaded with chipotle, garlic, onion, black pepper, and chili flakes. Throw in some sweet peas and green onion, maybe some fried tofu, fuck yeah.

    • DigitalDilemma@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      2 months ago

      As you say, lots of spicy food options. Our National Dish is actually a curry - chicken masala and Phall, the hottest curry, was invented in Birmingham.

      Also - in the picture are baked beans. They’re invented in the USA. We adopted them, but they’re not ours.

      • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        Did an ethnically British person invent the chicken tikka masala and phall, or was it an immigrant from the Indian subcontinent or one of their kids/grandchildren?

          • Skullgrid@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            1
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            Bruh I’m a British Turk.

            I get mad when Germans try to bullshit they invented the döner kebab. The roots of those curries are based on recipes from the Indian subcontinent.

            John Curry did not invent the tikka masala in Kent, the same way the döner kebab was not invented by Hans Döner in Stuttgart

    • Altima NEO@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      Yeah yeah, we know y’all love Tikka masala over there.

      Brb, gonna go have hamburgers and french fries for breakfast and shoot my guns for lunch.

    • EnderMB@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      The perception of Britain that most Americans have is that of the 40’s and 50’s. It’s hardly surprising that it’s completely fucking wrong.

      • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        I think it’s just Baby Boomers perpetuating the same old ideas in their echo chambers.

        We’ve all been struggling to move onward for like 40 years.

    • Bob@feddit.nl
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      God, finally someone else is saying it. I feel like a stick in the mud whenever this comes up.

    • ReakDuck@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Lol, thx actually. I finally upgraded my perspective.

      The only people I know are polish relatives who live in scotland and well, do have their own custom and creative dishes

  • electric_nan@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    52
    ·
    2 months ago

    Popular misconception that they invaded for spices. They were actually looking for someone to play cricket with.

    • ThePyroPython@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      22
      ·
      2 months ago

      How the fuck are you spending 10 quid on spices?! You can get a good few for 5 at Lidl or Aldi.

      Also, having been someone that poor, people in that position should understand spices and at least have a few of them because it was one of the few things that kept me going that at least my toast and tinned veg & hotdog pasta both had some flavour.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        2 months ago

        How the fuck are you spending 10 quid on spices

        If it isn’t saffron and Italian white truffle, it doesn’t go on their toast.

    • Omniraptor@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      10
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      Yeah the meme pretty much ignores the classism aspect of who ended up getting the spices

    • bandwidthcrisis@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      2 months ago

      British fish fingers are usually mind-blowingly tasty compared to American fish-sticks. That might explain some of the disagreement.

    • Nuke_the_whales@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      2 months ago

      It must be a cultural thing you guys are used to, cause the idea of beans and fish sticks turns my stomach. Replace the fish sticks with scrambled eggs or sausage and you got a good breakfast though

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        2 months ago

        Ah I see where you’re going wrong. Those aren’t fish sticks, those are fish fingers.

  • Monzcarro
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    16
    ·
    2 months ago

    Not only “spices” but paprika and white pepper too!

    • I_am_10_squirrels@beehaw.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      What the hell is reduced sodium sea salt?

      We have something in the US called light salt, it’s a blend of sodium chloride and potassium chloride, maybe it’s similar?

      • Monzcarro
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        Yeah, I guess so. It’s probably so they put lower overall salt on the packaging.

  • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    Battered fish uses tumeric to get the yellow colour (fish and chips)

    They’re also the curry capital of the world

  • jabjoe
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    2 months ago

    Have a spoonful of horseradish and tell me British food is all bland. Or Marmite.

  • macniel@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    2 months ago

    perhaps a tiny bit of tartar sauce for the fish sticks, but otherwise its a delicious and fast meal :)

    • Zip2
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 months ago

      Fish sticks?!?!?!?

      Fish fingers.