... what is it, exactly? (and I'm not talking about Chicken Tikka Bloody Masala, either).

Does anyone still eat it?

Yorkshire pud, Brain's Faggots, pork pies, gammon and peas, toad in the hole, bread and butter pudding, fish and chips.

Why is it so bland and horrible?

Hey man -- I still eat that sort of stuff occasionally. It is comfort food for people here. Sometimes for me, you can't beat things like an english breakfast with black pudding, a roast with yorkshire pudding with all the trimmings, fish N chips with mashy peas and toad in the hole. the bad thing is most of it is really unhealthy. But I guess, if you are not used to that sort of thing you'll probably find it really bland.

I quite like fish and chips and black pudding.

I am just curious to know why British cuisine is so different from the rest of Europe?

I've heard some interesting theories - some people blame the Industrial Revolution for breaking up traditional culture, other people point to agricultural prosperity for the lack of innovation because people who have plenty of food don't bother to think up interesting ways of cooking it like for example French peasants had to.

Hey, if British food is bad, traditional Australian food is ten times worse! You know what I call the Aussie meat pie? A Rat's Coffin.

I also wonder why the standards seem to be so much lower than on the Continent?

When you walk into Tesco's and grab a bar of Cadbury's, it's bloody horrible muck! If you walk into a Spar or Billa in Germany or Austria and grab one of the average brands, the quality is so much better.

Same with bread. White supermarket bread... yuck.

The standards are also fairly low in Oz, btw. For instance, our wine is affordable but the problem is that it contains too many additives unlike say French wine. The average Australian food consumer, like the average British consumer, has really low standards.

How did this happen?

Yeah, fish and chips rock! did you know that it is invented in brickland (e.london) by a Jewish person as food for market traders.

My perfect fry up breakfast would be Bubble N squeak, tomatoes, mushrooms, 2 eggs, black pudding and baked beans. Best enjoyed with a serious hungover

One of the main reason why British food tastes so different from european food -- is something with do with the fact that the Brits wanted to be different as it trys to lose it's ties with europe during the period of british imperialism -- it was a country that wanted an identity for itself. The fact that we were at war with french and the spanish for ages must have something to do with it.

British industrialised food is the product of the world war 2 -- the was need a method to feed the masses. meats were mixed in with fillers -- example, a typical industrialised sausage consist only of 50% meat and the rest is crap mixed in to bulk it up. Recently, in the past 7-8 years the quality of british food has improved so much with use traditional recipes and good ingredients.

My favourite TV chef is Rick Stein (who cooks a lot of French recipes). LOL no kidding

I also quite like Jamie Oliver -- ever since he started saying 'fuck' and 'cunt' and 'bollocks' on TV. LOL The Australian edition of Jamie's Kitchen is currently airing on TV.

And I think Gordon Ramsay is brilliant.

^ What, no fried slice?

Actually, I was quite amazed by the sheer variety of stuff that you can find in English supermarkets. I love checking out the shelves whenever I'm in a new country. It's fascinating.

Our fish and chips is made with local fish, so it's a bit different, I'm afraid. But I just LOVE beer batter. Made with real ale..... mmmm! But I prefer it with tartare sauce and lemon - not ketchup or brown vinegar.

I think that he rocks too -- i love seafood

I hate this freak!

Gordon is the best!

Nope, not for really -- too oily

I have to admit we have fantastic supermarkets here better than the european one as there are much more choice.

yeah, yeah, i agree with you man!

I've thought about it a fair bit and I think the reasons are many and complex. For instance, the French and the Germans also had shortages during and after
WWII so how come their food cultures survived without having their standards drastically lowered?

I think perhaps part of the reason is that Britain was the first nation in Europe to industrialise and on a wider scale than other countries and also for a longer time whereas the agricultural sectors in other parts of Europe were more robust and significant (whereas England destroyed much of its farming sector in favour of mills and factories and imported food from Canada, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina).

I also suspect that other factors are the Class System and also the climate. The average British working-class or lower middle-class person has been fed rubbish for generations and they have got used to it. I'd be surprised to meet a French person who had never tasted a prawn or an oyster but it doesn't surprise me at all to meet English people who have never eaten them. I see it all the time.

I used to think that Jamie Oliver was a complete wanker but then I started to like him after watching him completely lose his cool a few times on his reality show Jamie's Kitchen. When he let it all hang out.

I still want to beat him across the head whenever I hear him say 'luverly jubbely' but I think he's cut that out now.

^^ I think that you are right there.