Does the UK truly still have a reputation for bad food despite London's having become a global food mecca and all the hard work by Gordon Ramsay, the Sorted Food crew, Jamie Oliver (yes, Uncle Roger—him, too), and so many others? I find that hard to believe.
Monday, October 20, 2025
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I get asked about British food quite a lot on various broadcasts and I always say British food is pretty good but there are a lot of crap restaurants out there. The standard of the average Korean high street restaurant is much higher than the that of the British equivalent restaurant, and I would have few qualms about walking into a random Korean restaurant, whereas there are plenty of places in the UK I wouldn't go closer than 100 yards.
ReplyDeleteCan't argue with that, largely because I've spent only three days in London during my junior year in college, which hardly qualifies me to talk about British food. I do remember thinking the food felt very familiar to my American senses, but none of it was bad.
DeleteAs a college student in the 80s, I knew British food had a bad (or at least stereotyped) reputation, and I was aware, thanks to my French family, of the French attitude toward British (and, frankly, American) cuisine. My impression, though, is that the UK has, with the global explosion of bad-boy cooks like Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay (White's protégé), and so many others (and thanks to the help of globalizing media like YouTube), the UK has largely gone from being a (putative) food ghetto to an internationally recognized food mecca, especially as UK chefs and civilians (1) rediscover things like old pub classics and traditional dishes; (2) re-tweak and jazz up the old classics for modern, global tastes; and (3) go off in novel culinary directions thanks to global awareness and advances in technology (e.g., molecular gastronomy). We're long past the days when French people would scoff at a jellied ham (Il ne faut jamais mélanger le sucré et le salé, "One should never mix the sweet and savory" was an 80s-era culinary guideline I'd heard from French friends, a guideline now long gone if it ever really held any force).
Some of the best and most charming Korean food I've ever eaten has been in holes in the wall. I would never have found these places on my own; a Korean friend brought me to a few such locations. And unlike American hole-in-the-wall restos, Korean ones don't attract biker gangs and other obnoxious riffraff.