It is axiomatic that British food sucks (or perhaps did suck). Of course a lot of this is exaggeration, but we can expect there to be a kernel of truth to this idea.
A couple of ideas;
British food was never all that bad. We re discussing an old wives’ tale.
British farming produced inferior ingredients due to the early consolidation of farm land under large landlords.
Wartime rationing.
Imported, exotic ingredients were expensive.
British culture simply did not emphasize food as much as other cultures did.
British cuisine suffered during and after the war. Rationing didn’t help, and neither did widespread poverty. These days, it’s pretty much recovered; plus, in the modern age, a Western nation’s cuisine is going to have a large amount of ethnic foods of varous types (Indian, Chinese, Thai and what-have-you).
What’s strange is, although everybody seems to know it, I can’t think of anything in particular. It might be helpful for people to give examples of sucky British food. We can work backward to the root causes, then.
Agreed, though, that the UK is home to very good food today. I’d bet rationing had a lot to do with it.
I think there is some truth in points 1, 3, and 5. Also, I think it was in part due to an insular attitude, a feeling dating back to the days of Empire that we were better than Johnny Foreigner with his weird food. What changed those attitudes were the advent of ethnic restaurants due to large scale immigration, and rising living standards leading to more travel, through which we discovered that that foreign muck was actually quite tasty.
Bad British food? Let me see, off the top of my head.
Haggis (probably just something used to scare children, the bogey man and Michael Jackson).
Shepherds’ Pie at its best, it is pretty bad.
Baked beans as a breakfast food.
British fatty bacon (an aquired taste).
Eels.
Another Brit once said (I think on this very message board), “We would rather taste the meat itself, rather than some fancy sauce, which might be used to disguise an inferior grade of meat.”
Other posters stated that the food people cooked at home was often much better than the food served in restaurants. So the tourists never got to taste the good stuff.
Bland meat, bland potatoes, bland peas. That’s what I remember eating there back in the punk rock era. Oh, and a “pizza” made with cheddar cheese that was truly awful. (They did have the fish and chips thing going, though. That was good.)
Mmm, bangers and mash, baked beans on toast points, fish and chips. Just thinking about it is making me hungry. Of course, I’m known for my bland food fetish.
There’s a bit in an old Asterix Comic when Asterix and Obelix have to join the Roman army and are getting their first meal:
Obelix: Do you think they’ll serve wild boar? (His favorite food) Asterix: I doubt it. The stronger the empire, the worse the food. It’s what keeps the men in a fighting mood. He tastes the slop. I didn’t think the Roman Empire was That strong!
Climate. This links in with your number 4. We don’t really have the weather to support widespread cultivation of many of the ingredients we take for granted today - tomatoes, olive oil, peaches … You only have to look at the way Elizabeth David talks about these ingredients in her books to see how novel they were. Naturally we produce pretty stodgy fare.
The importance of Number 3 can not be underestimated - and "wartime’ is a misnomer, bread wasn’t rationed until after the war and rationing itself continued until 1954. That’s right 1954. You can’t go producing wonderfully rich sauces and pastries/desserts when you’ve only got a few ounces of butter per person per week. Also during the war imports from our colonies were reduced further limiting what was available. As a result of rationing - which lasted 14 years - there was almost a generation of housewives who grew up having had to “make do and mend” - a lot of cooking know-how was lost during that time.
Regional specialities such a hazlet and star gazy pie, under threat since the industrial revolution often failed to regain their pre-war popularity as the end of rationing coincided the trend for more processed / easy to prepare food.
It just so happens that the early years of rationing coincided with a lot of Americans, French, Polish, Italians etc. (either serving in the forces or as prisoners of war) being in the UK and eating our perforce lackluster food and thus a legend was born. (We’ve had a lot of catching up to do but I’ll tell you one thing you can get a far wider variety of good food in any British city than you can in Paris - we are far more willing to accept “ethnic food” or fusion close to how it should be rather than our continental brethren.)
I think this is where the “British food is bad” meme came from. Rationing lasted until 1954 (edit: not 1957) and effected the British attitude to food for long afterward (it still effects how my mum and dad think about food).
For post-war US visitors, coming from a country with a booming economy and food industry, British food was a bit of a shock, I don’t think our culinary reputation has recovered from that period. Obviously, I am biased, but I think British food is now better than US food on the whole.
The word is affects. Affects, effects, different words, different meanings.
Re, the OP. I remember a business meal with people from different countries and people were saying “bon appetit” or its equivalent in theor own language and the French guy observed that there was no equivalent expression in English and the English guy said “Yes there is; it’s 'Gawd ‘elp us’”.