Not many people who know about food are going to agree with you on this. Most of the big trends in the last 15-20 years have come out of the United States. Most of it is due to having a lot more chefs rather than some inherent goodness of American food.
Of course, defining a “national cuisine” since WWII in any western nation is almost impossible.
Just as a question, what do you think is “US food”?
I believe that this thread may explain why British food dishes tend to suck. 
That’s funny, given that one of the things for which Brit cooking is famous in Spain is heavy sauces… although not as bad as the Germans shiver Then again, my Swedish friends who honeymooned in Portugal were aghast at the Iberian custom of trying to put tomato sauce on pretty much anything 
Not trying to hijack, but why did food rationing go on so long? Why did bread rationing not even start until after the war ended?
Don’t judge them on how they sound. Try them. (They sound just fine to me, anyway.)
I *love *haggis, shepherd’s pie, eels, fatty bacon and virtually every other British foodstuff mentioned here. I feel sorry for the rest of you fussy eaters.
I have a theory that the real reason for the British empire was British food. They didn’t want to take over the world; they just wanted to eat better.
It was never as bad as it is made out to be. Anyone that travels around Europe can find a multitude of places where the food is as “bad”, if not worse. Currently I live in Sweden and the food here is appalling, yet it is taken as fact that British food is awful despite Sweden’s sole addition to international cuisine was the blandest of bland types of meatball.
Personally I put it all down to the British sense of humour and American films/TV/comedians. They joked about our food and we (the Brits) stupidly laughed along with it as, almost uniquely in the world, we have an ability to laugh along with others at ourselves. Thus non-Brits started to think, “oh if they think their food is bad it really must be”. And thus the lie was born.
See also: Brits having bad teeth.
Not about meat specifically but I think the Brits tend to bury everything in a ton of butter and sauce so you can’t really taste it. I once remembering ordering sole and it was buried in so much sauce that I never knew if it was sole or anything else down there.
This is true in every country. I remember growing up hearing American food was awful, probably because people who visited saw the fastburgers as prime American “cuisine”.
I think you can find good food anywhere in the world provided you are willing to pay for it.
And what is good or bad is very subjective. Americans like Mexican food which I find unedible.
This famous Spanish chef says he actually likes English food.
I have no idea what “molecular gastronomy,” might be but it sounds like something which might get you invaded by one G.W. Bush.
On the other hand it might be related to the tiny size of servings at some expensive restaurants.
Well, in the context of false stereotypes, I’d say McDonalds represents American food.
But, like Brits will say to people yabbering on about jellied eals and baked beans and boiled vegetables, Yanks will equally validly say “that’s not what US food is”. But the stereotypes will continue.
And Americans will continue to say “I visited the UK once and I ate an X and it was disgusting”, to which the equivalent reply is “I visited the US once and I ate a Big Mac”. Neither is even vaguely a valid sample.
Molecular Gastronomy is the use of chemistry to make new and novel food items. Those little mints with liquid inside them? Came from MG - the whole mint is actually liquid. It’s dropped into another liquid and chemicals in the two solutions react to form a skin. Dippin’ Dots also come from MG, by using liquid nitrogen to freeze drops of ice cream. Sous Vide might be considered MG as well.
There’s been this movement to claim the whole trend started in France, even to the Frenchification of some of the terms used, but MG really started between NYC and London, and got picked up quite heavily by Adria in Spain. With the amount of travel at the high end between Western Europe, Japan, China, and the U.S., cuisine has become even less nationalized, and more of a greatest hits.
About the “tiny servings” thing, by the way: Most of the time, at the expensive places, the portions are a little bit larger than fist sized, with the entrees being a bit larger than that. These seem small, but most places serve 3-6 courses, 5 being the standard. So you actually get quite a bit of food, though not a gut-bustingly large meal. The other thing is that even though they use stuff like roe or other weird things you might see on Iron Chef, the dishes are generally quite tasty to everyone – claiming “acquired taste” in the restaurant biz is kind of a faux pas.
True. But I had a ploughman’s and Yorkshire pudding the other day for lunch. If you’re just comparing “native” dishes, that’s going to be a tough comparison – do we count Native American and Hawaiian dishes only, or do we get to add pizza? What about Chop Suey? BBQ? Cajun?
Those comparisons are largely worthless; but if we look at where the trends in high end have generally been originating, it’s California and New York City, then London, then Paris, then the rest. I don’t think you can even say that any western country has better food than any of the others.
Worth differentiating between eating out in Britain, and British cuisine. Eating out in Britain is good, excellent if you consider range of cuisine. Any large UK city will have an enviable range of quality restaurants across world cuisine - it costs more to eat nice food here than maybe some other countries, but the standard is pretty high. When I lived in the US it was just the same, with the only difference being Indian food - it was hard to find a good Indian restaurant in Philadelphia, whereas here they are a mainstay of even the smallest town high street. I’m sure there are corresponding national cuisines here that haven’t got as much as a foothold as they do elsewhere in the West.
British cuisine, though, wouldn’t be something I’d particularly look to champion. Our whisky, beer and cheese is world class, but our general style of cooking / signature dishes are nothing special IMO. An English restaurant would be a tough sell abroad, and I don’t think I’ve ever really seen one outside of ex-pat little-piece-of-England outfits. A Scottish restaurant might have some currency. The Scots are ridiculed for having seriously unhealthy diets, but a high end Scottish restaurant is impressive. A lot of game and fish on the menu, plus a lot of heritage in their cooking that goes back centuries.
Haggis is incredibly tasty. Absolutely fantastic. Don’t knock it 'til you’ve tried it.
…are very heaven, right?
Eh? American bacon is almost exclusively streaky, while in Britain it’s roughly half and half streaky and back, a far leaner cut. The other main difference is that we tend not to hot-smoke ours, but this doesn’t affect the fattiness.
Not widely consumed (more culturally notorious than common), and also, done right, very nice.
Another classic. I make sausage with cheese and mustard mash and onion gravy that would make you weep tears of joy.
What are you trying to do here, list things that are ace? 
I should point out that ‘les rosbif’ goes back to the 18th century, so being identified as ‘you guys who eat roast beef and look like it’ has been around for a lot longer than prewar.
This thread has me Jonesing for some beans on toast.
I don’t understand the problem with baked beans. They are just simple breakfast/snack fare. You don’t generally consume them as part of a main meal, unless you are under the age of twelve.
I don’t actually know the answer to that - in fact I never questioned the bread thing - just accepted it, Dad usually brought it up when I didn’t want to eat something as a kid - and Google doesn’t immediately help, sorry. Maybe someone else can help ?
To be honest I haven’t been to Brussels or Lisbon for more than a couple of days so I can’t say for sure but I certainly don’t recall stumbling over ethnic restaurants as I would at home - I’d be surprised if it was very different there from the cities I do know - Barcelona, Warsaw, Munich, Milan. Not sure of your location, but you’re talking about capital cities my point was I can get a better Indian in a small place in the UK (or Ireland actually) than I can in many a European capital (Authentic Chinese food can be found in Paris I admit - however only in China town and it’s rarely on the French language version of the menus…).
As Busy Scissors says you can get excellent food eating out in the UK - but often as not the onus is on good quality British ingredients altho’ the dishes have a range of origins. Take a look at the sample menu of this pub (scroll down)
Their sample menu includes “Hot Chilli Con Carne a homemade mexican favourite” and my seventy something mother had a lovey lamb korma when we went there while I went for the giant Yorkshire pudding 
- this, to all intents and purposes is a country pub serving locals.
I’m reminded of an SNL skit from years ago when Sting was the musical guest and possibly host as well. He was in a sketch that was a commercial for a British brand of toothpaste made out of sugar.
The “English food is bad” myth is just that, a myth. It’s pure bullshit, nothing but horseshit. English food is great. It’s real “comfort food,” lots of roasted meats, breads, savory and sweet puddings, potatoes and other root vegetables, and ale. A friend of mine once cooked a giant English dinner for me and five other friends - he made leg of lamb with caper sauce and veal stuffing, mashed turnips and potatoes, and “spotted dick” pudding. It was all sensational - possibly the best meal I’ve ever eaten.
The people who say English food is bad are just repeating a stupid, tired myth. Forget “molecular gastronomy” and “fusion” and other noveau-cuisine silliness - traditional English food is where it’s at. I’d rather have that kind of food after a night out drinking than anything else.
It should, of course, be eaten in moderation because much of it is very fatty and unhealthy. But this is true of many other things also.
Shepherd’s Pie?* Shepherd’s Pie*? You’re using Shepherd’s Pie as an example of bad food? Last time I made it, it was absolutely incredible. That’s incredible, not inedible 
It is the dirty little secret of British food. There are next to no British restaurants in foreign countries, but most major foreign cities have places that sell British food. It is just sold in pubs instead of restaurants and British-style pubs are all over the sodding place, selling bizarre variations on fish and chips and pies.
Could this be why the notion of the gastro-pub has taken off so massively in the UK, as the pub as a place to eat was already a cultural norm?