Damien Kanner-Bitetti ’25 is an English Major and American Studies minor from Arlington, Va. In addition to the Flat Hat, he is a member of Club B Soccer, and a DJ for WCWM. Rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated (he is studying abroad this semester.) Email him at dskannerbitett@wm.edu.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own.
When you think of British food, what comes to mind? For many American students at the College of William and Mary, that cuisine has a distinctly negative connotation, evoking mental images of yellow-brown sludge, overcooked meat and flavorless potatoes. Pictures of underwhelming British food get meme’d into oblivion on social media, and British cuisine is viewed with extreme skepticism by tourists. These popularly held beliefs are based on the perception that British cuisine is uniquely bad. In my experience studying abroad in England, however, I’ve found that this reputation, while not entirely unfounded, is undeserved: British food has a lot to offer in terms of variety as well as quantity.
First off, let’s address “traditional” British cooking (a label that is problematic and hard to pin down but one that I’m running with anyway). This is the type of food that is most likely to be perceived as inedible, that gets the most hate online and that is often seen as lacking versatility and variety. My experience, however, has been the opposite: College students who plan to study abroad in the United Kingdom should seek to try as many of these foods as possible. Traditional fare such as fish and chips, meat pies and the full English breakfast all offer a range of customizable options, flavors, fillings and sauces. Even basic mainstays, such as Cornish pasties and sausage rolls bring much more to the table than bread, meat and cheese. Furthermore, British food is far from uniform: every U.K. town, county and country I’ve visited has had its own specialty and fiercely defended it. From Welsh Glamorgan sausages (made from cheese), to Scottish black pudding, to fresh Cornish seafood soup, there are as many regional delicacies for students studying abroad to try as there are hills in the U.K..
Another frequent criticism of British food culture is that traditional dishes are often the only option and that international cuisines are either unavailable outside of London or of lesser quality in the U.K.. While this may have been true at one time, in my experience, this is a firmly dated assumption. Exeter, the medium-size city I’m studying in, has dozens of establishments serving food from around the world. From Thai noodles to Ghanaian rice to Jamaican jerk chicken, these restaurants serve food that is on par with, if not better than, their American counterparts. The country also offers plenty of British-origin fusion dishes, including chicken tikka masala, Chinese salt-and-pepper chips and Bangladeshi phall. Gone are the days when international cuisine in Britain meant a “Chinese takeaway” or other similarly fast-food options. Now, there are plenty of high-quality eateries that use fresh ingredients and plenty of flavor.
Though this piece is intended to defend British food, I am an honest man and will admit that there are a few caveats. First of all, yes, the Brits generally use less spice than most other countries. While you can easily mitigate this practice by knowing which restaurants and brands have spicier food than others, I will be the first to admit that British cuisine comes up short here. The so-called spicy options often leave a lot to be desired, and my bottle of Nando’s PERi-PERi sauce has at times been my closest friend. Additionally, you may have noticed that many of the traditional British foods I mentioned contain meat, and you would be correct to assume that vegetarian and vegan options can sometimes be hard to come by. There are several excellent vegetarian restaurants near my university (I would recommend Herbie’s), but these are unfortunately few and far between, not to mention unaffordable on a student budget. Ultimately, however, I would argue that neither the lack of spice nor the inadequacy of vegetarian options is a uniquely British problem, and that Americans’ ridicule of British food can be seen as a way of avoiding the shortcomings of our own cuisine.
In conclusion, I am not saying that British cuisine is the best in the world or that it’s my favorite; I am just saying that it has been unfairly maligned. British food is more than a stereotype: it has regional diversity and historic origins, and it enjoys more variety, flavor and quality than it gets credit for. It may not be the best in the world, but it’s no longer noticeably worse than in most places, especially when compared to some common American recipes. From quick and easy takeaways, to unique fusion dishes or to traditional cooking, British food has a lot more to offer than its reputation might lead you to believe. Don’t believe me? Visit the College’s Reves Center for International Studies, and go find out for yourself.