British food just isn't appealing to many. Fish and chips, mushy peas, pigeon, brill, etc. Even highly rated and review restaurants in London like Pollen Street Social, which I'm sure have amazing food, the menu just doesn't sound so appealing to me.

Conversely, there are some fabulous restaurants that are French, Thai, Indian, "European", etc. that are out of this work in the UK.

I've heard people say the same thing about the food in Australia and I think one way to compare the cuisine is what one might constitute an average meal, prepared in an average household, given whatever goods can be sourced locally for it. Given that criteria, I would take a typical, lightly spiced British meal any day of the week over what is eaten here in Germany. Of course, my ancestry is English, so maybe I'm predisposed to like mushy peas, plain boiled chicken, etc

The cuisine is simply not as intricate, inventive, or interesting.

Obviously one can get good there - I lived there for a period, still visit frequently for work, and have collected my shares of Michelin stars - but thats playing in the niche, upmarket, near-globalized arena.

The basic, fundamental, essense of British food... has no intrigue. Not to completely disparage it as lowest of the low... because the tier in which it occupies has a LOT of company.

In the world there are the global - Italian (all its regions and variations), classic French, new Spanish, ALL of the Asian (Singapore-KL mix, Cantonese, Szechuan, Thai, Viet, Japanese, Korean, Indonesian, South/North Indian, etc etc etc)

Various interesting grilling/bbq and seafood heritage from the Americas...

Then unfortunately I'd personally just lump the UK and scandinavians with a huge part of continental europe into the category of "food i wouldnt regret having not eaten before"

Another way of saying that is, I'd never catch myself anywhere in the world thinking "i'd really like to have a mince pie or bangers&mash right now"......

(side admission: i am partial to the yorkshire pudding & sunday roast)

Every now and then, I do get a mad jones to be back in Britain, eating some excellent pub grub. It doesn't happen often, but it does occasionally happen.

Usually happens when I'm at a faux-British pub in the U.S. We have a few restauranteurs who have painstakingly replicated the Irish pub experience in the U.S. (importing entire actual pubs, piece by piece, and bringing in Irish people to work in them), but we tend to butcher the English or Welsh pub and never get the food or ambiance quite right.

You can have fantastic food in LA for cheap. Of course if you had someone else footing the pricey bill you'll get good food, but you're still going to get great food on the lower end.

London though... let's just say I haven't experienced as much culinary satisfaction as pretty much any other destination I've been too.

I find myself craving British foods a lot- flapjacks, Kit Kat peanut butter and Cadbury chocolates (such as Flake)- but I only ever want to eat the main courses when nowhere near the UK.

Doesn't every big city have a "cheap eats" guide? The best casual restaurants, cafes, food trucks, etc. in town? Seems like you should be able to eat pretty well in both LA and London without going to gourmet restaurants.

If we were talking about small town vs. small town, it might be a different story.

but budget for budget, tier for tier, and pound for pound (slight pun) the eating is better in LA than it is in London. you'll be hard-pressed to find many people who'll disagree with that

I think what most people eat at home day to day is usually fairly bland. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but not everyone has the time to be baking their own bread and making their own pasta. Even my Italian relatives, who can cook up one hell of a feast, will generally just eat pasta (dry, store bought) with a simple tomato sauce and some cheese at lunch and maybe every now and then a bit of meat, unless they have guests or it's a special occassion.

If I had to compare eating out between Australia and the UK, I'd say Australia is way ahead. There will be more restaurants right at the top in the UK (London), but everything below Australia comes out way ahead, IMO

I was born in the UK and lived there for 40 years. I agree that in the 60s, 70s and even 80s the food was very average in the UK. I truly believe there has been a big improvement in the last 20 years. Jamie Oliver, Gordon Ramsay Nigella Lawson are all respected British Chefs. So definitely improving IMHO (of course it can be argued it started from a very low base!). I really enjoy British food when I go back home for a visit.

I would say that i'm lucky to lived through an era where I can comfortably say that British Food is mediocre, but Food In Britain is approaching outstanding levels.

Quite simply British 'Cuisine' is rooted in our history of rationing, limited ingredients and weather (and the necessary diet that came from that).

To coin a phrase 'you can't polish a turd' (although you can) - but our historical cuisine is what it is. And the less said about the 70's and 80's the better.

But a new era started in the 90's, and rapidly matured thanks to our relationship with Europe, mass travel leading to more educated young populace regarding food & farming, bigger focus on quality produce, and a quite wonderful community of nations. We're taking the best bits of all your own cuisines, adding our own twist and flair and making it our own!

I'm very well travelled throughout the world, particularly with regards to the U.S and Asia, and i'm proud of the food, quality and value I can now get on my own doorstep.

As someone said - why would you go to a pub for Fish & Chips?! I do feel a bit embarrassed that when I have friends from the US over they want to go to some old historic pub in London that charges over the odds for poorly maintained ale and rubbish food on account of the target audience. There is so much more out there :) (mind you i've only ever eaten terrible food in Venice as I didn't prepare properly!!).

I think points 1-6 cover it ably...

http://www.buzzfeed.com/lukelewis/36...to-love-london

Of course, i'm not saying we're world gastronomic leaders, but we're evolving and improving all the time, and there is some damn fine food there!

I'd dispute that even traditional British food is actually bad, it's just simple.

Sunday top rump beef roast? Love it!
Shepards Pie? Almost as good.
Full English Breakfast with organic, free range ingredients? Bliss!

100% ^^^

I guess I was coming at it from the other end: the original suggestion was that you need an expense account to eat well in either LA or Britain. I'm merely suggesting that both cities do have some good cheap eats. (Admittedly, my "Britain" focus is London...I'll let someone else stick up for the cuisine in the rest of the country! ;))

I wasn't trying to claim that London had better food than LA.

Northern European food in general tends to be like that, not just Britain.

Herring pickled and smoked in various forms, fish simply cooked and with minimalist sides, pickled veggies, lots of game...It's a cultural phenomenon and has endured centuries. :)

I personally have some recurring nightmares about the daily beans on toast at my London student hall...Actually no, somehow learned to love that stuff as well, although it was a bit numbing to get served that combo for breakfast every weekday morning.

Student food wasn't particularly good at least in London but some of the pubs more than made up for it. Was also a good chance to familiarize myself with pub dishes such as steak&kidney pie that are among favourites these days.

And I really loved that elder gent in London whom I saw devour his fish & chips, mushy peas, buttered toast and tea with such a delightful expression. Less can indeed be more. :)