This is the correct defense of British cuisine; in that spirit, I'd add puddings were also a big deal; also hams.
You're correct about England's bad food--the catastrophe of the war, rationing, the miserable economy of the '70s. All true & opposites, to spell out what you were saying about agriculture, to the remarkable medieval or post-Black Death wealth of England, which meant people could afford to eat quite well. A lot of good meat goes a long way, without need of aristocratic (& inherently suspicious) sophistication. But I'd add a more serious problem than rationing: Contempt for the older England. For the peasants, for the housewives or grandmothers cooking, for modest people who enjoyed lots of good things. That's why English cuisine needs defending. I think this is what things like the 'Great British Baking' something or other were intending to achieve, but I dunno if they achieve it. Everything from a shallow, but natural taste for novelty to a deep, but worrisome obsession with Progress goes against holding on to what one's grandparents enjoyed.
Pudding is a step too far for me. I can rationalize them as a conveyance for custard and cream, but still, they are the only dessert that can also be used as a weapon.
I’ve read some really lovely English writing about food, though not always specifically English food. Ruth Goodman’s books about preindustrial England get into “traditional” (pre-1600) English cooking, among many other things.
Jennifer McLagan’s books (Odd Bits, Fat, and Bones) and Niki Segnit’s stuff (I especially love The Flavor Thesaurus, but Lateral Cooking is also fun) are written from a very English perspective in terms of traditional (and specific modern-but-foreign-to-me) dishes, flavor combinations, and ingredients. I could imagine you enjoying all of them.
My ex was Italian and with a chef brother from Rome. When her friends would come over to visit, I was convinced that no matter where they went to eat, it would be all "che schifo!" Not the case. They loved British pub food especially and recognised British crisps as the best in the world.
Very enjoyable article. I think the Industrial Revolution which , of course happened first in Britain, resulted in the permanent diminishment of the peasant classes and a subsequent disconnect between urban and rural populations. Terrible food went part and parcel with urbanisation especially before refrigeration and the means to preserve food at scale and/or transport fresh food rapidly and at scale. The preponderance of urban v rural population was (is?) far greater in England than it ever was in France or Italy. Urban conditions didn’t allow much space or time for the preparation of food either. This took large swathes of the population to places where eating food was exclusively a matter of staying alive.... or not, I’ve seen astonishing data showing how common serious food poisoning was.
On agon and the renaissance the best ever, in my opinion, is Jacob Burckhardt’s “The State as a Work of Art”.
Great read, the only quibble I'd have is the idea the English aristocracy is French - a little reductionist. It's more useful to think of them as a pan-european elite, with wide breadth of origin and therefore proclivity. Certainly they might have dined in French, but many philosophised in German, romanced in Italian and did so as proud Englishmen.
The fact the Norman's spoke a type of French, and that even after the court and aristocracy began to speak English, French words still made up our vocabulary of food is likely an important fact that paved the way for the menus of London to be written in French, a la Escoffier.
Another fact that I think pertinent - touched upon by Orwell in his essay on 'British Cookery' - is that no real restaurant culture exists for British food, badly colouring the impression of visitors to these shores. British people do not want to eat in a restaurant that which they can eat at home, even auch refined version - hence the prevalence of French and other world cuisines. Restaurant culture in Britain is traditionally French, because we imported it from France. This has furthered the disconnect between good, traditional British peasant cooking, and fine dining. The reversal of this trend, with the rise of the gastropub, the influence of chefs like Marco Pierre White, and the two new waves of modern british cuisine, Italianate reinvention of British ingredients, and the Fergus Henderson/St. John's nose to tail, simple English country cooking, make British cuisine one of the most exciting in the modern world, even if there is a way to go to compete with our cowardly neighbours.
(P.S. An interesting observation that whilst Britains elites failed to develop a domestic gastronomy, the French upper classes also failed in creating or codifying any major sports. I have always been fascinated with why Anglo cultures have succeeded so in this area)
The Renaissance and the Reformation actually overlapped. The great Belgian painters were called "Dark Age" artists by the Renaissance Italians, but they were contemporaries.
I'm an American and our cuisine is largely based on the good dishes immigrants brought to our shores. For British dishes -- shepherd's pie, bangers and mash, and fish & chips. Interesting that all three rely on potatoes, which aren't native to Europe, but were discovered by the European immigrants to the Americas.
Interested in what you as a Frenchman might make of this (ironic) essay: "England and the English: how best to characterise them? Well: theirs is a land of poets and dreamers; a land of fiercely independent gritty people who know how to take their drink and dance a jig. And you just can’t help but love to hear them sing. Then there’s the food of course – the marvellous food. And so sexy; with that famous dress sense, such gorgeous specimens of masculinity and femininity the English are overall. If all - or any - of the above was passed through some AI software it would grunt out “Does not compute, does not compute!” Why is this so? If the English are pricked, do they not bleed?" https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/englishness-as-a-brand
This is the correct defense of British cuisine; in that spirit, I'd add puddings were also a big deal; also hams.
You're correct about England's bad food--the catastrophe of the war, rationing, the miserable economy of the '70s. All true & opposites, to spell out what you were saying about agriculture, to the remarkable medieval or post-Black Death wealth of England, which meant people could afford to eat quite well. A lot of good meat goes a long way, without need of aristocratic (& inherently suspicious) sophistication. But I'd add a more serious problem than rationing: Contempt for the older England. For the peasants, for the housewives or grandmothers cooking, for modest people who enjoyed lots of good things. That's why English cuisine needs defending. I think this is what things like the 'Great British Baking' something or other were intending to achieve, but I dunno if they achieve it. Everything from a shallow, but natural taste for novelty to a deep, but worrisome obsession with Progress goes against holding on to what one's grandparents enjoyed.
Pudding is a step too far for me. I can rationalize them as a conveyance for custard and cream, but still, they are the only dessert that can also be used as a weapon.
British water rolls -- not a dessert, but if you wanted to bludgeon your dinner companion to death, they'd be a good blunt object.
I’ve read some really lovely English writing about food, though not always specifically English food. Ruth Goodman’s books about preindustrial England get into “traditional” (pre-1600) English cooking, among many other things.
Jennifer McLagan’s books (Odd Bits, Fat, and Bones) and Niki Segnit’s stuff (I especially love The Flavor Thesaurus, but Lateral Cooking is also fun) are written from a very English perspective in terms of traditional (and specific modern-but-foreign-to-me) dishes, flavor combinations, and ingredients. I could imagine you enjoying all of them.
Thank you for a great comment!
me: reads something interesting
immediately me: here are twelve books on similar topics
now I want yorkshire pud
My ex was Italian and with a chef brother from Rome. When her friends would come over to visit, I was convinced that no matter where they went to eat, it would be all "che schifo!" Not the case. They loved British pub food especially and recognised British crisps as the best in the world.
The Belgians might have something to say about the crisps, but otherwise I'm not surprised.
Very enjoyable article. I think the Industrial Revolution which , of course happened first in Britain, resulted in the permanent diminishment of the peasant classes and a subsequent disconnect between urban and rural populations. Terrible food went part and parcel with urbanisation especially before refrigeration and the means to preserve food at scale and/or transport fresh food rapidly and at scale. The preponderance of urban v rural population was (is?) far greater in England than it ever was in France or Italy. Urban conditions didn’t allow much space or time for the preparation of food either. This took large swathes of the population to places where eating food was exclusively a matter of staying alive.... or not, I’ve seen astonishing data showing how common serious food poisoning was.
On agon and the renaissance the best ever, in my opinion, is Jacob Burckhardt’s “The State as a Work of Art”.
Great read, the only quibble I'd have is the idea the English aristocracy is French - a little reductionist. It's more useful to think of them as a pan-european elite, with wide breadth of origin and therefore proclivity. Certainly they might have dined in French, but many philosophised in German, romanced in Italian and did so as proud Englishmen.
The fact the Norman's spoke a type of French, and that even after the court and aristocracy began to speak English, French words still made up our vocabulary of food is likely an important fact that paved the way for the menus of London to be written in French, a la Escoffier.
Another fact that I think pertinent - touched upon by Orwell in his essay on 'British Cookery' - is that no real restaurant culture exists for British food, badly colouring the impression of visitors to these shores. British people do not want to eat in a restaurant that which they can eat at home, even auch refined version - hence the prevalence of French and other world cuisines. Restaurant culture in Britain is traditionally French, because we imported it from France. This has furthered the disconnect between good, traditional British peasant cooking, and fine dining. The reversal of this trend, with the rise of the gastropub, the influence of chefs like Marco Pierre White, and the two new waves of modern british cuisine, Italianate reinvention of British ingredients, and the Fergus Henderson/St. John's nose to tail, simple English country cooking, make British cuisine one of the most exciting in the modern world, even if there is a way to go to compete with our cowardly neighbours.
(P.S. An interesting observation that whilst Britains elites failed to develop a domestic gastronomy, the French upper classes also failed in creating or codifying any major sports. I have always been fascinated with why Anglo cultures have succeeded so in this area)
The Renaissance and the Reformation actually overlapped. The great Belgian painters were called "Dark Age" artists by the Renaissance Italians, but they were contemporaries.
I'm an American and our cuisine is largely based on the good dishes immigrants brought to our shores. For British dishes -- shepherd's pie, bangers and mash, and fish & chips. Interesting that all three rely on potatoes, which aren't native to Europe, but were discovered by the European immigrants to the Americas.
Interested in what you as a Frenchman might make of this (ironic) essay: "England and the English: how best to characterise them? Well: theirs is a land of poets and dreamers; a land of fiercely independent gritty people who know how to take their drink and dance a jig. And you just can’t help but love to hear them sing. Then there’s the food of course – the marvellous food. And so sexy; with that famous dress sense, such gorgeous specimens of masculinity and femininity the English are overall. If all - or any - of the above was passed through some AI software it would grunt out “Does not compute, does not compute!” Why is this so? If the English are pricked, do they not bleed?" https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/englishness-as-a-brand
i'm glad i followed you on x. very fun read.
Awesome! Thank you!
Excellent post, thank you.
Fantastic article