The British and their Food Complex

I think the British have an inferiority complex about British food. Cooking is a sensation here. There are dozens of hardback British celebrity chef cookbooks on sale in the front of all the bookstores. They all prominently hint at the glory of British cuisine.

And there's this TV show - "Great British Menu." In the show chefs from around Britain compete by cooking the best British menu they can. They get judged by food critics until a winner is selected. The master menu of British food goes down to the French Embassy where they have a cook-off with the French. The opening slogan of the show? "We'll prove we can cook just as well as them!" Note, not better - "Just as good."

Throughout the show the chefs always bicker about whether the opponent's meal is truly "British" to which the retort is always that "my mom used to cook it for me." The chefs all talk about how their dish is classic British updated for the modern age - as if they admit that the old way of cooking was inferior, but at it's core it's really good and deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the world's cuisine. A good portion of the show is devoted to following the Chefs to distant farms where the care and devotion shown to British produce is showcased.

It's a lie. Give me traditional Indian, Thai, Irish, French, or Mexican food. Sorry guys. Anyway, the best British food institutions - Tea, Brown Sauce and Chicken Tikka Masala - are imports. Again, apologies.