Land of culinary disappointments.

I love this country, but England is not on the top of my list for good food. When we travel, an Italian place is usually a safe culinary choice. Pizza and pasta are delicious. "Traditional English food" is not something I would be naturally attracted to. And this is because I have experienced so many culinary disappointments here! More so than in any other place where I spent an extended period of time. Here they are, in no particular order.

Tea

British people drink 165 million cups of tea each day. Before moving to the UK, I thought it was a land of delicious tea. I couldn't be more wrong. Most tea drunk at homes around the country is nothing more than a bag of powdered leaves with no taste whatsoever. It's only when I started buying more upscale tea that I could truly enjoy a cuppa. 

Fish and chips

This was another great disappointment, regardless where I eat, be it a chippy a pub or a restaurant, there is always too much batter on the fish and the chips are no good. I'm not sure why people religiously visit fish and chips shops on Friday nights rather than opt for something more tasty and more nutritious.

Bread

Most of bread in Poland is delicious and there is so much variety that is readily available in every bakery. Here, sliced toast bread is everywhere and I hate it. It has no taste, it doesn't hold any shape and there is no nutritional value in this bread. Thankfully, many places now sell sourdough and different types of bread which are actually nice. Even packed Polish bread sold in some supermarkets is better, with plenty of seeds and dense texture. And you can learn to make bread. I made a few attempts at making buttermilk soda bread. Delicious!

Sausages

I don't eat meat anymore, but when I did. sausages were a big disappointment. I couldn't really taste any meat at all in them. Just a blended mass of something gray. Even sausages from the butcher's are not amazing most of the time. I was generally not that keen on processed meats of any kind here.

Bread and butter pudding
This last one is a disappointment, because it such a hit and miss.I had some really tasty bread and butter puddings and some extremely stodgy and excessively sweet blocks of stale bread. Not impressive. Maybe I should try making it myself.

I feel like I need to follow this post up next week with all the delicious food that I only discovered when I moved to England. And there are many dishes that I enjoy. So stay tuned for next week.