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What kind of food do British people eat, which is considered as acquired taste?
There is a saying circulating on the Internet that "there are two thinnest books in the world, one is a British cookbook and the other is an American history." English food is usually regarded as synonymous with bad food. The food is not well cooked, the chips are cut too big, and the fish is fried with flour. So that in the eyes of many westerners, English food is not delicious. So why is English food often considered as unpalatable food? How much do you know about the reasons?

There are actually many historical reasons. It can be said that the early English food was not bad. Britain belongs to an island country. Historically, the British Empire claimed that Britain had been in the leading position in the world before World War II. And Britain has not been occupied by foreign countries for almost a thousand years. There are abundant agricultural resources, including seafood. Traditionally, when they eat beef, it is a thick piece of beef, which is better than the French.

However, during the Second World War, British food was severely hit by strict rationing standards, and all good cooking was cut, diluted or replaced. During the German Blitzkrieg, many grain storage warehouses in Britain were seriously attacked by air, and only Portsmouth in London burned thousands of tons of much-needed grain.

In this way, the British people's food resources are greatly reduced, such as breakfast, from the original eggs, bacon, pizza, sausages and toast to unsweetened porridge. In the later period, the sausages that people can eat are grains such as soybeans, and there are few foods such as beef and pork.

Like the bread that was completely normal before, because of the ration standard, the distribution of butter, sugar and other resources was reduced, and extra salt was added to the bread to preserve it, so it could be preserved for a longer time, so the bread was salty.

The Second World War dealt a heavy blow to Britain. There is no white flour, only whole grains, and even cakes are not allowed. Sugar, butter, lard, chocolate, candied fruit and shortening are all limited. British people collect lard and gravy for the war, while ordinary British people can only drink a few ounces of tea a week, and children can only drink half.

In addition, a large number of green vegetables originally produced in the Channel Islands were blocked by the Germans and were no longer provided. The British are forced to encourage more boiled vegetables, and the previous cooking methods are out of date. Like meat, because it is rationed, it means that the previous barbecue is much less than the family used to before the war, and the new generation can hardly barbecue. Even many children born after 194 1 have never eaten ice cream, bananas or oranges in their whole lives.

Originally, Britain was rich in marine resources, but the British fishing boats were exhausted by the war, and the restrictions of German submarines and planes made the British afraid to go fishing. Although fish is not rationed, it is often not eaten at all. Sometimes the British even use whale meat instead of red meat and fish. But the problem is that the British can't cook whale meat at all, so there is a popular song in Britain, "Whale meat is coming again, I don't know how to eat it, I don't know when it came." This was the British complaint about the strange fishy smell of whale meat at that time.

At that time, some British people could raise chickens or grow vegetables in their own yards, but they had to exchange chickens for chicken feed, so they set up clubs. Several families kept a pig or several chickens, but for some farmed products, they had to hand in half and give the other half to other members of the club. By the end of World War II, the meat ration standard had been extended to 1954.

In fact, there are great historical reasons. World War II brought down the British Empire and destroyed their traditional cooking.