lystn

British food has a bad reputation. It's often considered boring, uninspiring, and tasteless.

But it hasn't always been this way.

Discover what role William the Conqueror, Henry VIII, The French Revolution and Colonialism all played in making British food taste the way it does.

• The current reputation of British food
• The arrival of the Normans in 1066
• Henry VIII and the Reformation
• Making fish taste better in Medieval England
• Stopping eating dangerous "Catholic" dishes
• The Industrial Revolution's effect on food
• Preserving food in cans
• Not having enough time to cook properly
• "We may find in the long run that tinned food is a deadlier weapon than the machine gun."
• The arrival of French chefs in British aristocratic homes
• The British Empire
• The history of curry
• “Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management”
• When (and why) British food lost its taste
• The Second World War & austerity
• Modern British food (& TV cooks)
• British food in 2021
• The biggest takeaway market in Europe