Moaning about the lack of British Food when abroad

Have to say I’ve travelled all over the world and love to embrace the culture and experience different local foods that’s all part of the fun ( and I ve had some really weird stuff ) but one thing I always do is take tea bags with me lol 😂

I always bring my Weetabix and teabags!

I had a cuppa on Southend seafront on Wednesday, took it back and got a refund, it was vile! If I’m going somewhere for a fortnight I still want to enjoy my normal breakfast and cuppa.

I worked as a holiday rep in the late 90s and right through the noughties and into the 2010s and I would say 50% of the complaints related to the food, generally without real cause. But people complained about anything and everything, I swear some people only go on holiday with the intention of complaining so that they can get compensation to pay towards there next holiday.

I remember one particular hotel guest who actually brought a notebook and pencil on holiday with him, in which he wrote down all the complaints from that day which he brought to me everyday for the duration of his 2 week holiday. You couldn't make it up!!

This reminds me of the Catherine Tate sketches about the couple who hate foreign food. 🤣🤣

"Nowt as queer as folk", as the saying goes. We have just been to Switzerland and thoroughly enjoyed the Swiss cuisine. However, the ex in-laws always looked for the British cafés as they wouldn't eat "that foreign muck". I never did find out why they bothered to go abroad.

Probably over many years with so many British holidaymakers and residents lots of places now have cafes, restaurants, and bars selling food to accommodate the British taste. Some of those places are run by exPats. Very narrow minded holidaymaker.

On Ramblers holidays, in various parts of Europe, I had some of the finest breakfasts ever - and one of the worst. the best was in a big hotel in Seville - a buffet with all kinds of fruit and several varieties of bread with big bowls of jam. The worst was in the Spanish town of Caceres, well off the tourist track, and I'm pretty sure we were the only foreigners present at their St Georges Day fiesta. The breakfast was a kind of almost inedible biscuit with barely drinkable tea and/or coffee. Years later, in Granada, my sister and I breakfasted in a workmen's café, on hot chocolate and churros! Our choice. Austrian breakfasts were filling (well,we were 'rambling') but no sign of 'English' food.
To digress from the subject of 'English' food: a typical Scottish breakfast would, of course, feature porridge, followed by a fry-up including most of the 'English' items plus square sausage, black pudding and almost anything that can be fried (no, not Mars Bars) - maybe even haggis.
According to messages on a Facebook forum, this breakfast is a big hit with American tourists.

They go abroad for the sunshine! Then want to eat the diet they have at home. I saw a map yesterday that over 50% of British food purchases were of ultra-processed food, the highest in Europe. The lowest was Portugal at 14%

It is madness really. I love trying different foods on holiday. However I always take my own teabags! I have done this for many years. Even in the UK!

I must admit to taking my Yorkshire tea on hols ☺️

Just back from safari in South Africa, the Chef at our base was fantastic and we ate Kudu, Ostrich, Wildebeeste, Warthog and Impala, all delicious, it was so good to experience local foid

I was working for a year in 1991 Bavaria mountain guest hut in the catering trade, already spoke very basic german from college, had to cook german food & serve guests. A young guy from Co Dublin who couldn't speak any german came to work but didn't like to eat anything except the french fries & maybe bread rolls or if he was very lucky he got given pizza, he didn't last long before he went home.
Always try the local food, they appreciate if you learn some of the lingo, fantastic scenery too.
A walking group of teenage english lads on Duke of Edinburgh award course came one day in summer with a teacher who was the only one who spoke german, I pretended to be a german, told him not to let on, As we were slack I took one lad inside & taught him how to ask for certain things in german before revealing I was from London & not to tell the others, & the german guy who was serving him could speak quite good english, we continued the wind up with the rest & laughed about it after.

I went to Corfu and was somewhat disappointed by the amount and number of British type fast food places.

Difficulty in main areas actually finding Greek food

They exist.

youtu.be/jOJj5xh0uG0?feature=shared

From Catherine Tate show …… 15 years ago. 🤣

My husband once had the bright idea of sharing our holiday in Italy with a couple he knew through work. What a nightmare! The wife was fine, but her husband refused to eat anything but steak and chips. Pasta was an absolute No No. He clamped his lips shut like a toddler. Rice was no better, and don't even mention salad or vegetables. It was a very long week!

I once asked our neighbours if they had had a nice holiday. They said they didn't really enjoy it as they didn't like Italian food. There is such a range of food available I couldn't believe they couldn't find something they liked.

FranP

I went to Corfu and was somewhat disappointed by the amount and number of British type fast food places.

Difficulty in main areas actually finding Greek food

Really? We went to Corfu last year for our daughter's wedding and had absolutely no difficulty finding plenty of places to eat lovely Greek food.

Love that remark. I have learned to speak two other languages apart from being bi-lingual from birth (well almost) .

For goodness sake, leave people alone! Okay, perhaps this lady was extreme, but I see on other holiday forums when people ask where they could get a Sunday roast, they are harangued. by people telling them to go to Blackpool!
You’re on your holidays, if you want a ‘Full English’, then have one, don’t heed the seasoned travellers.

I’m currently on holiday in Rhodes. As a sufferer of chronic acid reflux eating foreign food is difficult. It’s not that I don’t like Greek food it’s just that I can’t tolerate it. I just have to work harder to find something I can eat that won’t keep me awake all night with pain. Last night’s dinner was chicken nuggets and salad with no dressing. 😂

We holidayed a lot in the late 60s and early 70s when package holidays first became widely available and yes, my mother would take cereal, tea and marmalade. Those were the days when you were considered bohemian if you bought fresh garlic and used rice for anything other than pudding. Travel opens everyone’s eyes and my mother eventually became an early adopter of “foreign” food and travelled round the world several times before her death three years ago aged 93. Everyone had to start somewhere… although I think she travelled with tea until the end.

Anyone remember that old saying “better to be quiet and thought a fool, than to open one’s mouth and confirm it”?

I may be botching the words a bit, but this was my first thought. She could have chosen to keep her ignorant, nonsensical complaints private. Instead, this uncultured, entitled, rude person decide to make a public spectacle of her of ignorance. You don’t go to another country and expect the local food to specifically cater to your home preferences. You don’t throw all sense of manners and etiquette out the window by complaining about your host country openly, probably expecting a payday. Don’t blame her age either!

Ilovedogs22

Oh yes Dickens, I agree with you.
The Daily Mail certainly has a hint of
the sniffy, pretentious Hyacith Bucket about it.
I often laugh out loud when DH buys this publication, it's just soooo achingly lower middle-Engand. 😶

???

Umm, that isn't quite what I was attempting to say.

FWIW, although my political leaning is diametrically opposed to the paper's, I do still read it from time to time. There are interesting book reviews and other items of interest.

I do believe all news media use 'click-bait' articles to some degree to attract more ad-revenue - they just vary in content and presentation.

... and all, to some extent, try to politically manipulate their readers. Even my 'go-to' Guardian newspaper does that!

Daddima

For goodness sake, leave people alone! Okay, perhaps this lady was extreme, but I see on other holiday forums when people ask where they could get a Sunday roast, they are harangued. by people telling them to go to Blackpool!
You’re on your holidays, if you want a ‘Full English’, then have one, don’t heed the seasoned travellers.

Well, she chose to complain so openly and so bitterly.

You can't expect or insist on foreign Hotels providing 'full English' or any other non local foods. Should they provide typical German food, and American, and Spanish, and Chinese, and ... to cater for all tastes? If anyone specifically want British (or any other) food when abroad, they should do their research, speak to the travel Agent and to the Hotel directly to check beforehand. And possibly go to the type of resort where English food is served, like Benidorm or Playa/Adeje in Tenerife.

Maggiemaybe

You’re not exactly coming over well yourself, Crossstichfan.

There’s nothing wrong with the post you’ve quoted. And keepingquiet is entitled to her opinion.

Calling another member an arse, a prat, boring and a pain is hardly pleasant now, is it?

You are missing my point, but I can’t see the point in explaining it to you.
One thing though, I see others on here have used far more insulting words than I have but you didn’t reprimand them.
Be consistent please, then your advice would be worth while