Moaning about the lack of British Food when abroad

Can get food poisoning in the UK too. I had campallo bactor after eating chicken not well cooked at a Zizzi's, and OH another time, with 2 of our teenage children, due to off prawns, very much in the UK too.

Go to France these days and all the best restaurants offer 'Fish and chips'. I am not talking about those in places with lots of British tourists, but in places where English tourists are relatively rare.

A few years ago 'crumble' was all the rage and the magazine racks were full of magazine supplements with a range of crumble recipes, both sweet and savoury, as were the menus in most restaurants.

We went to Barcelona a few years ago and had the most amazing food. An amazing paella at a busy restaurant and our hotel on the Rambla did brilliant Spanish Omelettes. My DH likes his plain English food but he enjoyed the food there.
We had proper Spag Bol and Tiramisu in Rome and a salad with proper fresh olives. I don't really like them but they tasted different to the ones here. They were delicious.

Reported

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

In Greece, where we’re regular visitors, we’ve never had any trouble finding a traditional taverna, with umpteen local dishes on the menu.

Witzend, I agree it’s easy to find authentic Greek food but not in the busy tourist resorts on corfu, where the majority of tourists are Brits who expect full English a
, baked beans, ketchup and Sunday roasts.

I would be really put out if I was presented with British food on holiday (if abroad of course).

Part of the pleasure of holiday is tasting all the local cuisine.

We’ve had some delicious food especially if we’ve gone off the beaten track.

Iam64

Witzend, I agree it’s easy to find authentic Greek food but not in the busy tourist resorts on corfu, where the majority of tourists are Brits who expect full English a
, baked beans, ketchup and Sunday roasts.

That wasn't our experience. Our daughter got married in Corfu last June and we were in one of the busier resorts and there were lots of lovely Greek restaurants around. We did see some places - mainly down on the 'strip' - advertising English breakfasts, but nearer our hotel there were some lovely little family-run tavernas offering delicious authentic Greek food.

M0nica

Go to France these days and all the best restaurants offer 'Fish and chips'. I am not talking about those in places with lots of British tourists, but in places where English tourists are relatively rare.

A few years ago 'crumble' was all the rage and the magazine racks were full of magazine supplements with a range of crumble recipes, both sweet and savoury, as were the menus in most restaurants.

Even more so is the rise of the burger in France Monica for some restaurants their main thrust is several variations of this dreadful dish. We have stopped going to one or two of our local restaurants because of this. I'm not talking here about McDo or fast food places but more traditional restaurants.
I suppose they would argue they are just catering to popular demand.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202506/medium-df92sc-restaurant-le-m-la-baule-plat-tataki-de-thon-1.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202506/medium-4dtp4o-20250610-134642.jpg

I am in a very chic French resort, not usually frequented by British tourists.
This was my lunch yesterday.
Burrata, tomates confites, olives, frites et mesclun. (The frîtes were 6 very thin sticks).
Fraises marinées au vin épicé, sablé breton et ganache montée chocolat blanc.

oooh, I won't ask. But I am trying to imagine where. Biarritz? Collioure? Mégève? Deauville? Enjoy.

La Baule. ⛱️

escaped

I am in a very chic French resort, not usually frequented by British tourists.
This was my lunch yesterday.
Burrata, tomates confites, olives, frites et mesclun. (The frîtes were 6 very thin sticks).
Fraises marinées au vin épicé, sablé breton et ganache montée chocolat blanc.

That was your choice. What else was on the menu?

So, seeing as fish and chips were mentioned on this thread, the fish dishes in the restaurant consisted of ......

Tentacule de poulpe grillée, écrasé de pommes de terre au citron, salsa verde

Pavé de cabillaud rôti, mousseline de petits pois, crème de Saint Jacques au Noilly Prat

Filet de bar à la plancha, fine purée d'aubergines grillées, coulis de piquillos au piment d'espelette

Coquilles saint Jacques juste saisies, risotto parfumé à la truffe, foie gras poêlé, sauce poulette

No chips. 🍟

PS I've just found their menu. The one and only burger is served with no chips, ...
Pain burger feuilleté, steak haché de boeuf, lard ibérique, pancake de pommes de terre, fromage, tomate, frites et mesclun

escaped

La Baule. ⛱️

ah thanks, an unknow to me as yet. Enjoy.

I confess, when going abroad in the past, I have taken some teabags, a plastic bag of instant coffee, a travel kettle and adaptor for the plug. Perhaps even some biscuits. Arriving at my hotel in Crete at 3a.m., there was nothing better than a cuppa and biccy while unpacking my nighty before crawling into bed.

When I used to go to Spain, it was impossible to find tea bags except in highly expensive packs of 5 and usually "speciality" teas.

On the train from NY to Ottawa, (1968), a 10 hour journey, with a £50 money limit for our 3 week holiday, my family and I certainly wished we had brought sandwiches and a thermos!

As for actual food, in the past I have found it difficult to get "local" cuisine in some destinations. MacDonalds are taking over the world. Thankfully, Crete seemed to be the exception and so long as I could avoid the almost ubiquitous olives (never could abide them) I enjoyed what was on offer.

Aely- but that is very different. I always take Vanilla Rooibush, for that reason. Very different to refusing to eat all local foods, and complain about it bitterly in the press.

escaped

La Baule. ⛱️

My DN used to go there 🙂
We visited briefly many years ago.
I think we were taking the DC to an Océarium somewhere.

Discussed before, I love France and its cuisine, except for Andouillette aaaagh.....it's the worst thing I've ever tasted, worse than school rice pudding, it's probably level pegging with some of the stuff contestants on I'm a c'leb have to ingest. It's simply my definition of food of the devil.

They even look revolting!

Oh I agree about 'andouilette' never, ever arghhhhh noooo

andouillette? s-s-s-hudder.

One of the travelling chefs was being shown how to make it on TV a while ago. Then pretend to enjoy it.
I had to look away.

Apparently he did like it and made it again on British TV.
It was Rick Stein.