Other ethnic cuisine

Chinese food is well established in England, with large cities often having a Chinatown district. Predominantly derived from Cantonese cuisine, it may be so adapted to Western tastes that Chinese customers may be offered an entirely separate menu. Spare ribs in OK sauce are an example of crossover cuisine. Other South-East Asian cuisines, such as Thai, Indonesian and Vietnamese are catching up in popularity. Italian cuisine is the most popular form of Mediterranean food, vying with Chinese and Indian food as the most popular ethnic food. Greek and Spanish restaurants are well established. Turkish tends to be associated with the take-away sector in particular late night kebab shops. Whilst Middle Eastern cooking in particular Lebanese has grown in popularity from its traditional enclaves in London.

Apart from beefburgers and hot dogs, food from the Americas tends to be represented by Mexican or Tex-mex cuisine, although there a few Creole and South American restaurants. Caribbean and Jewish cuisine can usually only be found where there is a concentration of the community in question.

In England, French cuisine stands somewhat apart from other generally less expensive cuisine, although there are some inexpensive French bistros.

International reputation

Scrambled Egg and Bacon Ice Cream, a dish served at The Fat Duck restaurant

English cuisine may suffer from a relatively poor international reputation when compared to that of Italian cuisine or French cuisine. However, for many English people this perception seems outdated, for the poor reputation of industrially produced urban food in the twentieth century did not ever really represent the quality of food cooked in the home. Traditional English food, with its emphasis on 'meat-and-two-veg' falls squarely into the north European tradition extending from Northern Germany to the Low Countries and Scandinavia, albeit with a French influence. During the middle Ages and Enlightenment, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation; its decline can be traced back to the move away from the land and increasing urbanisation of the populace during the Industrial Revolution. During this process Britain became a net importer of food. British food also suffered heavily from effects of rationing during two World Wars (food rationing finally ended in 1954), followed by the increasing trend toward industrialised mass production of food. However, in Britain today there is a renewed fascination with the culture of food popularly led by celebrity chefs who seek to raise the standard of food understanding in the UK. In 2005, 600 food critics writing for (British) Restaurant magazine named 14 British restaurants among the 50 best restaurants in the world with the number one spot going to The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire and its chef Heston Blumenthal. In particular, the global reach of London has elevated it to the status of a leading centre of international cuisine. Meanwhile the heavy promotion of gastronomy as a post-industrial economic solution has led to a proliferation of very fine quality producers across the country.