Most popular english dish? Regional dish?

Question

Hiya,
I'm italian but I'll be moving to England soon.
This is a question some people have asked me in the past over here in Italy: what's the most popular english dish?
I always say...sunday roast :) Am I right? Or curry maybe? ;)
Also.. here in Italy traditional food is really different in the various regions of the country (Sicily, Sardinia, Tuscany, etc).
Is it the same in England?

Thanks everyone!
Well, I'm gonna have to learn how to make sunday roast (and Yorkshire pudding, I love 'em) and curries.
In the meantime, I can send you all some pasta if you want ;)

Just a quick remark for June: Pizza Hut is not italian at all. It's american! Personally I sometimes enjoy their food but it's got nothing to do with 'proper' italian pizza.

Answer 1

Ten years ago or more, the most popular dish in England would have been fish and chips, but according to surveys over recent years, chicken tikka masala is now more popular. So, yes, you're right about curry!

As far as foods here go, there are lots.
Hundreds of cheeses, for a start. That's something you'll probably enjoy...
Regional beers, too (sorry, not food but still yummy!)
There are also many regional foods, but I suspect their days are numbered because so many people here now buy stuff from supermarkets.
It's a shame, because there is a great tradition of good home-cooking here. Not just roast dinners, although they're a national treasure, but also really regional things like Lancashire Hotpot (traditional Lancashire stew), Stargazy Pie (Cornish fish pie made with herring or mackerel) Curd Tart (a sweet tart, flavoured with currants, brandy and spices -- from Yorkshire)

A lot of our regional specialities have been adopted nationwide. You can get Cumberland sausage and Melton Mowbray pork pies anywhere in England, for example.
Cream tea (scones, with cream and jam) is another thing you can find across the country. Properly, it's a West Country tradition -- it should be clotted cream. Elsewhere you'll often be served ordinary whipped cream. Not as good by half, though still nice.

Answer 2

There are a lot really, you are right about Sunday Roasts and Curries. Also Fish and Chips are popular. I'm leaving you a list, our cooking it is fairly Nationwide really.
Shepard's Pie (with minced Lamb)
Cottage Pie (with minced Beef)
London Broil
Jellied Eels
Braised Steak
Welsh Rarebit
Yorkshire Pudding, served in a variety of ways.
Lacashire Hotpot
Sausage and Mash
Beef Wellington
Stew and Dumplings
Cumberland Sausage
Smoked Haddock
Kippers
Dressed Crab
Steak and Ale Pie
Boiled Beef and Carrots
Bubble and Squeak
Cornish Pastie
Toad in the Hole
Veal and Ham Pie
Salamagundi (although this doesn't sound British it is a cold, open Summer Pie or Tart with layers of Summer vegatables and herbs, baked. It hails from Northern England and is yummy! It means "cooked salad" in anglo saxon).
Steak and Kidney Pudding
Cauliflower Cheese
Cheese and Potato Pie
Spinach Roll
Coronation Chicken
Winter Green Salad
New Potato Salad
Game Pie
Braised Pork and Apple Sauce
Dorset Jugged Steak
Faggots
Try them, a lot get a bad press but they are all good and not as unhealthy as is often suggested.

Answer 3

Your talking regional ? Would say Sunday Roast generally would be the most popular but you could also say:

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pud.
Fish and Chips
Lancashire Hot Pot
Shepherds Pie
Cornish Pasty
Scottish Haggis
Devonshire Tea
Irish Stew

I expect there is quite a few more if we all really thought about it.

The kids will say McDonald's and Pizza Hut probably (one introduced from America, the burger, the other from Italy!!!) so they not regional.

Spag Bog (Spaghetti Bolognaise) also quite popular in the UK.

Enjoy your stay

Answer 4

Nationally, I would say tikka masala, but there are definitely regional variations to where, when and how certain foods are eaten, and which ones are most popular.
For instance, I'm from Yorkshire, so Yorkshire puddings feature quite predominantly on my list of favourite foods. Here, they can be eaten as starters, with a main course or even as a dessert (with sweet sauces and stuff, not gravy!), but in other parts of the country, I would be inclined to say that this is not true.
Plus, as other people have mentioned - Jellied Eels? I've never had one and probably never will, but I bet people in London will have a totally different perspective.

Answer 5

Please permit me to offer my 2-cents worth and suggest that anything that will keep you warm would be nice for you.

Moving from Italy to England is a change in climate and the adjustment might take some time.... I'm guessing

In that case, the English things that would keep you warm would be;

tea in the afternoons with nice tea sandwiches, including roast beef which is hearty, and some cream tarts ...

roast and Yorkshire Pudding.... and the leftovers make Red Flannel Hash which is made of leftover roast beef, potato and onions with maybe a spash of Worcestershire ... and served with ketchup .... nice and warm and toasty (you must brown the potato so it is even alaittle difficult to lift from the pan.... but it is certainly good! )(from my English mother)

warm puddings and tarts

curry which warms quite nicely, especially if served with a chapathy and some chutney, if it's chicken curry - and Indian chai; masala chai for special occasions

a really nice soup and some cheese toast

mulled cider and gingerbread // some beer or stout

but: don't forget things like Fettuccine Alfredo and Rissotto which are so warming ... you willl need your Italian stuff!

Hope you have a fireplace
Hope you have fun
Peace & Love

Answer 6

I would think that the most popular native English dish is Fish and Chips but it is rapidly being overtaken by foreign imports such as Indian and Chinese food. As to regional food cherck out the following:-
Abbots Bromley Wakes Cakes , Apple Cake, Baked Custards,
Banbury Cakes , Bangers and Mash , Bartlemas Beef,
Bedfordshire Kattern Cakes , Blue Cheese and Leek Soup,
Carlin Peas, Cheddar Cheese & Apple Salad , Cheese & Parsley Pudding , Cheese on Toast , Cheshire Aubergine Layer, Chicken Marinade, Chips ,Chocolate Yule Log , Christmas Cake, Christmas Pudding, Cider Apple Cake ,Coleslaw, Cornish Pasties, Cucumber Soup, Easy English, Cumberland Rum Butter, Derby Grill , Devon Chicken, Devon Chops, Devonshire Almond Dreams, Drop Yorkshire, Easterledge Herb Pudding, Eccles Cakes, English Potage, English Salad, Epping Sausages,Everton Toffee, Feasten Cakes, Fig Pudding, Fig Sue, Fish, Deep Fried, Frumenty,Gloucester Pie, Golden Lancashire Lamb, Gooseberry Pie, Grasmere Gingerbread , Hallowe'en Cakes, Hampshire Haslet, Hampshire Syllabub, Harvest Cake, Heg Peg Dump, Hot Cross Buns ,Huntingdon Fidget Pie , Junket , Lancashire Parkin, Leicester Fish Pâté, Lindisfarne Cream, Mash o' Nine Sorts, Minced Beef Collops, Mothering Sunday Wafers, Nottingham Goose Fair Brandy Snaps, Nutty Stilton Crumpets,Oast Cakes,Oat Squares, Pickled Walnuts, Plum Pudding , Pond Pudding, Singin' Hinnie, Smothered Mackerel , Somerset Rabbit , Soul Cakes, Spicy Mulled Wine, Steak & Kidney Pie, Steaks in Stilton Sauce, Strawberry Mousse, Suffolk Syllabub, Summer Pudding , Tandra Cake, Tipsy Squire, Toffee Apples, Valentine Biscuits, Valentine Cakes, Venison with Port Wine Sauce, Warden Pears,Wassail Bowl, Whitebait, Fried, Yorkshire Blue & Watercress Soup, Yorkshire Pudding, Yuletide Frumity

Answer 7

I am sure that a poll was taken on TV a couple of years ago,and it was found that curry came first. I don't think it matters about regions too much. 'Scouse' is a traditional liverpool dish but yorkshire puddings are eaten world wide. I think eels are eaten in London and south coast.

Answer 8

I agree the sunday roast is probably the most popular English meal closely followed by fish & chips but there are local traditions too,I come from the Westcountry where cornish pasty's are very poular.

Answer 9

pretty much so! Yorkshire have their pudding! Leeds are well known for their curries! If you go to the coast then Fish and Chips go down well.
Now days if you have a few bob then go to resturants like Gordon Ramseys or Jamie Olivers...you won't get alot but they are normally "english" fare!

Answer 10

MmMmMmmmmm sunday roast

Also curry, chinese and of course fish n chips

There's no real regional delicacies, we're a pretty uncultured lot, but Glasweigens and fat northerners do like battered Mars bars. And in Cornwall they're famous for cornish pasties, and South Londoners (apparantly) like jellied eels, and pie n mash