Food to try, Food to avoid

This is a mere "heads up" for those moving to the UK after being here 13yrs;

Must try;
Nandos; if you like chicken it's a must
Cornish pasty shops; make sure you go to the proper cornish pasty chains which are now numerous in most cities. The ones from the local bakers, superstores and, oddly, cornwall can best be described as "cheap and nasty". Contrary to popular belief, Brits do eat beef as long as its chopped up, covered in sauce and wrapped in pastry. Good though.
Cheddar twists fron Tescos, way better than those nasty bland cheese buns from superstore
Minstrels and most British chocolate, quite why these are not imported into Canada I don't know.
Indian Food, It rocks,but go out to eat it, don't let your British friends cook it as I've never had a good one.
The famous British roast dinner with yorkshire pudding, gravy, yumm,but you might want to have a checkup with a heart surgeon the next day
Brtish cheddar, the seriously strong stuff, hmmm.
PG tips,if you drink Tea, there is no substitute
Cooked Breakfast, see the note RE; the heart surgeon but stay away from the fried bread as it's foul.
jam donuts; yum, they use real jam and not the jelly crap.
Beer; As we all know Brits like to get leggless at any opportunity and a good Friday night out generally involves beating the crap out of each other/a "Glasgow kiss", a stabbing or two followed urinating and or vomiting in someones doorway. On the bright side they do have a cracking selection of beer

Avoid;

Brits who BBQ. There are three certainties when you go to these. One will be that it rains, the second is that the food will be burnt to a crisp on the outside and thirdly it will be bloodly in the middle. Best to make friends with a Auzzie of Saffer. Besides learning bar work and surfing at school to set them up for future employment in London, these people know how to BBQ.

Cooked Veg, I'm not sure why but Brits seem to boil their veg for at least an hour, possibly related to the lack of dental care.

Burgers and pizza. Best to leave these to the 'Mericans and Italians

Brits idea of coffee at home is instant, stick to starbucks or costa on the way over or better yet ask for tea.

Fries, Brits like theirs thick and mushy, again, possibly related to lackof dental care/rotting teeth.

Warm coke/pop, what's the deal??? Is it illegal to put ice in drinks? Even when you ask for ice you usually get a tiny half melted cube

Chinese food; generally bland and flavourless and very expensive for what you get, not sure why, but I gave up on chinese here a few years ago

Anyone care to add?

Wagamama is a great restaurant, reasonable and delicious.

foods to try, i would add:

- restaurants owned by world class chefs (i.e. gordon ramsay, etc.)
- kebabs (late at night, coming home pissed)
- fish and chips

and i second:

- indian restaurants (the curries are quality)
- fry ups
- sunday roasts
- nando's
- cornish pasties
- proper ales

if you're going for japanese, italian, thai, chinese, go to the expensive places. otherwise, forget it.

Sausage rolls and pork pies! God I miss those. Actually I can get decent sausage rolls here but they usually come in some monster pack and I only want one.

And bacon is better in the UK as well if you get the good stuff. More fresh food in the supermarkets.

The reason ice isn't put in pop in such large quantities is because people see it as being a rip-off, you want a glass of pop, not a glass of ice. Ben Elton did a sketch about it once.

"So you're in McDonald's and you get a McCola and people say: 'ooh don't you get a lot' - yeah you get a lot. A lot of ice."

Yeah, the chinese food is bland. I never liked Indian either which meant I was a bit of an outcast.

And people in the UK eat more candy per capita than anywhere else in the world except Switzerland, hence the better selection of confectionery. Try going to Switzerland!

Look here people your fries over in Canada are rubbish, thin and taste of salt! If you want good fries (called Chips) then go to a fish and chip shop, get a large bag, cover in salt and vinegar and ENJOY!!!

Go to Indian restaurants and try 'peshwari naan bread'

Cream Tea - Scones with jam and clotted cream found in traditional tea shops and small cafes

Cornish Pasties, go to Cornwall, buy the largest one there, traditional pasty is amazing

Go crazy, try new things

I have been here for some time and have found some of the foods of home in the UK

Selfridges sells hershy's chocolate, M&Ms, fluff, Lucky charms, larger range of Oreos

Asda, Tesco & Sainsbury sell Oreos, and Pop tarts, Ben & Jerrys ice cream

You can get root beer but it is abit hit and miss on where you will find it I mostly find it in Asda by another brand I havent seen in Canada Sainsbury do their own brand

Few of the asian markets sells A&W, larger range of Pop tarts and Ice tea powders, I've also found the closest thing to soup cracker (the salted ones)

The is also a few Norrth American Sweet stores that import candy over but is very expensive. £1.50 -£2 for a tooties roll (the big ones)
The ony thing I cant get over here that I really miss is EATMORE BARS.

Peanutbutter... nothing like the peanutbutter from home. No wonder it's not very popular here, cause it's just not as good! You can't get Kraft unless you order it online or get your friends and family to tuck it in their luggage, but there are a few select Sainsburys who sell Jiffy.

Somebody say you can get Fluff here?????? Sulking now as could really murder a peanutbutter and fluff sandwich!

B

You can buy Skippy peanut butter at Sainsburys, if that helps. Not sure about "Fluff"!

you can get fluff from north american sweet stores that have been popping up here. I know there are shops in Nottingham and Leicester , that sell it.

Food I like:
Prawn Cocktail sandwiches
British roasts
fish and chips
I also think the British have a good selction of confectionary and chips
pork pies (I lived in Melton Mowbray which is the pork pie capital)
Indian food
Cheeses-especially Stilton
On the other hand I compleatly agree about BBQ and in my many years do not think I ever met a Brit who could properly do it.
If its pizza you want, try Pizza Express (I am biased as I worked there)