most overrated thing about the uk

Beans on toast was the first thing on a Reddit list of overrated British stuff, and I took that a little personally. I love beans on toast. They’re not the best meal ever, but if I’ve had a rough day and discover we have toast and a can of beans, suddenly dinner makes sense.

When I shared these reactions in May 2022, some of the food complaints made sense to me and others really didn’t. A disappointing roast dinner is one thing. Writing off something that does exactly what I need on a bad day is another.

Beans on toast deserves its place

The comment suggested beans on toast were only worth bothering with if you were a kid. I politely disagree. Sometimes I’m stressed, the weather’s miserable and I don’t know what to eat. This is a meal I can turn to when I need it, and I don’t think it has to be great or impressive to have a place.

Beans in tomato sauce covering two slices of toast on a plate.
An illustrative plate of beans on toast, photographed by F7wiki, CC0 1.0.

The carvery that was worth stopping for

Carveries were quite unfamiliar to me as a Canadian. I thought of them as a little like a buffet, except someone slices the meat for you. They’re convenient because you don’t have to make a roast yourself, but the ones I’d tried hadn’t always been wonderful.

I was especially suspicious of a ridiculously cheap carvery with unlimited sides. Still, I’d had a lovely exception at a small independent pub. We went for a Sunday walk, stopped halfway through for a delicious carvery, then walked it off on the way home. That was a wonderful day.

The roast dinner complaint further down the list reminded me of the same problem. Some I’d had felt like cheap, mass-produced food, and I’d eaten vegetables boiled until they became a mushy section of the plate. That makes me sad. But I’d also had truly wonderful roast dinners, so my experience was hit or miss rather than a reason to dismiss the meal altogether.

Cream first, because I want more cream

Another suggestion was that the jam-or-cream-first argument had become overrated. I understood why people found the whole debate tiresome, even though I had a very definite way of eating my scone.

I usually put cream on first, then a little dollop of jam. My reasoning is simple. I want more cream than jam, and I think I can put more of whatever goes on first. An unbelievable amount of cream suits me nicely. Other people can disagree with the order, but that’s how I do it.

Greggs can fill a need without being my favourite

Nando’s and Greggs came up together. I’d eaten at both more than once, so I wasn’t rejecting places I’d never tried. I didn’t think either was great, though, and their fame did make them feel a bit overrated to me.

I would rather go to a small cafe or independent shop, but sometimes I can’t find one. Sometimes I’ve got about thirty seconds, there’s a Greggs and I want a sausage roll. Their rolls were perfectly fine, cheap and easy to find. I didn’t consider them the best in the country, but I could still want one. Much like the Big Mac I hadn’t eaten in ages and could have eaten right then.

I’m still defending regular Yorkshire Tea

Finally, someone said they didn’t understand the obsession with Yorkshire Tea because there were better teas available. As someone who wasn’t much of a tea drinker, I disagreed. After taste testing British teas, regular Yorkshire was my personal favourite of the ones I’d had so far.

I meant the regular version. I couldn’t tell a difference with Yorkshire Gold, and I wasn’t choosing one of the other special varieties. That wasn’t family loyalty or a lifelong attachment to the brand, either. I had no brand loyalty and was happy to keep trying new teas. If there was one better than Yorkshire, I wanted to hear about it and try it.

Watch my reactions to the overrated list.