American says all British food is ‘terrible’, Brits hit back

• A woman’s TikTok slamming all British food has gone viral and sparked a backlash from Brits.
• While many fellow travelers agreed with her, others said she went to the wrong places.
• One person stitched the video onto the poster and theorized that American tastes can’t handle British food.

An American woman has taken TikTok apart with a video calling all British food “terrible” after saying she was divorced from the locals and enjoyed almost nothing she ate. While many other tourists agreed with her, a number of Britons hit back, saying she had gone to the wrong places and eaten the wrong food.

In a video posted on Thursday that has been viewed nearly 1 million times, TikToker @lunchpailgin shared her less-than-satisfying experience with British cuisine. She captioned the video with text on the screen as “a review of British food from a South American”.

She started off on TikTok by saying that it’s very popular this year to attack British food. On TikTok, several non-British people have made videos reacting to food or simply making fun of it. (The debate over whether British food is terrible or “exciting”, as some critics claim, has raged for years.)

Instead of disrupting that narrative, she confirmed it.

“I’m here to tell you that you’re not wrong,” @lunchpailgin said. She explained that she had recently visited the UK and had tried a variety of food offered by the locals.

“For all you Brits, I went to Wetherspoons, I went to Toby’s,” she said, referring to two popular food chains in England. She added in a fake British accent that she even had “proper Chinese”.

“Everything is terrible,” she concluded.

She further explained, saying that while some Brits think the US doesn’t offer enough meat joints, they have better places than Toby’s. She said Toby’s can’t touch Brazilian steak in the US.

“Nando’s?” she said, referring to another popular British food chain. “Nando’s is like a bland version of Chipotle… it’s not as special.”

Still, she said Nando’s was the only thing she could eat “constantly” while there; she said everything else was a “fucking gamble”.

A TikToker said she tried British Chinese food in Bath, England and called it “suicide”.

“There is no other word,” she said as she made a horrified expression. “Not good.” She said that even the worst Chinese food she had eaten in America couldn’t compare to the “horribility” of what she tasted.

@Lunchpailgin also claims that Brits don’t put enough spice in their food. Her only blind spot, she noted, is that she didn’t get a chance to try the Indian cuisine there, which she’s heard rave reviews about.

“It’s really as bad as you think,” she concluded her TikTok.

Many viewers agreed with the TikToker’s opinion. Top comments with thousands of likes agreed that Nando’s was the “most tolerable” food option. One person asked in a comment with 4,000 likes how British food can manage to be “soggy and dry at the same time”.

“They have literally taken over the spice trade JUST NOT TO USE ANY OF THEMMMMMMM,” ​​said one comment with over 13,000 likes.

However, a contingent of other viewers took issue with her views. Several Americans said they enjoyed the cuisine, and commenters who identified themselves as British said she had tasted the wrong food and should have been eating British staples such as fish and chips or a Sunday roast dinner. (A handful of Brits said the suggestion that Wetherspoon’s was the best of their offerings was ludicrous.)

A fellow TikToker, who said she’s lived in the UK for half her life, stitched up @lunchpailgin’s video and, while holding back a giggle, said that if a Brit told her to go to Wetherspoons or Toby’s to try real British kitchen, make fun of her.

“You’ve been punked, you’ve had,” said TikToker @elisheva.abramson.

A number of others who identified themselves as British agreed in the comments and compared the chains to US places like Olive Garden and Applebee’s.

“As a Brit I wouldn’t eat at Wetherspoons/Toby Carvery. Much better places to eat,” wrote one person. “Spoons and Toby’s are for when you’re really hungover. Or still drunk,” said another viewer.

Another poster @iamnobirdnet who said he lived in the UK for eight years also rejected @lunchpailgin’s argument and said you can’t get an idea of ​​a country’s cuisine unless you stay there for a while.

The poster suggests that many American tastes cannot cope with British food because there are fewer additives than American food.

@Iamnobirdnet added that the norm in England is for people to season their own food and that if you go to a Brit’s house, chances are they’ll use more spices.

“To me, British food is at its core hearty and comforting, quality ingredients for good food,” reads one of the top comments on their video.

@Lunchpailgin did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.