An American tourist declared all British food was 'terrible' despite being taken to all the local favorites, but British people say she has still not tried the right places

10.11.2023 - 12:11 / insider.com

An American woman has divided TikTok with a video calling all British food "terrible" after she said she was shown around by locals and enjoyed almost nothing she ate. While many fellow tourists agreed with her, a number of British people have hit back, saying she went to the wrong places and ate the wrong food. 

In a video posted Thursday that's been viewed almost 1 million times, the TikToker @lunchpailgin shared her less-than-satisfying experience with British cuisine. She captioned the video with on-screen text as "a southern american woman's review of british food."

She began the TikTok by saying it's been really popular to attack British food this year. On TikTok, several non-British people have made videos reacting to the food or simply making fun of it. (A debate around whether British food is terrible or "exhilarating", as some critics have argued, has raged for years.)

Instead of disrupting that narrative, she affirmed it.

"I'm here to tell you that you're not wrong," @lunchpailgin said. She explained that she recently visited the United Kingdom and tasted a variety of food suggested by locals. 

"For all you Brits out there, I did go to Wetherspoons, I did go to Toby's," she said, referencing two popular food chains in England. She added, in a fake British accent, that she even had a "proper Chinese" meal.

"All terrible," she concluded. 

She explained further, saying that while some British people think the US doesn't offer enough carveries, they have better places than Toby's. She said Toby's couldn't touch a Brazilian steakhouse in the US.

"Nando's?" she said, referencing another popular British food chain. "Nando's is like a mild version of Chipotle… it's not that special."

Still, she said Nando's was the only thing that she could "consistently" eat while she was there; she said everything else was "a fucking gamble."

The TikToker said she tried British Chinese food in Bath, England, and called it "suicide."

"There's no other word," she said while making a horrified expression. "It's not good." She said that even the worst Chinese food she's had in America couldn't compare to the "awfulness" of what she tasted. 

@Lunchpailgin also claimed that British people do not put enough seasoning on their food. Her one blind spot, she noted, was that she did not get a chance to try any Indian cuisines there, which she's heard stellar reviews about. 

"It's really as bad as you think," she concluded her TikTok. 

Many viewers agreed with the TikToker's takes. Top comments with thousands of likes concurred that Nando's is the "most tolerable" food option. One person asked, in a comment with 4,000 likes, how British food can manage to be "simultaneously soggy and dry."

"They literally conquered the spice