‘What’s the most British thing that isn’t British?’ – 21 things that feel like they should be from the UK but weirdly aren’t

There’s nothing more British than fish and chips, right? It’s basically our national dish, after the mighty roast dinner.

Well, given that frying fish was introduced to the country by Spanish and Portuguese Jewish immigrants, and chips come from Belgium, perhaps not.

So, whatever Reform are trying to tell us, this celebration and adoption of lovely things from other cultures is what makes us great.

They’ve been discussing this on the AskUK subreddit after Ok-Professional-8837 asked this:

‘What’s the most British thing that isn’t British?

‘I reckon it’s the Killers or Chicken Madras, what do you think?’

And loads of people had thoughts on the things Brits love so much that they’ve become part of us, like these…

1.

‘Surely the easy and obvious answer is: tea.’
–Eisenhorn_UK

2.

‘Baked Beans too. Baked Beans originated in America as a Native American cuisine, and the 19th century Americans first made the tinned tomato sauce version we eat so much of. We hardly grow any haricot beans (the bean used in baked beans) yet we are the biggest consumers of them in the world.

3.

‘Mr Brightside. It’s mad how popular that song is, still in the Spotify UK top 50 right now too, it never seems to disappear, pretty much our unofficial national anthem at this point.’
–coolcroissant7

4.

‘About once a year, my wife gets surprised when she rediscovers that The Killers aren’t British.’
–prof_hobart

5.

‘The new Mini.’
–OctaneTroopers

6.

‘I recently discovered Werther’s Originals are German. Didn’t like that.’
–SillyIce7500

7.

‘Curries in the UK are very much a British made thing. They are usually wholly different to the curries found in India. The Madras is a perfect example.

‘Whilst it goes by the name of Chennai in India, it was named Madras in the UK in the 1970s as is made differently despite being of similar spice levels. It is very much a British dish along with the Tikka Masala.’
–BusyBeeBridgette

8.

‘Morris dancing. It’s Spanish/Moorish originally.’
–No-Adverti

9.

‘Hellman’s. All the old adverts when it was in a jar were very British. Roast chicken sandwich, that kind of thing.’
–MyDadsGlassesCase

10.

‘The three lions emblem. It was invented by Richard I who was French. He only visited England for six months, and extracted as much money as possible for his foreign wars.’
–drukweyr

11.

‘A pint of Stella and a kebab!’
–Impossible_Owl_1625

12.

‘Sandi Toksvig.’
–Lance_Operazole