Our cuisine and diet has a poor reputation, but I think some of our actual produce (vegetable and dairy) is not so bad. We don't have the warm or sunny climate for flavoursome tomatoes, but root vegetables grown here can be fine.

It's also common for cows to graze outside for part of the day (true of Ireland and Sweden too). It's subjective, but I think it makes for much nicer tasting fresh milk (compared to the UHT variety that is more of the norm in other European countries).

>We don't have the warm or sunny climate for flavoursome tomatoes

I'd read even as a kid, in English novels, that greenhouses were somewhat common in the UK. Do tomatoes not grow well even in greenhouses there?

I can't tell about your cuisine or what you produce, but what is in your supermarkets is very disappointing.

I think that’s just cultural conditioning. Many of the products found in continental supermarkets are equally disappointing for visitors from the UK :)

Its not culture, it is for the benefit of big companies. The best tasting vegetables also spoil easily. The ones sold in supermarkets are the varieties that can be sold longer, usually with poor flavor.

It's culture that lets them get away with it. If British people valued tasty tomatoes, they wouldn't buy the rubbish in the supermarkets. Everyone would know a guy who can hook them up with the good stuff, for a price, and the geriatric mafia who control the allotments would be rolling around in Bentleys.

Where are you shopping? My experience is that UK supermarkets are normally higher quality (esp in fresh and refridgerated goods) than other countries. Often lower priced too. Supermarkets I've seen in other western countries (Italy, France, US, Finland) have invariably been pretty disappointing.

Nope. Vegetables and fruits are tasteless. If you don't find them tasteless then I'm afraid that you never ate proper ones in your life. And I tried pretty much all the uk supermarkets: Waitrose, M&S, Tesco, Morrison, Sainsbury's, Ocado, Amazon, Iceland, Asda and probably something else that I'm forgetting. And let's not start speaking about the tuna. I have to bring it from Italy. I spent up to 9 or 10£ for all kind of tinned tuna, even in glass and in olive oil and it was absolutely inedible. Whenever I let anyone living here to try my tuna they are so shocked and amazed that I have to give them some tins to carry home. And the tuna fillets in the glass are even better. And what about porcini mushrooms? The only place where I can find them frozen is an expensive Italian shop. In the supermarket you can find only the tasteless dried ones if you are lucky.

Cep/porcini actually grows in the wild in the UK. But there is no tradition of mushroom gathering for food

My experience is the opposite. I find a narrow selection of mediocre goods in the UK, and a much wider variety of high quality products in the continent. I can't get decent charcuterie without going to a deli, and half the French products I want to buy I have to go to Waitrose to get. Everything from beverages to cheese is really limited, typically only two brands in any given category, one of them usually the store brand.

I feel like the UK supermarket industry took The Paradox of Choice too seriously.

> Everything from beverages to cheese is really limited

The UK produces more varieties of cheese (about 700) than any other EU country. A lot of that is from small independent producers. Obviously, you'll find a narrow(ish) selection at the supermarket, but it's pretty easy to find a wider variety from specialist or online retailers.

I found that out very soon in NL where you see mostly Dutch cheese in the shelves and just a very tiny small section with "world" cheese. Cheddar cheese became rarity at home these days.

Seconded. I don't think the parent comment to this has a strong basis in fact. The UK retail sector is one of the most competitive and dynamic in the world. I live in a small town and within 10 minutes' drive I have 3 large supermarkets open 7 days a week, stocking thousands of lines, with products ranging from budget to expensive. There are many smaller grocery shops also open 7 days a week. There is fantastic local produce if you eat in season. For range, price and convenience few other countries are close to the UK as regards mass retail. I studied this in a uni course and also speak from personal experience of living abroad.

It may be competitive, but the utility function isn't flavour or choice, it might be price or convenience or microwave dinners or something.

I speak as an Irishman who had a terrible time merely finding decent bread when I moved here (there is zero good soda bread in any British supermarket, I actually imported and froze mine for the first few years, then I went the bread maker route, until I made my peace and stopped eating bread at home), with a German partner for the past ten years who feels even more strongly about it than I do.

The prices are competitive and the stores are open 7 days a week, but the choice of products is quite bad and limited.

The implication of competitiveness is competition, and one aspect of competition is choice, both of type, and of quality. If you cannot create great tasting food with the plethora of choice available in the average UK supermarket the problem is not with the products on offer. The range and quality are near the best civilisation has ever had to offer.

But why? There's plenty of production in Portugal, Italy and Spain.

You can find plenty of southern Spanish produce in greengrocers (it's usually so ripe it's nearly about to go off). Works OK if you want to eat it immediately.