I lived in the Midlands for half a year, and I've spent a good deal of time in the American rust belt as well (via a job where I had to travel a lot). A typical English meal is significantly more bland than meals served elsewhere in the world, and I think it throws people off who don't already have a relationship with it and therefore can't perceive it as comfort food. It took me months to warm up to.

That's not to say "food in England is bad". I'm ethnically Hispanic, and ended up eating a ton of Turkish food and Indian food during my time there, which was spicy, flavorful, not too common in America at the time, and awesome. And a full English breakfast with your friends when you're all a bit hungover is perfection.