Doesn't that also imply world wide, most native foods are either expensive or suck or both?

Burger King is a UK owned business and all of those you named suck ass....

@WonderWartHog99 A triumph of marketing over substance I think,

It is odd that America produces some of the best craft ale in the world and yet their mass produced beer is so bad that it has to be drunk ice cold to kill any taste that it has.
It is a misconception that English beer is warm. Traditionally it is drunk at celler temperature or around 50 F'
The real ale purists would as soon have it chilled as have it delivered to their glass using CO2 pressure.

@Moravian Engineers joke.... It carried over to mechanics here in the US because Lucas did the electrical for the Jaguar.... FYI the funny part is that Budwieser (The King of Redneck Beers) is now owned by a Mexican holding company... It was sold to them by Phillip/Morris AKA Kraft foods...

@Lizard_of_Ahaz I can appreciate that one. British motorbikes in the 50's and 60's had Lucas electrics and the saying was "Joe Lucas, Prince of Darkness". as the lights would frequently fail at unfortunate moments.

@Moravian >It is a misconception that English beer is warm. Traditionally it is drunk at celler temperature or around 50 F'

American standard for beer is bring it out ice cold, the colder the better. They throw their beer bottles under the ice.

When German brewers first arrived in American they discovered they couldn't find a supply of old world grains they traditionally make beer with. Therefore the mass produced American beer includes rice. Cheap but swill like.

However, within small craft breweries in gringo land have given Americans excellent brews at higher prices.

@WonderWartHog99 Ales should not be served below 40F, stouts a bit higher. Mass produced beers are so disgusting that they have to be served cold. A popular one brewed here in Scotland is Tennants lager. Disgusting stuff'
The use of new world hops in craft brewing has produced some great tasting beers but they are more expensive so the beers cost more.
A favourite brewer of mine is Six Point from New York. Great tasting but a bit on the strong side.

@Moravian We need to discuss this over suds from my favorite craft brew pub, Brews on the alley. It'll be a wallet flattening experience. One local is selling Bud for $2 a draft while at Brews on the alley the drafts start at $6 and can wind up costing $10 a pint.

The significant trade off is the craft beers have more octane punch that the $2 Bud. I've paid $8 for beers with a 11% alcohol content. It's like ordering a zombie instead of a beer. Therefore, I limit myself to two beers. Petunia is more forgiving when I tell her "Darling, I only had two beers." She isn't hip to the octane difference between a Bud and what I'm drinking. She hates beer, so it isn't likely she will learn either.

Brews on the alley offers about 18 different craft brews on tap. In the past, they'd stock up to 300 different types of bottled craft beers.

@WonderWartHog99 I'd love to join you in a few brews and at those prices it would be a few
There was a pub in Edinburgh I used to frequent and the prices and alcohol% of the beers on tap were listed on a blackboard on the wall.
Edinburgh prices are quite steep so when I saw a fairly strong one at a reasonable price I ordered one to find I only got a third of a pint. That was a sobering experience ;-(

@Moravian On the far, far extreme, I used to make five gallon batches of high octane home brew. It had a limited shelf life unless a former alcoholic girlfriend heard about it. Otherwise most of it would wind up as vinegar. The major deal was it was cheap, cheap, cheap to make.

I used to boast it cost me less than a dollar to get her drunk. Staggering drunk, pass out on the floor drunk cost $1.50. That was opposed to $60 bar bills to take her out on the town. Oh, it was an affair to remember when telling wild tales.

When our affair was over, I sold the five gallon carboy.

Five. Yorkshire pudding is my favorite.

Best breakfast that I ever had was travelling 2nd class on a Scandinavian ferry sailing Leith to Reykjavik.

No black pudding for me please.

@Lorajay Can't beat a good Lancashire black pudding.

@Lorajay with American mustard or original Crosse & Blackwell piccalilli.

Isn't goulash from Hungary? And some very nice pastries?

[en.m.wikipedia.org] - have you tried them all properly cooked?

@FrayedBear You would think in 3 months I would find something properly cooked. The pastries were beautiful but not all that great tasting to me. I found a restaurant that cooked trout quite well I ate there at least once a week but the lack of green vegetables created a constant craving. The popular street food called langos was okay some places and tasteless others.

@Lorajay you didn't know the right people to ask and stopped looking after finding a place almost tolerable.

@FrayedBear I was with my girlfriend who had lived there for a year. I loved the people. My friend had Aunts and n cousins both in Budapest and a small village. They graciously fed me Easter dinner which was OK but not really my cup of tea. It sounds like you really like Hungarian food.

@Lorajay No, I only occasionally make myself a goulash and have experienced few pastries if any. Just know that they have a reputation. I prefer not to wipe out any cuisine without having first giving it a fair crack of the ladle or knife and fork!

Exactly compared to Irish taties, cabbage & turnips! Though there is that ghastly mouse dropping flavoured stuff Londoners seem to love - cod's roe? But perhaps the sample I had from the fish & chip shop was left over from the previous month.

No the lesson is to sample and savour widely without letting your prejudices taint what you taste.

I will always remember with delight feeding elderly women freshly cooked turkey liver #turkeyliver. Australians particularly older country white women look down their winkled prune like noses at meat offal.
One in particular was very vociferous with her "ooh I couldn't eat that!" After her friends came clamouring for seconds she tried it and was herself soon requesting more.

Pressing on the # takes you to the recipe.