[mstevens]

Evidently English cuisine, at least among Nobles, was not as bland as that which it is currently emerging from. Scholars are studying a 500 year old English Cookbook

[thebighat]

There might be. Mark Twain defines a dog as a "lesser Deity" or was it Ambrose Bierce, I disremember.

[Britcook]

Originally posted by mstevens
Evidently English cuisine...was not as bland as that which it is currently emerging from.

English cuisine, at least for the "middle classes" has nearly always been interesting - see Mrs Beeton or Eliza Acton - but there was a period, particularly during World War 2 and several years afterwards, when rationing was in place and that left almost a whole generation that had lost their culinary knowledge. Coupled to relatively short, unreliable, growing seasons (before the advent of agro-chemicals) which meant that the variety of food was also fairly restricted. If the only vegetable you can get is cabbage you tend to get fairly inventive with it (or bored)!
With modern farming techniques and widely available imports British cuisine is returning to its (very tasty) roots.