They're a series of islands in Europe*, most of them pretty close to the European mainland. I'm from another European island, a bit further out. The next landmass over is North America.

Ignoring e.g. Falklands for this.

Hey, don't knock the UK's traditional recipes. The British should learn to be far more proud of their food.

People who will dismiss Shepherd's Pie (a tremendous dish when made well) will then go weak-kneed at a bloody moussaka or beef ragu because they're fancy and exotic... There's nothing wrong with a steak and kidney pud, or a bloody good roast with all the trimmings, or a corned-beef hash, or a cornish pasty, or a good kedgeree made with leftovers or.... Well, point is there is loads of amazing food in the UK culinary tradition. That most of it doesn't involve salad leaves artfully balanced on top of a cherry tomato owes more to climate than cuisine; nobody wants that shit when it's winter outside 11 months in 12.

I swear the whole "British cuisine is bad" thing is just a conspiracy cooked up by the French in order to distract everyone from the fact they've elevated overcomplicating otherwise thoroughly unremarkable dishes to an artform. If you've ever worked in a French factory and had to chew on horsemeat with the texture of a car tire in the canteen, you'd know the caraffe of cooking wine isn't there to provide a touch of exotic class, it's to try and numb the tastebuds. (The Italians though, they get to judge tbf.)

The British diet may be awful, but it's not because British cuisine is awful, it's mainly because of shovelling junk food - mainly US in origin - instead of the traditional food.

But it's in the UK. Honestly, I think that whole set of nations and kingdoms and islands and whatnots was constructed by a demented maths professor for an exam on Venn diagrams.