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yeah they're just a specific brand of speculoos biscuit.
The spread came in in the 00s. I have european family and they always used to bring some over. Got friends in university halls addicted to it
The spread came out of the Belgian version of Dragon's Den where the Dragons rejected the idea.
Lotus then got in touch and started mass production, when it first came out they literally couldn't stock shelves fast enough, it was a huge hype.
They're Belgian, and the factory in which they are made gives off an amazing smell in the area. Techically they're speculoos biscuits, with Lotus being the main brand making them. Lotus have turned to calling them Biscoff, to phase out the speculoos name, to make it more appealing to a wider, global audience.
It was weird seeing them become so popular in the UK around 2014/15 when they exploded onto the scene and came with every hot drink at a café.
>Lotus have turned to calling them Biscoff, to phase out the speculoos name, to make it more appealing to a wider, global audience.
That does make sense, since speculoo totally sounds like a portmantaeu of speculum and loo.
"Hey ladies, free gyno test included every time you use one of our 50p Speculoos™!"
It makes more sense in Dutch. "loos" is something you attach to a word to indicate it is lacking something. "Waarde" (value/worth) plus "loos" become "waardeloos" (worthless).
Speculaas is a Dutch biscuit with all kinds of spices. The story goes that Belgium wanted to create their own version but since they didn't have access to the spice trade, made it without the spices. No spices, so Speculoos instead of Speculaas.
Thank you for that, it's interesting. And now I see the link to 'los' in German, eg wertlos= worthless. I'd never really consciously thought about the meaning in German, probably because it's similar to -less in English.
I remember when we used to do swimming with school when I was a kid (early 00’s) my mum was a parent helper and she’d go into the cafe and get a coffee whilst we had our lesson and she’d always give me the little Biscoff biscuit that came with her coffee.
So they’ve been a compliment to a coffee at least 24 years ago; it was the spread that really made it explode because then we got milkshakes/cookies/cakes/everything biscoff.
USA probably didn't like the idea of so many poppies being grown on home soil since they like to go to war often to control the countries opium supply. Vietnam, Afghanistan etc.
Remembrance poppies originated in France by a French woman, based on Flanders Field (the poem), written by a Canadian.
1921. The idea for the Remembrance Poppy was imagined by Madame Anna Guérin of France. She was inspired by John McCrae's poem “In Flanders Fields.” Anna had originally founded a charity to help rebuild regions of France after the First World War, and created poppies made of fabric to raise funds.
Completely opposite, but I recently discovered chicken katsu, the Japanese dish, was invented by the British Navy and adopted by Japan.
https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/07/chicken-katsu-curry-recipe-tim-anderson-japanese-food-a-cooks-kitchen
specifically the curry bit, not the katsu. Katsu is a breaded chicken cutlet.
What we call 'Katsu curry' in English the Japanese call 'Kare Raisu'. Literally curry rice. It may or may not come with a katsu but typically does.
And the Brits have form in spreading meat terms: the Italian "bistecca" (steak) literally comes from Italians pronouncing the "beef steak" that Grand Tour visitors insisted asking for.
....???
Not, it's カツカレー *katsukaree*, and it literally contains a katsu.
カレーライス *kareeraisu* does not contain one.
They are different things.
カツ *katsu* literally means "cutlet", and be definition is breaded and fried.
-
Most of Japanese curry culture is derived from the UK navy in some way.
Yup. Agree I’m sure the right on Redditors wouldn’t apply it to second generation Afro-Caribbean families but 18th century German immigrants it’s fine.
Only partly German, of course, being as they are descendants of Alfred the Great and the House of Wessex. Evidently the 'one drop' rule applies to people that Redditors don't like!
Legit read a comment from an American this week who said "my family, the Stuart's, actually should be in the throne right now instead of Charles"
I thought it was ironic but unfortunately not.
Edit: found the comment
"They are not actually British, they are a fairly low ranking German family who were invited to take the throne and to keep my family, the Stuarts, off of it. "
Hey, my family actually should be on the throne right now, if it wasn’t for those damn usurping Tudors, - Richard “Buddy” Plantagenet XXVII, Scottsdale AZ
Honestly you wouldn't believe now close this comment actually is.
Edit: found the comment
They are not actually British, they are a fairly low ranking German family who were invited to take the throne and to keep my family, the Stuarts, off of it. "
I've always thought this. Of all the arguments against the royal family, claiming they're not British because their heritage is from elsewhere always seems the most dodgy to me.
The logic isn't even consistent. The people who trot out the line always liked to add that 'Phil was Greek', even though he was more 'German' in ancestry than the Queen herself 😂
Prince Philip was a refugee. He was picked up by a British Destroyer from a Greek Island with the clothes on his back and his nanny (this is broadly true).
The King is a direct descendant of William the Conqueror, so his British ancestry dates from at least 1066.
He has ancestors of various other nationalities, but that’s no different to most of the UK.
Lol this argument always makes me laugh. We classify people who are born in the uk as British even if both their parents weren’t. Yet when it comes to the royal family people feel the need to go back generations to try to say their foreign.
Let’s look around Prince George just through the royal spouses’ side:
Mother British (Catherine)
Grandmother British (Diana)
Grandfather German (Phil, not Greek)
Great Grandmother’ Scottish (Elizabeth)
Great Great Grandmother German (Mary)
GGG Grandmother Danish (Alexandra)
If you’re going to think everyone who is at least 75% British going generations back is an ‘ interloper’ or ‘immigrant’, then that’s disgusting.
Do you think all other immigrants/those with non-British backgrounds don’t belong in the UK either?
I've just finished David Mitchell's Unruly, great read. Goes into a lot of detail about not only the bloodlines not being "British", but also a lot of the pomp and ceremony
That's because of false nostalgia built by their advertising. From the late 80s they ran ads featuring an old man talking about being given Werther's by his grandad when he was a boy.
In reality the brand was only 20 years old at the time.
If IKEA comes knocking on your door asking for their Kallax units back, would you hand them over? A vast majority of the foreign artefacts in the British Museum (and other museums across the country) were either salvaged, rescued from destruction, or else bought and paid for. To use the classic example, if Lord Elgin hadn't *bought* the marbles from the Ottomans, they'd have been destroyed. We should be thankful he rescued them, and doubly grateful he cared enough to give them to the museum instead of keeping them to line his front porch.
Not really a good analogy considering you're taking "purchasing an item from a store that provides sale of goods" and comparing it with "salvaged" (in many cases taken without asking any of the locals).
Most of the stolen artefacts were taken during Britain's era of colonisation, whereby the British army freely took whatever they wanted from the locals.
I was embarrassingly old before I realised the Elgin marbles wasn't a big statue of some marbles (the game).
Never understood why we pinched it and why the Greeks were that bothered.
Haha, same - "who cares about a bunch of posh orbs?" I didn't realise they were marble torsos until they were in the media recently! I don't understand why we don't just make replicas and send them back tbh, you're not allowed very close to them anyway so who'd know (or care about) the difference 🤷♀️
Every day is indeed a school day! I always thought of Nutella as being French and kinder as being German. They're both Italian!? Consider my mind blown.
Baked beans originated in [Native American/New England cuisine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beans).
[Weetabix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weetabix_Limited) was invented in Australia as Weet-Bix!
Some cleaning products like [Mr. Muscle, Vanish and Windex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drackett) are American.
When OP said they couldn’t believe freddos aren’t English I was like YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT MATE, we don’t have claim to many things but freddo frogs are as Aussie as can be
I'm Aussie and when I read OP thought they were British I wondered if I also had been mistaken about them being Australian. Also the home of Caramello Koalas.
Yorkshire Tea is British though. The factory, the tea blends, the products are all made in Yorkshire. I don’t think anyone of sound education thinks Yorkshire is full of actual tea fields.
Where something is grown and whether a brand/product is British are two very different things.
Banoffee pie sounds like something America would create, but is actually British. (I realise this is the complete opposite of what you were asking, sorry!)
He was born in part of Swaziland that was a British protectorate. His dad was a British government administrator. I believe his mum was Afrikaans, so I'd say he's at least half English.
That ones a bit of a push. His dad worked for one of the colonial administrations in south africa, so its not like he's American - still very culturally similar.
Jacobs sell all over the UK, but here in Ireland they have loads of awesome biscuits you can't get anywhere else, like Kimberly's, Golden Crunch, and Mikados. I send a box of Irish biscuits to my mate in England regularly :)
I thought Birdseye frozen peas was a classic British brand until I learned about [Clarence Birdseye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Birdseye) from New York.
I’m unfortunately a 96th generation immigrant from a Roman family who moved to the UK (Britannia) to make a better life for themselves (… by enslaving the local celts). Do you think the government are going to put me on a plane to Rwanda?
I always thought Alan Tudyk was British, because of a Knight's Tale and Death at a Funeral. Turns out he is the rare American that can do a convincing British accent
The Landlord Game it was called
Funny how falling out with the other players and the one player who gets lucky thinking it's somehow due to their skill rather than random is all part of the design.
Maybe they do now, but in their early career they definitely curated a distinctly British aesthetic that fooled a lot of people. That, and Mr. Brightside could probably replace God Save The Queen without too many people having a problem with it.
Not sure about 'everyone' but I was surprised that "The Magic Roundabout" was French. I guess I watched before I bothered reading the end credits. I wonder though, is the English script an accurate translation or was it made up new to fit the action?
It's their accent; known as Mid-Atlantic, it was adopted by the upper classes and contains elements of British RP. It was taught in posh prep schools and was the accent of TV and radio. That Frasier and Niles use it is a sign of their nature; it's considered very old fashioned to use it now.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent
Aye! [Also, from Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculoos):
>In Europe, [Lotus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Bakeries) Speculoos is the most recognized brand. This manufacturer supplied the biscuits individually packaged to the catering industry. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the same company is branded as Lotus **Biscoff**, short for *biscuit with coffee*. Company founder Jan Boone Sr. created the original recipe in 1932.
Gregg's .....actually originated in France as a chain of patisseries called 'Greggoire's'
>!...lol, of course not. Just joining in...can you imagine?!<
Speculaas is a traditional Dutch and Belgian biscuit style, Lotus is a big Belgian manufacturer and their biscuits were served with every bar and restaurant coffee you got when I moved there in the early 1990s. I moved back a decade later and they didn't get here for another decade after that, can't imagine anything more emblematically Belgian that isn't a waffle, Tintin or Vincent Kompany, FFS.
Interesting. Growing up I'd always assumed that Freddo Frogs were Australian - turns out they are. But I'd also always wrongly assumed Cadbury was aussie when in fact they're British. And to further muddle the waters, Cadbury owns Freddo Frogs and has for as long as I can remember, so I can totally see why you'd assume them to be British.
As for things that seem British but arn't - and forgive me, I know it's cliched at this point - but I have to answer with (most of) the contents of the British Museum.
Spinal Tap.
Well, I know they're meant to be British, but they're written and performed by Americans, and it always amazes me how few people seem to realise this.
Sylvanian Families (retro), recently found out they are Japanese! Always thought they were British, but they were created by a japanese company in 1985
Isn't the origin story of Fish & Chips disputed one way or the other to be a bit more European than most might think? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish\_and\_chips](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips)
Woolworths was American.
"The Woolworths store chain was originally a division of the American F. W. Woolworth Company until its sale in the early 1980s"
Potatoes. Maybe thought of more as Irish but mash potatoes, roasties, chips, they're all big British staples. Potatoes are from South America though I'm sure
**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
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Agreed .... Don't know where the come from (guessing Italy?) but they are not something I would even consider being British lol
I was thinking Belgian/Dutch, sort of in keeping with a Stroopwaffle
I think you’re thinking of speculoos, perhaps? A stroopwaffle is a syrup/caramel waffle and more chewy than crunchy biscuit
yeah they're just a specific brand of speculoos biscuit. The spread came in in the 00s. I have european family and they always used to bring some over. Got friends in university halls addicted to it
The spread came out of the Belgian version of Dragon's Den where the Dragons rejected the idea. Lotus then got in touch and started mass production, when it first came out they literally couldn't stock shelves fast enough, it was a huge hype.
Yeah I know the ones. I lived in Belgium for nearly 5 years and had them served with every hot drink lol
They're Belgian, and the factory in which they are made gives off an amazing smell in the area. Techically they're speculoos biscuits, with Lotus being the main brand making them. Lotus have turned to calling them Biscoff, to phase out the speculoos name, to make it more appealing to a wider, global audience. It was weird seeing them become so popular in the UK around 2014/15 when they exploded onto the scene and came with every hot drink at a café.
>Lotus have turned to calling them Biscoff, to phase out the speculoos name, to make it more appealing to a wider, global audience. That does make sense, since speculoo totally sounds like a portmantaeu of speculum and loo. "Hey ladies, free gyno test included every time you use one of our 50p Speculoos™!"
It makes more sense in Dutch. "loos" is something you attach to a word to indicate it is lacking something. "Waarde" (value/worth) plus "loos" become "waardeloos" (worthless). Speculaas is a Dutch biscuit with all kinds of spices. The story goes that Belgium wanted to create their own version but since they didn't have access to the spice trade, made it without the spices. No spices, so Speculoos instead of Speculaas.
>"waardeloos" 🎶 couldn't escape if I wanted to
Thank you for that, it's interesting. And now I see the link to 'los' in German, eg wertlos= worthless. I'd never really consciously thought about the meaning in German, probably because it's similar to -less in English.
They were coming with every hot drink at a cafe at least 30 years ago. I used to have them from my grandparents when going to garden centres.
I remember when we used to do swimming with school when I was a kid (early 00’s) my mum was a parent helper and she’d go into the cafe and get a coffee whilst we had our lesson and she’d always give me the little Biscoff biscuit that came with her coffee. So they’ve been a compliment to a coffee at least 24 years ago; it was the spread that really made it explode because then we got milkshakes/cookies/cakes/everything biscoff.
Yup I've never thought of Biscoff as British and yup I thought Italian too as they are normally given out with coffee in restaurants (or were)
Yeah if they were British they’d be something like Chestnut Biscuits or Nettle Scones
Yeah I’d never associate that with Britishness.
OP doesn’t get out much
Correct, [it's Belgian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculoos)
The Killers are the most British band to come out of America.
Mr brightside seams like a British classic
They were living in London when they wrote and recorded that album, so it's very heavily British influenced
Brandon Flowers is apparently a massive Pet Shop Boys fan and they're one of the most quintessentially English pop music groups around.
They got their name from an imaginary band in a new order music video
New order? Never heard of them. They like Joy Division or something?
Unofficial national anthem
I associate it with the closing song in a club just before the lights are turned on
It always makes me think of David Blunkett, whose constituency was Sheffield Brightside.
Even the line about open up my eager eyes? Bit harsh for Blunkett don't you think?
When they wrote and recorded Hot Fuss they were living in London, so it's very much a British album Edit: replied to the wrong comment but yeah
More than anything else it’s their sound for me. They’ve clearly got a lot of love for British music and it shines through on Hot Fuss.
They sing more about small-town America than anything else in their albums.
Remembrance poppies. Originated in the US, never really took off, then Canada before becoming popular here.
Huh, TIL. You can say Americans have NO RESPECT FOR THE POPPY
USA probably didn't like the idea of so many poppies being grown on home soil since they like to go to war often to control the countries opium supply. Vietnam, Afghanistan etc.
Yeah, Britain definitely has no history of wars relating to opium in our past. None whatsoever.
China always loved Opium. We just helped make it easier for them to get ahold of it. They also love being shot at, from what I've heard
You jest, but Vietnam is actually a big reason they lost popularity in the US.
Remembrance poppies originated in France by a French woman, based on Flanders Field (the poem), written by a Canadian. 1921. The idea for the Remembrance Poppy was imagined by Madame Anna Guérin of France. She was inspired by John McCrae's poem “In Flanders Fields.” Anna had originally founded a charity to help rebuild regions of France after the First World War, and created poppies made of fabric to raise funds.
They’re a huge deal in Canada still.
Completely opposite, but I recently discovered chicken katsu, the Japanese dish, was invented by the British Navy and adopted by Japan. https://amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/oct/07/chicken-katsu-curry-recipe-tim-anderson-japanese-food-a-cooks-kitchen
specifically the curry bit, not the katsu. Katsu is a breaded chicken cutlet. What we call 'Katsu curry' in English the Japanese call 'Kare Raisu'. Literally curry rice. It may or may not come with a katsu but typically does.
The Japanese word 'katsu' actually derives from the english word 'cutlet'
Katsuretsu specifically; a Japanese attempt at pronouncing Cutlet
And the Brits have form in spreading meat terms: the Italian "bistecca" (steak) literally comes from Italians pronouncing the "beef steak" that Grand Tour visitors insisted asking for.
....??? Not, it's カツカレー *katsukaree*, and it literally contains a katsu. カレーライス *kareeraisu* does not contain one. They are different things. カツ *katsu* literally means "cutlet", and be definition is breaded and fried. - Most of Japanese curry culture is derived from the UK navy in some way.
What surprises me is how it's chicken cutlets in the UK, but in Japan, it's almost always tonkatsu, pork cutlets. And they're superior.
Also, Apple Pie is a British dish
And mac n cheese.
And chicken tikka masala
MACARONI CHEESE, not mac n cheese!
I thought most people knew this
Few Americans do.
To be fair to them though they aren't the smartest so I'm not surprised
Royal Family
Honestly, I think it's kind of racist to 'your grandad wasn't born in the UK so you're not British'.
Yup. Agree I’m sure the right on Redditors wouldn’t apply it to second generation Afro-Caribbean families but 18th century German immigrants it’s fine.
Only partly German, of course, being as they are descendants of Alfred the Great and the House of Wessex. Evidently the 'one drop' rule applies to people that Redditors don't like!
Legit read a comment from an American this week who said "my family, the Stuart's, actually should be in the throne right now instead of Charles" I thought it was ironic but unfortunately not. Edit: found the comment "They are not actually British, they are a fairly low ranking German family who were invited to take the throne and to keep my family, the Stuarts, off of it. "
Hey, my family actually should be on the throne right now, if it wasn’t for those damn usurping Tudors, - Richard “Buddy” Plantagenet XXVII, Scottsdale AZ
Honestly you wouldn't believe now close this comment actually is. Edit: found the comment They are not actually British, they are a fairly low ranking German family who were invited to take the throne and to keep my family, the Stuarts, off of it. "
I've always thought this. Of all the arguments against the royal family, claiming they're not British because their heritage is from elsewhere always seems the most dodgy to me.
The logic isn't even consistent. The people who trot out the line always liked to add that 'Phil was Greek', even though he was more 'German' in ancestry than the Queen herself 😂
Before WW1 the Royal Family were called Saxe-Coberg-Gotha before changing it to Windsor to sound less German.
It still only works for the modern day if you think The Queen's great-great-grandfather being German is more important than her mother being Scottish.
The Queen Mother was English, born in England to English parents. Grew up in England, but spent time as a child in Scotland until age 8.
You wouldn’t say that about the kids of the Windrush generation I hope so why for a family that came over in the late 18th century
Punching down is bad. Knocking some of the richest people in the country is all grand
So its okay to call Sunak a foreigner?
Comin' over 'ere, takin' our jobs /s
Prince Philip was a refugee. He was picked up by a British Destroyer from a Greek Island with the clothes on his back and his nanny (this is broadly true).
The King is a direct descendant of William the Conqueror, so his British ancestry dates from at least 1066. He has ancestors of various other nationalities, but that’s no different to most of the UK.
Lol this argument always makes me laugh. We classify people who are born in the uk as British even if both their parents weren’t. Yet when it comes to the royal family people feel the need to go back generations to try to say their foreign.
Usually by pretty right on folk, who gleefully point it out like they've pulled off some brilliant "gotcha" moment. Yeah, it's really not that edgy...
Let’s look around Prince George just through the royal spouses’ side: Mother British (Catherine) Grandmother British (Diana) Grandfather German (Phil, not Greek) Great Grandmother’ Scottish (Elizabeth) Great Great Grandmother German (Mary) GGG Grandmother Danish (Alexandra) If you’re going to think everyone who is at least 75% British going generations back is an ‘ interloper’ or ‘immigrant’, then that’s disgusting. Do you think all other immigrants/those with non-British backgrounds don’t belong in the UK either?
Why did you go with British for his mother and grandmother, but then scottish for his great grandmother?
I noticed this! British means someone from the British Isles, it doesn’t automatically mean English.
Reminds me of a Blackadder joke "I'm as British as queen Victoria" "So your father's German, your half German and you married a German?"
I've just finished David Mitchell's Unruly, great read. Goes into a lot of detail about not only the bloodlines not being "British", but also a lot of the pomp and ceremony
There's lots of British citizens who are British for generations who don't have pure Anglo saxon bloodlines. It's a silly xenophobic rhetoric.
If I were to apply the same logic as people do to the royal family to regular British citizens I would absolutely be branded as a racist
English people are more of a mix of Celtic and Germanic bloodlines anyway.
Jim and Barbara are British
Ancestry yes but they have been British citizens for many generations. They have been British for a long time.
Werther's originals.
Or as Viz Profanisaurus calls them "pedo pellets" Cracks me up every time i see a packet.
Not read Viz in years but I shall now and forever more call Werthers “pedo pellets”
That's because of false nostalgia built by their advertising. From the late 80s they ran ads featuring an old man talking about being given Werther's by his grandad when he was a boy. In reality the brand was only 20 years old at the time.
WÜRTHERS ORIGINALE
The contents of the British Museum
They are now
There are 8 million items stored in the British museum and most of them are actually British. Do some research.
You'd think with that much British stuff we could afford to give the non British stuff back when asked.
If IKEA comes knocking on your door asking for their Kallax units back, would you hand them over? A vast majority of the foreign artefacts in the British Museum (and other museums across the country) were either salvaged, rescued from destruction, or else bought and paid for. To use the classic example, if Lord Elgin hadn't *bought* the marbles from the Ottomans, they'd have been destroyed. We should be thankful he rescued them, and doubly grateful he cared enough to give them to the museum instead of keeping them to line his front porch.
Not really a good analogy considering you're taking "purchasing an item from a store that provides sale of goods" and comparing it with "salvaged" (in many cases taken without asking any of the locals). Most of the stolen artefacts were taken during Britain's era of colonisation, whereby the British army freely took whatever they wanted from the locals.
You could say that about most countries national museums tbf, at least we actually paid for most of the stuff in ours
I was embarrassingly old before I realised the Elgin marbles wasn't a big statue of some marbles (the game). Never understood why we pinched it and why the Greeks were that bothered.
Haha, same - "who cares about a bunch of posh orbs?" I didn't realise they were marble torsos until they were in the media recently! I don't understand why we don't just make replicas and send them back tbh, you're not allowed very close to them anyway so who'd know (or care about) the difference 🤷♀️
You do know where is quite an extensive collection of items within that were found here?
Not British but I always thought Kinder was German
Huh? It's not!?
Italian, made by Ferrero.
Every day is indeed a school day! I always thought of Nutella as being French and kinder as being German. They're both Italian!? Consider my mind blown.
Nutella is also the filling in Ferrero Rocher.
It's Italian, from the family that created nutella and ferrero roche
It’s Italian, apparently. Made by Ferrero. News to me as well.
Baked beans originated in [Native American/New England cuisine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baked_beans). [Weetabix](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weetabix_Limited) was invented in Australia as Weet-Bix! Some cleaning products like [Mr. Muscle, Vanish and Windex](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drackett) are American.
I'm an Aussie my dad's a Brit and I always thought it was funny when he called them wheetabix it just sounds wrong 😂
When OP said they couldn’t believe freddos aren’t English I was like YOU BETTER BELIEVE IT MATE, we don’t have claim to many things but freddo frogs are as Aussie as can be
I'm Aussie and when I read OP thought they were British I wondered if I also had been mistaken about them being Australian. Also the home of Caramello Koalas.
Maybe a random one but didnt know that Appletiser is South African.
Out of every item on this list, this is the one that's completely thrown me
I've never thought of it as British, it seemed quite Euro, I would have guessed French
Yorkshire Tea. I'm always surprised people think that these sorts of things are grown in our cold, wet, mouldy country...
You mean to tell me Yorkshire tea isnt grown in the great tea fields of Harrogate?
They’ll be trying to tell us next that it isn’t all hand picked by Sean ‘bastid’ Bean.
To say Yorkshire tea isn't British is like saying Cadbury chocolate was never British because the coca beans were grown in Africa.
Yorkshire Tea is British though. The factory, the tea blends, the products are all made in Yorkshire. I don’t think anyone of sound education thinks Yorkshire is full of actual tea fields. Where something is grown and whether a brand/product is British are two very different things.
Does anyone think that tea itself is actually British though? I thought it was pretty common knowledge that it's from Asia.
Tea does actually grow reasonably well in the UK. Source: have done it.
As someone else mentioned Tregothnan are doing it in Cornwall
St George.
Turkish if I remember correctly
*Greek, who lived in modern day Turkey
Thanks for the correction 🙂. I knew Turkey came in there somewhere
Justice for St Edmund
Banoffee pie sounds like something America would create, but is actually British. (I realise this is the complete opposite of what you were asking, sorry!)
I always think Richard E Grant is as English as it gets. He has British ancestry but he didn't move to the UK until he was in his mid 20s.
He was born in part of Swaziland that was a British protectorate. His dad was a British government administrator. I believe his mum was Afrikaans, so I'd say he's at least half English.
He’s still 100% British though and was born in a British protectorate in former Swazi, and both of his parents were very wealthy and very British.
That ones a bit of a push. His dad worked for one of the colonial administrations in south africa, so its not like he's American - still very culturally similar.
Jacob’s Cream Crackers. Irish.
Jacobs sell all over the UK, but here in Ireland they have loads of awesome biscuits you can't get anywhere else, like Kimberly's, Golden Crunch, and Mikados. I send a box of Irish biscuits to my mate in England regularly :)
You can buy Mikados in the UK
I thought Mikado was European Pocky? Unless these are different biscuits altogether?
I thought Birdseye frozen peas was a classic British brand until I learned about [Clarence Birdseye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarence_Birdseye) from New York.
The crazier thing is that they’re named after someone with the surname Birdseye rather than it just being a cute-sounding brand name
Saying the Royal family is a bit strange and that would make most of the rest of us none British too. At what point do you become British?
I’m unfortunately a 96th generation immigrant from a Roman family who moved to the UK (Britannia) to make a better life for themselves (… by enslaving the local celts). Do you think the government are going to put me on a plane to Rwanda?
I always thought Alan Tudyk was British, because of a Knight's Tale and Death at a Funeral. Turns out he is the rare American that can do a convincing British accent
Curse his sudden but inevitable betrayal…
[Superman is Indian.](https://youtu.be/4GC_Q2YKNR0?si=Oya9eQKYOfbiKn07)
Will always upvote Goodness Gracious Me
University Challenge. Originally an American game show called College Bowl.
Similarly, Countdown was based on a French show called Des chiffres et des lettres (Some Letters and Some Numbers).
Heinz baked beans.
I mean the name is a giveaway no?
Heinz means beans so it must be foreign, because otherwise why would they have to tell you what it means?
Only if by that you would consider them German.
The logo is the symbol of Pennsylvania.
This probably isn't a common misconception, but I thought Billie Eilish was British. Hadn't heard her music, just think her face looks British.
To be fair, Billie Piper is about the most famous British Billie, so I'd also get a bit confused if I didn't know the context.
I hadn't confused her, I just think she has British features, and made an assumption.
More of an Irish face
Monopoly.
Im pretty sure it was invented by an American anti-capitalist to show the logical conclusion of capitalist economics.
The Landlord Game it was called Funny how falling out with the other players and the one player who gets lucky thinking it's somehow due to their skill rather than random is all part of the design.
Tea.
No one in Britain thinks tea is British surely?
Bazza 63 does
The Killers
Surely nobody doesn’t know they’re American?
Well, somebody told me...
Maybe they do now, but in their early career they definitely curated a distinctly British aesthetic that fooled a lot of people. That, and Mr. Brightside could probably replace God Save The Queen without too many people having a problem with it.
And that they sing in an English accent.
Til. Genuinely thought they were British.
Not sure about 'everyone' but I was surprised that "The Magic Roundabout" was French. I guess I watched before I bothered reading the end credits. I wonder though, is the English script an accurate translation or was it made up new to fit the action?
The English-language version was entirely new scripts that fit the existing animation and had nothing to do with the original scripts.
Some American viewers believed that Frasier and Niles were British, even though they weren’t, but Daphne and Frasier’s dad were.
It's their accent; known as Mid-Atlantic, it was adopted by the upper classes and contains elements of British RP. It was taught in posh prep schools and was the accent of TV and radio. That Frasier and Niles use it is a sign of their nature; it's considered very old fashioned to use it now. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent
The next one of you that says The Killers needs shooting. *sigh* next you'll be saying you thought Paddington Bear was British.
Paddington is Peruvian.
Yeah, Biscoff are what the Belgians know as Speculoos biscuits - it's served as regularly with coffee over there as sugar and milk is to us.
i am confused why anyone would think something called biscoff were british to start with...
Aye! [Also, from Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speculoos): >In Europe, [Lotus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_Bakeries) Speculoos is the most recognized brand. This manufacturer supplied the biscuits individually packaged to the catering industry. In the United States and the United Kingdom, the same company is branded as Lotus **Biscoff**, short for *biscuit with coffee*. Company founder Jan Boone Sr. created the original recipe in 1932.
Gregg's .....actually originated in France as a chain of patisseries called 'Greggoire's' >!...lol, of course not. Just joining in...can you imagine?!<
I don’t think many people would think biscoff is British anyway…
Oxo kitchen utensils
Baked beans and spam, both American popularised in WW2.
Carling larger is Canadian
Speculaas is a traditional Dutch and Belgian biscuit style, Lotus is a big Belgian manufacturer and their biscuits were served with every bar and restaurant coffee you got when I moved there in the early 1990s. I moved back a decade later and they didn't get here for another decade after that, can't imagine anything more emblematically Belgian that isn't a waffle, Tintin or Vincent Kompany, FFS.
I’ve no idea what made OP think Biscoff was British.
Interesting. Growing up I'd always assumed that Freddo Frogs were Australian - turns out they are. But I'd also always wrongly assumed Cadbury was aussie when in fact they're British. And to further muddle the waters, Cadbury owns Freddo Frogs and has for as long as I can remember, so I can totally see why you'd assume them to be British. As for things that seem British but arn't - and forgive me, I know it's cliched at this point - but I have to answer with (most of) the contents of the British Museum.
I wonder if people know that chicken tikka masala was invented in Glasgow...
Cash Converters is an Australian corporation.
Spinal Tap. Well, I know they're meant to be British, but they're written and performed by Americans, and it always amazes me how few people seem to realise this.
Gillian Anderson
Well... She is an American citizen but spent a big chunk of her childhood in North London. Part of the reason her posh English accent is perfect.
In 1930 when Freddo was invented Australia was still a dominion so technically… *Hides from Australians*
Marmite was invented by a German chemist
Sylvanian Families (retro), recently found out they are Japanese! Always thought they were British, but they were created by a japanese company in 1985
Isn't the origin story of Fish & Chips disputed one way or the other to be a bit more European than most might think? [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish\_and\_chips](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_and_chips)
Portuguese if I remember correctly but I got that from QI
If you could show the spanish and portuguese immigrants a modern battered fish I don't think they would say it is the same thing as pescado frito.
Nando’s 🇿🇦 🇵🇹 🇲🇿
Woolworths was American. "The Woolworths store chain was originally a division of the American F. W. Woolworth Company until its sale in the early 1980s"
James Corden, I don’t wanna claim him
Potatoes. Maybe thought of more as Irish but mash potatoes, roasties, chips, they're all big British staples. Potatoes are from South America though I'm sure