If you Google for "eating out in Britain" you'll find lots of tourism promotion sites which will tell you that Britain has experienced a culinary revolution in the last 10-20 years. They eulogise the wonderful array of cosmopolitan restaurants in every city centre, and will tell how the British palate is now thoroughly stimulated with a huge range of tastes from around the world. They gush over British pub food, now being elevated to hitherto unknown heights of culinary excellence.

And indeed if you live in the big cities, the affluent commuter counties or in tourist honeypots like the Lake District you'll have no problems finding pubs and restaurants serving excellent food in pleasant surroundings.  Some of it good value, some eye-wateringly expensive.

However in many areas, albeit where tourists are less likely to tread, the situation is less than inspiring.  There are still lots of rather rundown fish and chip shops and greasy-spoon cafes in low rent areas, although many have given way in town centres to US chains like McDonald's and KFC, Chinese takeaways and the doner kebab shops popular with late-night drunks.  Small town hotels tend to specialize in overpriced mediocrity.  Pub food tends to be 'chips with everything.'  Your best bet is to find an Indian restaurant, even the smallest town has at least one.  If there are people sat eating at around 8PM it'll be OK.  If no signs of life it makes its money from the late-night drunks who can afford a bit more than the kebab house above.  Steer clear.

When thinking about food in Britain it's important to distinguish between British cuisine and restaurants in Britain. The British themselves rarely go to a restaurant to eat their own native cuisine, when they go to a restaurant it's most likely to be an Indian, Chinese, Thai, or Italian. There is a very international range of food available both in restaurants and in supermarkets. "Ethnic" restaurants offer probably the best-value eating in Britain. Vegetarian restaurants also offer some of the most imaginative British food, unable as they are to follow the traditional "meat and two veg" formula.

British cuisine is very simple and generally does little to the ingredients - think of the tradtional Sunday roast (roast meat and vegetables), or the cooked breakfast. This means that you need good-quality ingredients, which is why the best British cooking is often to be found out in the countryside where local fresh ingredients are available.

Pubs are now open all day, and many serve food all day as well. Pick a good one, especially a country pub, and you can get good British fare. Look out for pubs displaying Les Routiers signs in the window or by the door, for decent, value for money food, and as an indication of well stored drinks, cask marque signs. Keep away from the those that belong to chains like Harvester or Vintage Inns.  The food in these places is centrally produced then merely assembled and heated on site. There isn't really much you can say for them, but little you can say against them either. At least you know what you are going to get. There are more and more "gastro-pubs" which specialize in food, although they are generally expensive. In London and the big cities, you can get world-class cooking (at world-class prices).

There is one place where Britain excels food-wise, and that is in supermarkets. British supermarkets sell an incredible range of foods from all over the world which enable you to create really quite authentic food in your own kitchen. If you fancy making sushi, for example, all the stuff you need is probably in your local supermarket, imported from Japan. Similarly Italian, Spanish, Indian, Mexican ingredients are all there. If you're invited to a dinner party at someone's house, don't be surprised if you are served something much better than you can get in any restaurant.