British food gets a bad rap, particularly from Americans. The French and the Italians like to have a go, too, characterizing U.K. grub as bland, stodgy, and tasteless. But this isn't the reality. Many British comfort foods and rustic, classic dishes do tend to rely on umami flavors, good cheese, and a touch of stodginess -- yes. But food culture is an ever-changing thing, and UK tastes have often been geared towards spice. Current ideas of British food as having zero spice probably come from austerity after World War II with a touch of historical snobbery and a pinch of religiously motivated pseudoscience thrown in for good measure.
The short version goes like this: Spices have been a part of European, and specifically British, food for a very long time. But history has shown that when a previously expensive ingredient isn't expensive anymore, the poor can eat it. And if the poor eat it, the rich tend not to want it anymore. That's what happened in Europe in the 1600s, as spices became more affordable and available. Bland became the new style for the upper classes, while the emerging middle class got to enjoy intense flavor for a while.
Then came Protestantism, and with it the belief that diets based on simple foods like unflavored vegetables, oats, and fresh herbs would promote good health. This changed what was on the average British table. A couple of centuries later, World War II, rationing, and restrictions on trade and travel put the nail in the coffin of British cuisine, or at least its reputation. American soldiers complaining about beans on toast during their tours of duty didn't help much, either.
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While the myth that British food doesn't use spices may have been close to true for a while, in the scope of history, it's rarely been the reality. This is obvious if you look at classic British foods. Piccalilly, chutneys, Christmas mince pies (which are full of fruit, not meat), and ginger biscuits, are all heavily spiced. Even Scotland's national dish, haggis, includes spices like coriander seed, mace, and nutmeg. Americans and others outside the U.K. can be forgiven for not knowing this, as Haggis is banned in the U.S. However, one of the U.K.'s greatest culinary gifts to the world, Worcestershire sauce, can be found in kitchen cabinets from the Midwest to Mexico City, and it's full of spice.
The original recipe for the fermented fish sauce was concocted by chemists John Lea and William Perrins, who kept it a secret. There are plenty of accurate imitations, however, and these include ingredients like cloves and tamarind. Worcestershire sauce was launched in 1830 and is still popular today. So even when cuisine in the U.K. was at its most bland, rumors that it used no spices at all were clearly exaggerated. If they were true, we wouldn't have the tried-and-true Bloody Mary!
Fast forward to modern Britain, and you'll find samosas in the cooler at almost every corner shop, chicken-tikka sandwiches included in supermarket meal deals, and jars of premade jerk marinade and harissa available on any high street. The U.K. has been multi-cultural for a very long time, with immigrants from places like India, Pakistan, and the Caribbean arriving as part of longstanding deals to provide economic opportunities for Commonwealth citizens. These immigrants (and many more, from all over the world) have helped shape a broad food culture in the British Isles that's rich in flavor and in spice. But it's Indian food in particular that has had the U.K. in a chokehold for decades, if not centuries.
The U.K.'s love of Indian food, and curry in particular, comes from centuries of British Imperialism in the Indian subcontinent. While the curries of the U.K. don't have a whole lot in common with authentic Indian food, they are indeed heavily spiced and available all over the place. Even classic British pubs have curries on their menus. In fact, one of the country's most popular chain bars, Wetherspoons, dedicates a whole day to bargain-priced masalas, madrases, and kormas. So the next time someone tells you the British food is bland, you can show them the Thursday Curry Club menu, and tell them they're wrong. They might have co-opted much of it, but the British are obsessed with spice.