Japanese foodie has become obsessed with carveries since moving to UK

Forget Sushi or Ramen, a Japanese foodie has decided the humble carvery is her new favourite food after moving to the UK.

The pub-classic has proven an unlikely hit with graduate Ariyo Fukui who now can’t say no to a plate of lamb and beef roast.

While many Brits associate the meal with all-you-can-eat lukewarm buffets, or bemoan how terribly its often cooked, Ariyo has started TikToking about her new found love.

The 27-year-old said her friends in Japan warned her that all British food was ‘rubbish’ and flavourless when she moved to Bristol from Tokyo last September.

She was first taken to a family-run carvery by her English boyfriend and admits to be being slightly intimidated by the massive portion sizes at first.

But, after a few trips, she developed a taste for it and now even cooks roasts for herself at home.

‘It wasn’t something that I enjoyed on my first try, but it grew on me afterwards,’ she said.

‘What I get is lamb, beef, mashed potatoes, steamed vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli, stuffing, roast potatoes and Yorkshire puddings.

‘It’s what I get each time. Whenever I have the chance to get lamb, I can’t avoid it. It’s my favourite meat.’

Ariyo admits she’s run into difficulty cooking a carvery herself as it’s ‘quite easy’ to dry out the beef and ‘a lot of stuff needs prepping at the same time’ so instead she prefers the one on offer at the restaurant.

‘My favourite part of an English carvery is the combination of the meat and vegetables. I think it’s quite a well-balanced dish,’ she said.

‘The meat for example isn’t deep fried, it’s just grilled. It’s not super unhealthy – whereas something like fish and chips can be quite unhealthy.

‘I like the flavour of British food, how you can pour gravy over it, how you can bring in mustards and that kind of thing.

‘As for Yorkshire puddings, they’re a bit strange for me. They’re not bread, they don’t have any strong flavour. But they go well with everything – gravy, salt and pepper, and other sauces.’

Ariyo is now on a mission to spread the carvery love back home in Japan and change people’s perceptions about British food.

She says she fears people in the country underestimate ‘how nice it actually is.’

‘I guess there’s this idea that British food is flavourless. For us, fish and chips is just a deep fried fish, there’s not really any taste,’ she said.

‘I think that’s why people think British food tastes bland.’

‘I do miss Japanese food, especially raw fish. Before I came to the UK, I thought, “Well, it’s an island just like Japan, so there’ll be loads of seafood”. But it’s quite rare, I think, to have different types of fish here.

‘When I was in high school, there was a program for people to go to Cambridge University for a month during the summer holidays.

‘A few of my friends went, and when they came back, they told me they didn’t like British food at all. Perhaps they’d just been eating “school food”.

‘I think generally, in Japan, we underestimate British food. People from abroad don’t realise how nice British food actually is.’

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