I Joked About Brits Putting Tuna On Their Potatoes, And They Were Furious — So I Decided To Try It (2024)

Hi! I'm Kelley, a lover of potatoes in all their forms: French fried, tot'ted, au gratin'ed, boiled, mashed, stuck in a stew — you name it, I'm on board.

Kelley Greene / Via BuzzFeed

Recently, as I was scrolling through TikTok, I saw a couple of videos that stopped me in my tracks. Both featured British folks making baked potatoes (or "jacket potatoes," as they call them) with the most outrageous toppings I'd ever seen: tuna and beans.

I took to Threads to express my surprise, and I was absolutely shocked by the response.

@kelleygreene / Via threads.net

Some Brits were surprisingly upset and very protective of their food choices!!

They were also incredibly confident that this tasted good.

And with responses like these, there was nothing left to do but...try it.

First up, I gathered all my ingredients.

I baked my "jacket" potatoes in the British style rather than the American one since the commenters were concerned about me making the potatoes "right."

I found a recipe from Cup of Jo that involves cutting a cross into the potatoes before putting them in the oven and letting them cook at 400 degrees for two full hours. Then, you take them out, deepen the cuts, and put them back in for another 10 minutes. I've never let a potato bake this long, usually because I'm standing by the oven impatiently waiting for it to be soft enough to eat.

The potatoes came out of the oven looking great!

Then, I quickly prepped my toppings.

I warmed up the beans, shredded the fancy UK cheese, and mixed both cans of tuna with a healthy spoonful of mayo and about half the can of sweet corn.

I plopped a little butter in the potatoes, sprinkled on some salt and pepper, and then spooned on the toppings. I was dubious about their appearance but was ready to eat (against my better judgment).

Then...I tried them. And let me say this: I am the type of person who is willing to admit when I am wrong, and I'm never one to shy away from an apology when necessary.

But as it turns out, I was not wrong. I do think there is an apology in order, Brits, but it's to me, from you, because absolutely none of this tasted even remotely tolerable.

The tuna potato is just...weird. I do not like it. The flavor of the tuna overpowers everything, and the texture of tuna with potato is a mush I would not wish on my worst enemy — even if that enemy had perpetrated taxation without representation.

The bean and aged cheddar potato was not much better. It's all mush, all the time. And the beans are sweet, making it like...a dessert potato.

Between the tuna, the canned corn, and the canned beans, my mouth tastes like I've been licking aluminum foil (that's "aluminium foil" for you Brits).

I'm calling for a total and complete shutdown of all British foods until we can figure out just what the hell is going on over there. I will be spending the rest of the evening coddling my digestive tract.

I burped once during the process of eating these potatoes and nearly died.

Give me Americanized potato toppings or give me death.

So now I have to ask: If you're not British, would you consider trying this? Also, did I do everything wrong somehow? Let me know in the comments.