Britain for most of the 20th Century did not have great food - by that I mean the kind of dishes you see in France, Italy, Spain and so on. However almost all food was cooked at home from fresh ingredients and so was relatively healthy - just highly unappealing to anyone who loves flavour, aroma, texture and appearance.

Additionally, for a good portion of her life (1939 to 1954) and Britain was living with severe rationing which resulted in most people eating a lot more vegetables and little butter, lard and sugar. There was also rationing and hardships during the Great War and the Great Depression. While bad for food lovers, it was actually quite good for health.

From the 1980s an increasing amount of the British diet became fast food, prepared meals and ultra-processed foods. These are the actively unhealthy bit of the current British diet.