Er.. yeah. You're conflating two issues. The fact we started to use foreign language words to 'gentrify' the places we went out to eat is totally separate to whether Britain has at any point had or not had what would now probably be called a 'food culture'.
The idea Britain is somehow a culinary backwater was true, but for only roughly the first three quarters of the 20th century when things stagnated pretty badly. Before them we had a culinary culture that was actually roughly on par with France. There are numerous reasons why British culinary traditions aren't as revered by us as much as some others - the aristocratic influx following the French revolution, the trade and cultural cross pollination from the British Empire and just basic old fashion. One reason why French cuisine is revered while English isn't is simply historical - they've always been much more protective of their 'native culture' and thus things like culinary traditions are seem as important and to be valued, which gives the impression of prestige we don't attach to our equivalent.
A fine example is the actual etymological history of the nickname 'rosbifs', rather than the most often quoted one, which is wrong.
Jon
