England is generally not thought to have a “good” or distinctive national cuisine. Why is this? Why does Japan, geographically similar, have a much more distinctive national cuisine?

There is a similar question about why English cuisine is "bland" here https://www.reddit.com/r/askhistorians/comments/2eqk3h.

I've seen other responses in the past that seemed to indicate wartime rationing was a major cause for "loss of cuisine" though I don't remember where that post was.