Contents:

1. Meals and meal times.

2. Breakfast.
3.Lunch.
4. Dinner.
5.Fish and chips.
6. Traditional drinks.
7. Afternoon tea and High tea in England.
8. Special foods.
9. Pudding and Desserts.
10. Pies in England.
11. English cheeses.
12. What food is “invented” or “discovered” in
England?
13. Eating etiquette.
British food has traditionally MEALS AND MEAL TIMES
been based on beef, lamb, pork,
chicken and fish and generally
served with potatoes and one
other vegetable. Some of our We have three
main dishes have strange names main meals a day:
like Bubble & Squeak and Toad-
in-the-Hole. •Breakfast - 7:00 - 9:00,
On Sundays the main meal •Lunch - 12:00 1:30 p.m.
of the day is often eaten at •Dinner (sometimes called
Supper) - The main meal.
midday instead of in the 6:30 - 8:00 p.m. (Evening meal)
evening. This meal usually is
a Roast Dinner consisting of •Tea - 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.
a roast meat, Yorkshire
pudding and two or three
kinds of vegetables.
What is a typical English Breakfast? BREAKFAST

Most people around the

world seem to think a
typical English breakfast
consists of eggs, bacon,
sausages, fried bread,
mushrooms and baked
beans all washed down
with a cup of coffee. Now-
a-days, however, a typical A bowl of cereal is made with different
English breakfast is more grains such as corn, wheat, oats etc.
likely to be a bowl of
The traditional English breakfast which is
cereals, a slice of toast, called The Full English consists of
orange juice and a cup eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread,
of coffee. baked beans and mushrooms. Even
though not many people will eat this for
breakfast today, it is always served in
hotels and guest houses around Britain.
What is a typical British lunch? LUNCH

Many children at school and adults at work will have a 'packed

lunch'. This typically consists of a sandwich, a packet of crisps, a
piece of fruit and a drink. The 'packed lunch' is kept in a plastic
container.
Sandwiches are also
known as a 'butty' or
'sarnie' in some parts
of the UK.
Lots of people prefer
prawn and
mayonnaise, tuna and
mayonnaise and ham
and pickle
sandwiches.
The Sunday Roast Dinner.
Sunday lunch time is a typical time to eat
the traditional Sunday Roast.
Roast Gammon
In British schools, children can usually
choose between a hot or cold dinner
provided by the school or a packed lunch
taken from home.
Some children are entitled to a free school
dinner, but most children pay for theirs.
Our lunch break is from 12.15 noon to 1.15
p.m. and children may have a school meal
or bring a packed lunch.
School lunches are priced at £1.60.

Pasta twirls * Mince beef * Lasagna

What is a traditional British Dinner? DINNER

A typical British meal for dinner is

"meat and two veg". We put hot
brown gravy, (traditionally made from
the juices of the roast meat, but more
often today from a packet!) on the
meat and usually the vegetables. One
of the vegetables is almost always
potatoes. What is a typical British Dinner
like today?
The traditional meal is rarely
eaten nowadays, apart from on
Sundays. A recent survey found
that most people in Britain eat
curry! Rice or pasta dishes are
now favoured as the 'British
Dinner'.
Vegetables grown in England, like potatoes, carrots, peas, cabbages and
onions, are still very popular.
Sunday lunch time is a The Sunday Roast Dinner
typical time to eat the
traditional Sunday Roast.

Traditionally it consists of roast meat,

(cooked in the oven for about two hours),
two different kinds of vegetables and
potatoes with a Yorkshire pudding. The
most common joints are beef, lamb or
pork; chicken is also popular.

Beef is eaten with hot

white horseradish sauce,
pork with sweet apple
sauce and lamb with
green mint sauce. Gravy is
poured over the meat.
 Take-away meals are very
popular and most towns
have a selection of Indian,
Italian, Chinese and Greek
Restaurants. You will also Fish and Chips
find Macdonalds, Burger
King and Subway.

Fish and chips is the classic English take-away food and is the traditional
national food of England. It became popular in the 1860's when railways
began to bring fresh fish straight from the east coast to the our cities over
night.
The fish (cod, haddock, huss,
plaice) is deep fried in flour
batter and is eaten with
chips. Traditionally, the fish
and chips are covered with
salt and malt vinegar .
 Tea. Traditional Drinks in Britain

Britain is a tea-drinking nation.

Every day we drink 165 million cups
of the stuff and each year around
144 thousand tons of tea are
imported.

Tea breaks are when tea and biscuits If someone asks you if you 'would like
are served. The traditional time for tea a cuppa', they are asking if you would
breaks are at 11:00 am (Elevensee) like a cup of tea.
and 4 pm in the afternoon. If someone says 'let me be mother' or
'shall I be mother', they are offering
to pour out the tea from the teapot.
Coffee

Coffee is now as popular in Britain If something is not quite to your

as tea is . People either drink it with taste, it’s probably 'not your cup
milk or have it black and either of tea'.
have freshly- made coffee or instant
 Afternoon Tea and High Tea in England

AFTERNOON TEA (The traditional 4 o'clock tea).

Сrumpets This is a small meal, not a drink.
Traditionally it consists of tea (or coffee) served with:
Freshly baked scones served with cream and jam.
Afternoon tea sandwiches - thinly sliced cucumber
Afternoon tea is not sandwiches with the crusts cut off.
common these days Assorted pastries.
because most adults go
HIGH TEA (The traditional 6 o'clock tea).
out to work. However, you
The British working population didn’t have
can still have Afternoon
Afternoon Tea. They had a meal about midday,
tea at the many tea rooms
and a meal after work, between five and seven
around England.
o'clock. This meal was called 'high tea' or just
Afternoon tea became
'tea'.
popular about one
Traditionally eaten early evening, High tea was a
hundred and fifty years
substantial meal that combined delicious sweet
ago, when rich ladies
foods, such as scones, cakes, buns or tea breads
invited their friends to
with cheese on toast, toasted crumpets, cold
their houses for an
meats and pickles or poached eggs on toast.
afternoon cup of tea. They
This meal is now often replaced with a supper
started offering their
due to people eating their main meal in the
visitors sandwiches and
 What special foods are eaten during festivals in
England? SPECIAL FOODS

In England, we have special foods connected with certain festivals.

Shrove Tuesday Good Friday

Pancakes Hot cross buns

Good Friday Mothering Sunday

Fish Simnel cake

 Easter Day

Roast Lamb Chicken

Lamb is considered
to be the traditional Chicken has long been a modern
meat for Easter due favourite for Easter Sunday dinner
to its religious mainly due to the baby (spring) chicken
connections. Many being associated with birth and new
different religions life. Chicken is also less expensive than
throughout the ages lamb these days, which helps to
have ritually explain its popularity.
sacrificed lambs in
 Harvest Bonfire night

Special bread, made to Jacket potatoes cooked in

look like sheaves of foil in the fire.
wheat.
Christmas Day

Turkey, vegetables, stuffing, Mince pies

Christmas pudding
bread sauce, cranberry sauce
and gravy. flamidyng with bran.
.

What is a Pudding ? Puddings and Desserts

A pudding is the dessert course of a meal (“pud” is used informally). In
Britain, we also use the words “dessert”, “sweet'' and “afters”.
Take care!
Not all our puddings are sweet puddings, some are eaten during the starter
or main course like Yorkshire Pudding and Black Pudding.
Favourite Puddings
Spotted Dick (Spotted dick Also called Spotted Dog)
is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants),
commonly served with either custard or butter and brown sugar.

Apple Crumble
Often served with thick cream,
ice cream or custard.

Bread and butter pudding - old

English favourite. .
 Pies in England
Pies are very popular in England.
Pies are a baked dish
consisting of a filling such as
chopped meat or fruit
enclosed in or covered with
pastry ( a mixture of flour
and butter).

Steak and Kidney pie

Pork pie A traditional English dish
A pork pie consists consisting of a cooked mixture of
of pork and pork chopped beef, kidneys, onions,
jelly in a hot water mushrooms and beef stock. This
crust pastry and is mixture is placed in a pie or
normally eaten casserole dish, covered with a
cold. pastry crust.
 Cornish pastie /
A type of pie,
originating Cornish
in pasty
Cornwall, South
West England. It is
an oven-cooked Cornish Pastie with chips,
pastry case baked beans and salad.
traditionally filled
with diced meat - World's Biggest Pie.
nowadays beef Every now and then the
mince or steak - villagers of Denby Dale, near
potato, onion and Huddersfield, Yorkshire bake
swede. It has a the world's biggest meat and
semicircular shape. potato pie.
Cornish pastie in The first recorded making of a pie in the
the days of the village was in 1788 to celebrate the recovery
miners, used to be of King George III from mental illness. Since
half savoury and that time nine other pies have been baked,
half sweet, all usually to coincide with a special event or to
wrapped in one raise money for a local cause.
piece of pastry.
English people have a great love English Cheeses
for cheese and over 400 varieties Cheese is enjoyed by over 98% of
of cheese are produced in households in England.
England.

Cheddar is a clear favourite,

accounting for over 57% of the
market, and is bought regularly by
94% of households. It is a hard Many cheeses are named after the
cheese with a strong, nutty taste.
place or area they are made in
Cheddar originates from a England. These English cheeses
village in Somerset in westerninclude Caerphilly, Cheshire, Derby,
England, also famous for its Double Gloucester, Lancashire, Red
gorge. There are six varieties Leicester, Stilton and Wensleydale.
of cheddar .
What food was "invented" or discovered in England?

The sandwich was invented in England in

1762.
We have a town named Sandwich in the
south of England. John Montagu, the Earl of
Sandwich invented a small meal that could
be eaten with one hand while he continued
his nonstop gambling.
Marmite is dark brown-coloured savoury spread made from the
yeast that is a by-product of the brewing industry. It has a very
strong, slightly salty flavour. It is definitely a love-it-or-hate-it type
of food.

HP Sauce was invented in England at the end of the 19th

century by Mr FG Garton, a Nottingham grocer.
What should I do or not do when I am eating Eating Etiquette
in Britain?
1. The British generally pay a lot of attention to good table manners. Even
young children are expected to eat properly with knife and fork.
2. We eat most of our food with cutlery. The foods we don't eat with a knife,
fork or spoon include sandwiches, crisps, corn on the cob, and fruit.
3. Things you should not do:
4. Never lick or put your knife in your mouth.
5. It is impolite to start eating before everyone has been served unless your
host says that you don't need to wait.
6. Never chew with your mouth open. No one wants to see food being chewed
or hearing it being chomped on.
7. It is impolite to have your elbows on the table while you are eating.
8. Don't reach over someone's plate for something, ask for the item to be
passed.
9. Never talk with food in your mouth.
10. It is impolite to put too much food in your mouth.
11. Never use your fingers to push food onto your spoon or fork.
12. It is impolite to slurp your food or eat noisily.
13. Never blow your nose on a napkin (serviette). Napkins are for dabbing your
lips and only for that.
14. Never take food from your neighbours plate.
15. Never pick food out of your teeth with your fingernails.
When you have finished eating, and to let others know
that you have, place your knife and folk together, with
facing upwards, on your plate.
What do you say or do if you've
accidentally taken too much food and
you cannot possibly eat it all?
Say:
"I'm sorry, but it seems that 'my eyes
are bigger than my stomach'.
or
"I'm sorry. It was so delicious but I am
full".