British Food

English will joke about their cuisine, or the lack of it, as the infamous meat and two vegs is still seen as the epitome of British cooking. That might be just a sample of the so called British humor or just they don’t know what they are cooking.

Some traditional British foods, such as bread and cheese, sandwiches, roasted and stewed meats, meat and game pies, and some simple fish dishes and some puddings have always been good, on top of that, British cuisine has rediscovered its Anglo-Indian dishes; it has traveled and incorporated ingredients and ideas from abroad; it has absorbed ideas and ingredients brought by immigrants. British cooking is not boring, when British bother to cook.

It is true it was not always this way. In the 1980s, garlic was a foul word and anyone mentioning a like for the vile stuff was frowned upon. It was a difficult item to find in a regular British supermarket, one had to go to an Indian shop and sometimes come back with asafetida instead of garlic.

During the 1990s, garlic was a on every supermarket shelf, but you would still have to go to the Indian or Italian shop to find, for instance, pulses, supermarkets would only store canned ones, and baked beans.

Around to the millenium, cooking shows and celebrity chefs are becoming increasingly popular, almost dominating television. There is a wide choice of ingredients from every world cuisine, and of organic and natural food in the supermarket aisles. There is a huge interest in cooking, particularly healthy cooking -health shops supplying ingredients not usually found in the supermarket thrive, also food co-ops and basket schemes delivering organic and natural foods.

These days there is still a lively interest in cooking and good food, demonstrated by the level of sophistication and variety in the ready to cook, prepared, pre-prepared, or reheat and eat dishes in the supermarket aisles. Celebrity chefs still rule the television roost and supermarkets store a wider range of organic and natural items, but probably less choice in each category, probably reflecting the fact that British, following the world trend, like to eat well without spending that much time in the kitchen.

Best of British food

A cooked breakfast would land on your plate eggs –fried or scrambled- and bacon, sausages, grilled tomatoes, grilled or fried mushrooms, and baked beans; home fries are sometimes added, black pudding may be served instead of sausages. It would be followed by tea and toasted bread with butter and assorted jams. This is a great way to start the day, especially when lunch is brief and far away as in the typical day in England, but it is not a daily happening, modern Britons are more likely to start their week days on milk and cereals, leaving coked breakfasts for weekends, if having cooked breakfasts at all.

Home cooked meals end up with a sweet dessert like treacle pudding, apple pie, rhubarb crumble, bread and butter pudding, or the incomparable trifle, usually served with custard.

Tea, almost always served with milk, is consumed throughout the day and sometimes with meals.

Teatime is a tradition lost to the demands of modern living. Sandwiches, biscuits and cakes are usually served with tea, or, in countryside cream teas, delicious warm scones, with butter, jam and clotted cream. British people rarely indulge on cream teas these days, but there are still plenty of establishments catering to tourists.

British food traditions

A traditional British Christmas will have its climax on Christmas Day with a roast dinner and the exchange and opening of presents; this is a day exclusively for the family. Celebrations have not finished, Boxing Day calls for more informal entertainment, but it is still festive.

The afternoon tea break is one of the most charming British food traditions loosing out to the demands of modern life. To be in line with the proper British traditions, there should be finger sandwiches, assorted cakes, and scones served with jam and cream.