British food culture

To understand a culture, food is also a very important aspect. British catering pays more attention to nutrition than cooking methods. Chocolate and French fries are still their favorites. When making many foods, they like to add some chocolate, and the consumption of French fries is even more amazing. Every week More than five million kilograms of chips are consumed across the UK.

What to eat

The British have a rich diet. In addition to their own diet, there are also many foreign restaurants. The food in the restaurant is delicious, but the price is relatively expensive, so most British people still eat traditional British food at home.

The traditional breakfast is called Full English or The Full English Fry-up, which generally includes eggs, pork chops (bacon), ham (sausages), fried bread (fried bread), and baked beans (baked beans) and mushrooms (pictured), plus a cup of coffee. Nowadays, in addition to hotels or restaurants serving such breakfast, most people just eat a bowl of cereal, a slice of toast, drink some orange juice or a cup of coffee (winter). Sometimes, many people will use hot porridge instead of cereal or coffee). In addition, there are three main ways that British people eat eggs, namely poached eggs, boiled eggs, and scrambled eggs, but they do not eat steamed eggs.

A typical British dinner generally consists of meat and two types of vegetables, and the condiment is the broth (gravy) in which the meat is cooked. The British livestock industry is very developed, with more beef (beef) and mutton (lamb) and cheaper prices, but less pork; because their climate is not suitable for the growth of crops, vegetables are usually more expensive, and many vegetables and All food needs to be imported. Local vegetables mainly include potatoes, carrots, beans, cabbages and onions, and their consumption is also very large. In fact, British dinners have also changed a lot now. There is a saying that not many British people eat British meals anymore. According to a recent survey, most people eat Indian curry for dinner; now, rice and spaghetti are also called "British dinner", but their rice is steamed rather than boiled, which is better than ours. The uncooked rice is even more uncooked, you can count every grain of it, it's hard to eat.

The main meal on Sunday is usually at noon, called Sunday lunch. It is usually a piece of roast meat - it can be beef, mutton, chicken or pork, Yorkshire pudding ), plus two kinds of vegetables (as shown in the picture), but the taste needs to be adjusted by yourself, because except for the barbecue, which is salted, and some stock (gravy), the others are not salted, and the vegetables are Just cooked in water.

They are very particular when eating meat. In order to achieve the best effect, different meats are paired with different sauces (sauce), beef is paired with horseradish sauce, and pork is paired with sweet apple sauce. apple sauce), lamb with mint sauce.

What to drink

The UK is a big tea-drinking country, drinking an average of 165 million cups of tea every day and importing 144,000 tons of tea every year. The tea they drink is usually very strong black tea. They usually add a spoonful of tea leaves to each person's cup, and then add a spoonful to the teapot. They also like to add some milk when drinking. Due to their preference for tea, there are many tea-related words in English. For example, if you like something, you can say, "It's my cup of tea." If you don't like something, you can say "It's not my cup of tea." There are also tea time, tea party, tea break, high tea, cream tea, etc.

If someone asks you: "Do you like a cuppa?", it is actually asking you if you would like a cup of tea. In addition, it is also interesting to offer to pour tea from the teapot for others, "Let me be mother" or "Shall I be mother?" has nothing to do with whether you want to be a mother.

A beverage that is comparable to tea is coffee. It is usually divided into black coffee and white coffee. The difference lies in whether milk is added or not. Alcoholic beverages mainly include beer and liquor. The most famous beer (ale) is bitter (bitter beer), which is darker in color and stronger than lager (beer with a smaller alcohol content). The more famous liquors are Scottish whiskey and so on. Whether young or old, pubs are a must-go place for almost every British person and are an indispensable part of their lives. The inside of the bar is often dark, with dim lights. Some small and atmospheric bars will use candles instead of electric lights. The bar has a row of different drink switches. Most of the waiters will smile and ask you which drink you want. Of course, the one that consumes the most is the one that consumes the most. beer.

Specialty Food

The British invented sandwiches (sandwiches), and there are also some special foods. Here are some representative ones to introduce.

Yorkshire Pudding. Most puddings in the UK are sweets that serve as desserts, but Yorkshire pudding is the beginning of the main course. It is fermented from flour, eggs, milk and other raw materials and then baked in the oven. It is used with vegetables and stock.

Fish and chips. Britain's most traditional fast food. The fish mainly include cod (cod), haddock (haddock), and plaice (plaice). They are battered and then fried, and served with the same fried potato chips. You generally need to add the seasoning yourself. The taste is good, but it is relatively greasy. . In the early days, they were sold wrapped in newspapers, but now they are wrapped in clean packaging. In northern England, some people also eat it with mushy peas (a kind of ground and processed beans).

Toad in the hole. The name is so funny, but it’s actually sausages filled with Yorkshire pudding, served with vegetables and stock.

Sheperd’s pie. The method is to stir the minced beef, vegetables, mushroom soup, etc. together, then crush the cooked potatoes and sprinkle them on top. Finally, add a layer of cheese and bake it in the oven. The cheese is completely melted.

A ploughman’s lunch. Nowadays, it is mainly a cold meal provided in restaurants. The main ingredients are bread, cheese, pickles, plus half an apple, a section of celery and beets.

Spotted Dick/Dog. A long-standing dessert pudding, a pastry with raisins or gooseberries. The speck refers to the dried fruit in it.