|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Traditional English breakfast (sometimes called full or cooked) is quite rich and hot. You
start with orange juice, then you have cereal (e.g. cornflakes with milk and sugar), fried eggs and tomato, bacon or
sausages. Baked beans in tomato sauce are also popular nowadays. Then there is toast and
marmalade (which is made from oranges), and tea with milk.
Continental breakfast is much lighter. It starts with orange juice followed by a croissant
(a French roll) with butter and jam, and coffee or tea.
LUNCH
Lunch is a midday meal. It is very common to have something light - like sandwiches,
pizza, hamburgers, salad or pies. A sandwich consists of two
slices of bread with different fillings in between and it usually has a triangular shape.
A pie can be sweet - e.g. apple pie or savoury - e.g. chicken pie. It is meat or vegetable
or fruit baked in pastry. School children do not usually have their lunches at the school
canteen. They bring packed lunch from their homes in special lunch
boxes. Staying with a host family, you will probably be given packed lunches as
well. What can you expect? Popular sandwiches, some fruit or vegetable, something sweet,
some biscuits or a chocolate bar, a soft drink and a small packet of crisps (we use the
American expression ”chips" for them in our country). The most popular are those
with salt and vinegar or cheese and onion. Only some children have a hot meal in the
school canteen. Because it is big and hot, it is called a ”school dinner".
TEA
Tea is Britain's favourite drink. People usually drink quite strong tea with milk. But tea is also a meal in the afternoon. You can expect cucumber sandwiches and scones (plain cakes with jam and cream), or chocolate cakes.
DINNER
Dinner is a hot evening meal and it is more filling. It can be served from 6 to 8 p.m. It is usually eaten when the whole family is together. Later at night, after a theatre or cinema performance, you can have your
supper - something light like cheese and biscuits before you go to bed.
The original British fast food is ”fish and chips". It is a piece of fish
fried in batter and served hot with chipped fried potatoes. People in Britain like chips
with salt and vinegar.
British people eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday in February or March. For pancakes you need flour, eggs and milk. Then you eat them with sugar and lemon. In some parts of Britain there are pancakes races on Shrove Tuesday. People race with a frying pan in one hand. They have to "'toss" the pancake, throw it in the air and catch it again in the frying pan.
Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding - it is the traditional Sunday lunch from Yorkshire in the north of England. In is popular all over Britain now. Yorkshire pudding is not sweet. It is a mixture of eggs, flour and milk, but it is delicious.
Two common
vegetables with roast beef and Yorkshire pudding are Brussels sprouts and carrots. And of
course, there is always gravy. That is a thick, brown sauce. You make gravy with the juice
from the meat.Some people make Christmas pudding months before Christmas. A lot of families have their own Christmas pudding recipe. Some, for example, use a lot of brandy. Others put in a lot of fruit or add a silver coin for good luck. Real Christmas puddings always have a piece of holly on the top. Holly bushes and trees have red berries at Christmas time, and so people use holly to decorate their houses for Christmas. The holly on the pudding is a part of the decoration. Also, you can pour brandy over your pudding and light it with a match.
Look at the Food Map of the British Isles.
