British Food

a wide choice of food and drink.
The types of food

people eat have changed a lot over the years for several reasons. People have come to Britain from different parts of the world, bringing their favourite food with them and often opening restaurants.
British people have travelled to other countries and brought new foods back home.
And today big supermarket companies can buy food from all over the world and sell it while it is still good to eat.

any meat, about 10% do not eat red meat, and

most people say they eat less meat now than in the past.
If a food is suitable for vegetarians, the packet often has the letter “V” on it, and vegetarian meals on a menu often have the “V” next to them to help people choose what to eat.

an egg’ – they eat an egg for breakfast before

going to work.
But many more breakfast on cereal – often cornflakes – while others have toast with butter and marmalade.
And, whatever they eat, most people drink tea or coffee.

traditional, cooked breakfast.
If you stay in a hotel or

a ‘B&B’ (Bed and Breakfast), you can have a breakfast like this.

the day and some have it in the evening, but

most people today have a small mid-day meal – usually sandwiches, and perhaps some crisps and some fruit.

or ‘dinner’. A traditional British dinner is meat and two

vegetables.
The most popular meats are chicken, beef (from a cow), pork (from a pig) and lamb (from a young sheep).
Vegetables grown in Britain, like potatoes, carrots, peas, cabbage and onions, are very popular, but today you can buy vegetables from many countries all through the year.

and baked beans on toast.
Baked beans, first sold in Boston,

USA, but now very popular in Britain, are cheap to buy and quick to heap up. There are several different kinds, and they are eaten at almost any time – for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Fish fingers and chips

Beans on toast

baked beans and mashed potato), stew (meat cooked with lots

of vegetables), and the Sunday roast.

a big meal together.
They usually have a big piece of

meat which is roasted (cooked in the oven for about two hours) with potatoes.

Beef is eaten with hot white horseradish sauce, pork with sweet apple sauce, and lamb with green mint sauce - perhaps made with mint grown in the garden.

chocolate cake, or apple pie.

food today, so they buy food which is ready to

eat or quick to make, but visitors to Britain often want to try ‘typical’ British food.

The best place to go is usually a pub and many pubs have a notice outside saying: ‘home cooked food’.

at home?
Breakfast is usually a quick meal, eaten in the

kitchen.
Lunch is often eaten at school or work.
Dinner may be eaten in the kitchen, the dining-room, or the living-room – often in front of the television!

meal, instead of eating at home, is called ‘eating out’.
Only

a few years ago this was too expensive for most people; today the British do it a lot more often and there are many different kinds of places to go.
Walk through any town centre today and you will find coffee shops where you can buy a drink and perhaps a sandwich or cake; snack-bars where you can get light meals; and waiter-service restaurants where someone takes your order and brings the food to your table.
Schools, colleges, companies etc. usually have a self-service restaurant called a cafeteria where you buy your food and take it back to your table.

first course is quite a small one called a starter.
It

may be something like a soup or salad or some sea-food.

biggest of the three.
This is usually meat or fish with

vegetables, or vegetarian food.

like fruit, cake, or a piece of pie

which pieces of different cheeses with biscuits and grapes. Some

people have both!

a mint chocolate.

the main meal comes with potatoes you can choose which

kind you would like.
With beef and sometimes fish, you are asked how you would like it cooked: well-done (cooked for a long time), medium, or rare (not cooked for long).

a beach, and sit on the grass or the sand. Picnics

like this may be very simple – just some sandwiches, crisps and hot tea – or a bit more special, with smoked fish, strawberries and champagne.