British Cuisine

The last 20 years have transformed the way Brits see their food. Restaurant-goers spend more, are
more demanding and more appreciative; aware that their options extend beyond meat and two
overcooked veg.
The fusion of traditional British food with foreign influences, from Indian to French, Thai to Italian,
has been central to its renaissance. But let’s not get carried away.
Granted, Britain has some of the best restaurants in the world, people are more knowledgeable
about cuisine and food has become a key part of national culture.

Great moments in British food

1586 Francis Drake brings the humble potato back from the Americas.
1762 John Montagu invents the sandwich.
1847 Joseph Fry mixes cocoa butter and cocoa powder and comes up with the
chocolate bar.
1861 Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management is published.
Boil your cabbage for 45 minutes she urged.
1890 Frenchman Auguste Escoffier arrives to cook at the Savoy Hotel and introduces the
‘brigade de cuisine’ system, a structure still used in all the top restaurants today.
1950 Elizabeth David writes A Book of Mediterranean Food, introducing olive oil, garlic
and other treats to the British diet.
1954 14 years of food rationing comes to an end.
1967 The Roux brothers open Le Gavroche; it became Britain’s first Michelin three-starred
restaurant in 1982.
2007 Clare Smyth becomes the first (and only) female chef in Britain to run a restaurant
with three Michelin stars (Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road).

Begged, stolen and borrowed:

the story of ‘British’ flavours
For centuries the British diet was directed by invading Europeans. The Romans
introduced asparagus, cucumber, peas, pheasant and viniculture, embraced seafood
and built the extensive road network that moved food around the country. The Saxons’
farming expertise served up wild game and fertile land on which to grow a variety of foods – they
were particularly good at herbs.

The art of drying and preserving fish was handed down from the Vikings and Danes, and smoked
fish and shellfish still taste best in the old Norse heartland of the North East. Having colonised
Sicily shortly before appropriating England, the Normans brought spices
and recipes from southern Italy and Africa. Crusaders had their first taste of oranges and lemons in
the same era, and cinnamon, cloves and ginger, considered suggestive of wealth, appeared in a
range of savoury and sweet dishes.
When Britain itself turned colonial overlord, the flavours of foreign lands were assimilated once
more, brought back by explorers and traders. Coffee, cocoa, potatoes and tea poured in. Dishes like
kedgeree (rice, lentils, onions and egg) and mulligatawny (spicy meat or chicken soup) found an
appreciative British audience in the days of the Raj, before complete cuisines from the
Indian subcontinent, East Asia and the Caribbean were absorbed into the culture of British food in
the 20th century. Ethnic food and ingredients are now readily available in shops, and thousands of
international restaurants reflect the diverse British palate.

Stimulating stuff: tea and coffee

The common cup of tea (a basic black tea) is a British institution – a daily, often hourly, ritual for
millions.
Taken with a splash of milk, it’s the nation’s favourite drink. The Chinese have been knocking the
stuff back for 5,000 years but tea didn’t hit British shores until the mid 17th century, made
fashionable by Catherine of Braganza, the tea-mad Portuguese wife of Charles II.
The drink really took off when the East India Company began importing tea from China, before
Britain introduced tea cultivation to India, Ceylon and Kenya in the 1830s. Coffee appeared in
Britain at a similar time to tea but its fortunes have been less consistent. Like tea, coffee carries its
own social and cultural weight, even while it is, perhaps, silently adjudged less ‘British’ than tea
because of its popularity in the rest of Europe.

Clothes and the British sense of style

Scotland

The callow traveller might assume that every man north of the border goes about his daily business
in a kilt. They don’t. But they will don the national dress of kilt, waistcoat, sporran (the small furry
pouch hung around the waist) and brogues at the slightest ceremonial excuse.

England

By contrast, England has no national dress, pre-fabricated or otherwise.

There are, however, certain recognisably English uniforms, from the Beefeater’s costume – the
scarlet and gold suit, stockings and round brimmed black hat worn by the keepers of the Tower of
London to the red tunics and bearskins of the Queen’s Foot Guard.

Excerpts from -Speak the Culture- Britain -Andrew Whittaker 2009

Holidays and Festivals

National/International
Christmas Eve is the Day before Christmas Day, which is annually on December 24, according to
the Gregorian calendar. It is not a public holiday in the United Kingdom but it is a day of
preparations for the Christmas season. The Christmas season includes the public holidays on
Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day
Boxing Day in the United Kingdom is the day after Christmas Day and falls on December 26.
Traditionally, it was a day when employers distributed money, food, cloth (material) or other
valuable goods to their employees. In modern times, it is an important day for sporting events and
the start of the post-Christmas sales.
Halloween, also called All Hallows’ Eve,  holiday, October 31. Halloween had its origins in the
festival of Samhain among the Celts of ancient Britain and Ireland. November 1 was considered the
end of the summer period, the date on which the herds were returned from pasture and land tenures
were renewed. It was also a time when the souls of those who had died were believed to return
to visit their homes. People set bonfires on hilltops for relighting their hearth fires for the winter
and to frighten away evil spirits, and they sometimes wore masks and other disguises to avoid being
recognized by the ghosts thought to be present. It was in these ways that beings such as witches,
hobgoblins, fairies, and demons came to be associated with the day. Halloween has come to be
associated with a number of activities. One is the practice of pulling usually harmless pranks.
Celebrants wear masks and costumes for parties and for trick-or-treating, thought to have derived
from the British practice of allowing the poor to beg for food, called “soul cakes.” Trick-or-treaters
go from house to house with the threat that they will pull a trick if they do not receive a treat,
usually candy.
England
 Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Firework Night, is an annual commemoration observed on
5 November, primarily in England. Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605,
when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the
plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. 

Scotland
Burns Night is annually celebrated in Scotland on or around January 25. It commemorates the life
of the bard(poet) Robert Burns, who was born on January 25, 1759. The day also celebrates Burns'
contribution to Scottish culture. Burns' best known work is "Auld Lang Syne". Formal events
include toasts and readings of pieces written by Robert Burns. Ceremonies during a Burns' Night
supper vary according to the group organizing the event and the location.
The evening centers on the entrance of the haggis (a type of sausage prepared in a sheep's stomach)
on a large platter to the sound of a piper playing bagpipes. When the haggis is on the table, the host
reads the "Address to a Haggis". This is an ode that Robert Burns wrote to the Scottish dish. At the
end of the reading, the haggis is ceremonially sliced into two pieces and the meal begins.
Hogmanay is the Scottish holiday that celebrates the new year. Observed on December 31,
festivities typically spill over into the first couple of days of January. In fact, there's a tradition
known as "first-footing", in which the first person to enter a home brings the residents good luck for
the coming year 

Wales
 Eisteddfod  is a Welsh festival of literature, music and performance. The tradition of such a
meeting of Welsh artists dates back to at least the 12th century, when a festival of poetry and music
was held by Rhys ap Gruffydd of Deheubarth at his court in Cardigan in 1176

N Ireland
St Patrick's Day occurs on March 17. It is a national holiday in Ireland and commemorates one of
its patron saints, St Patrick. In the United Kingdom, it is celebrated in Irish pubs and in cities, such
as Nottingham and London where many people with an Irish background live. St Patrick is one of
Ireland's patron saints. He is believed to have died on March 17 in or around the year 493. He grew
up in mainland Britain, but spent time in Ireland as a young man and later as a missionary.
According to popular legend, he is buried under Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, County Down,
and banished all snakes from Ireland. However, it is thought that there have been no snakes in
Ireland since the last ice age. The “snakes” that St Patrick banished from Ireland, may refer to
pagan worshipers of snake gods.

Etiquette
Etiquette is changing, but norms for appropriate behavior articulated by the elite and the middle
class are still an important normative force. Greetings vary by the class or social position of the
person with whom one is dealing. Those with titles of nobility, honorific titles, academic titles, and
other professional titles prefer to be addressed by those titles, but like people to avoid calling too
much attention to a person's position. Unless invited to do so, one does not call people by their
nicknames. Postural norms are akin to those in other Western cultures; people lean forward to show
interest and cross their legs when relaxed, and smiles and nods encourage conversation. The English
expect less physical expression and physical contact than do many other societies: handshakes
should not be too firm, social kissing is minimal, loud talking and backslapping are considered
inappropriate, staring is impolite, and not waiting one's turn in line is a serious social blunder.
In conversation the English are known for understatement both in humor and in other forms of
expression. On social occasions, small talk on neutral topics is appropriate and modest gifts are
given. People reciprocate in paying for food and drink in social exchanges, by ordering drinks by
rounds, for example. In public houses (bars), appropriate etiquette includes not gesturing for
service. Tips are in the range of 10 to 15 percent.

Superstitions
More than 16 million British people regularly carry out routines they believe will bring them luck –
or ward off bad good luck. There are many superstitions in the UK, but one of the most widespread
is to walk under a ladder – even if it means getting off the pavement and go through a busy street.
Another common unlucky superstition is to open an umbrella in doors. It is said that the number 13
is unlucky for some, and when the 13th of the month falls on a Friday is better staying home. In
Spanish-speaking countries, instead of Friday, Tuesday the 13th is considered a day of bad luck.
In the UK black cats are generally considered good luck, though, in reality, are associated with
witchcraft – usually a black cat is an animal relative of a witch.
Although broken mirrors are a pain to clean up, it’s the threat of the 7 years bad luck that keeps
most of British people from carelessly knocking them over. Some people believe that the reason
breaking a mirror causes all those years of bad luck from an age when mirrors were considered
luxury items and the cost of replacing a broken one would be equal to 7 years of a peasant’s salary.
It is considered good luck if a black cat crosses your path – although in the United States is the
opposite belief. For this reason, we can find black cats on many good luck greetings cards and
birthdays’ cards in England.

References
Speak the Culture Britain -Andrew Whittaker 2009 Thorogood
Encyclopedia of British Culture -Peter Childs and Mike Storry, 1999 Routledge
www.dailymail.co.uk
britishcouncil.org
.historic-uk.com
everyculture.com