183

Food and drink

On the Continent people have good food; in England people have good
table manners.
(George M ikes, h u m o u risc and H u n g a ria n emigre to B rita in )

You can’t trust people who cook as badly as that.

(Jacques Chirac, President o f France 1995 - 2007)

As the two quotes above exemplify, Britain and good food are two
things which are not commonly associated. Visitors to Britain often
have varying opinions about all sorts o f aspects o f the country, b u t
m ost seem to agree th a t the food is terrible. Why? The answer cannot The Fat Duck

be th a t British tastes are different from everybody else’s. The m ost People say h o rrib le things ab o u t
com m on com plaint is n o t th a t British food has a strange, unpleasant British fo o d . So it was som ething
taste, b u t rather th a t it has very little taste at all. The vegetables, for o f a shock w hen, in 2005, an
example, are overcooked. It is all too bland. in te rn a tio n a l panel o f more
than 600 chefs, fo o d critics and
A nother possible explanation is th a t m ost visitors to Britain do no t restaurateurs named no less than
get the opportunity to sample hom e cooking. They either eat the food fourteen B ritish restaurants in
cooked in an institution, such as a university canteen, or in rather the w o rld ’s to p 50.

cheap restaurants and cafes. These places are definitely n o t where N um ber one on the lis t was The
to find good British food. Typical British cooking involves a lot o f Fat D uck in Berkshire (between
roasting (roast beef w ith roast potatoes and vegetables is supposed London and O xfo rd ). This is the
restaurant w hich introduced
to be the English national dish), which does n o t suit the larger scale
the w o rld to such delicacies as
production or the quick preparation which is required in such places. s ardine-on-toast sorbet, bacon
For one thing, food should, according to British people, be eaten hot, and egg ice cream, snail porridge
which is difficult to arrange when feeding large num bers o f people. and orange and b e e tro o t jelly.
W ith a menu like this, British
fo o d does n o t lo o k so b o rin g
Eating habits and attitudes a fte r all!

The explanations above can only serve as a partial excuse for However, n o t to o much can be
read in to this British c u lin ary
the u n fo rtu n ate rep u tatio n o f British cuisine. Even in fast food
victory. The panel o f experts did
restaurants and everyday cafes, the quality seems to be lower th a n it n o t consider price as a c rite rio n .
is in equivalent places in other countries. Life and habits in Britain T h e ir to p 50 were all restaurants
are simply n o t oriented to food very m uch. The country has n either a fa r beyond the pockets o f m ost
widespread ‘restaurant culture’ nor ‘cafe society’. In the m iddle o f the people and thus had n o th in g to
do w ith th e ir everyday experience
day, people ju st w ant to eat up quickly (the lunch break is an h o u r at
o f fo o d .
most). The coffee is often horrible n o t because British people prefer
it th a t way b u t because they ju st d o n ’t care very much. W hen they
go to a cafe, they go there for relaxation, conversation, and caffeine;
the quality o f the coffee itself is o f comparatively m in o r im portance.
Expectations are low.
Even at home, food and drink are given relatively little attention. The
coffee is often ju st as bad as it is in the cafes. British superm arkets sell
far more instant coffee th an (what the few people who drink it often
184 FOOD AND DRINK
G o in g fo r an In d ian
British food can sometimes taste
bland because it does no t make
use o f many spices. Perhaps this is
one reason why Indian restaurants
are so popular in Britain. It is a
cliche o f British life that, after a
heavy drinking session in the pub,
a group o f British people often
decide to ‘go fo r an Indian’. There,
some o f the men in the group will
display their macho credentials by
ordering ‘the hottest thing on the
menu’ (th a t is, the dish w ith the
hottest spices).
The British Asian comedy Goodness
Gracious Me (see chapter 4 ) once
used this cliche fo r one o f its
most famous sketches, in which
a drunken group o f Asians ‘go
fo r an English’ (meaning ‘go
to an English restaurant’ ) and
one o f them displays his macho
credentials by ordering ‘the
blandest thing on the menu’.
W h a t British p eop le e at
Because B ritain is fu ll o f individualists
and people fro m d iffe re n t cultures,
generalizations are dangerous. However,
the fo llo w in g distinctive features may
be noted:
A ‘fry up’ is a phrase used inform ally to
denote several items fried together. The
most comm on items are eggs, bacon,
sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms, and
even (fried) bread. It is no t generally
accompanied b y ‘chips’ (the norm al British
word fo r French fried potatoes). The British
eat rather a lo t o f fried food.
Although it is sometimes poetically
referred to as ‘the s ta ff o f life’, bread is
not an accom panim ent to every meal.
It is m ost com m only eaten, w ith butter
and almost anything else, fo r a snack,
either as a sandwich o r as toast (a British
household regards toasting facilities as
a basic necessity). This may explain why
sliced bread is the most popular type. On
the other hand, the British use a lo t o f flo u r
fo r making pastry dishes, both savoury and
sweet, called pies, and fo r making cakes.
call) ‘real’ coffee. In stan t coffee is less trouble. Meals tend to be eaten
quickly and the table cleared. Parties and celebrations are n o t norm all
centred around the food.
When the British do pay attention to food, it is m ost frequently not
to appreciate it b u t to consider its health implications. There are quite
large num bers o f vegetarians in Britain and an even larger num ber who
are aware o f food from the point o f view o f health. Health food shops
are as abundant in the country’s high streets as delicatessens. W hen in
2005 the TV chef Jamie Oliver showed how the food in a city school
could be improved, and also w hat rubbish the kids were getting, there
was a public outcry and Jamie soon found him self presenting a petition
signed by 270,000 parents to Downing Street dem anding more money
for school dinners. As it had recently also been revealed th at France
spent three times more per child than Britain on its school meals, the
government was quick to oblige. But changing habits is hard work. In
2006, after one school had decided to stop its pupils from going out
to the local fast food eateries at lunchtime, a group o f parents, enraged
by this imposition, started handing their children their favourite
hamburgers and frozen pizzas through the school railings!
Ultimately, the explanation for these poor standards, low expectations
and lack o f general interest in food and drink is historical. Until the
second half o f the twentieth century, the ruling classes in Britain - and
thus the opinion leaders - had been educated at boarding schools (see
chapter 14) where they were, deliberately, given rather plain food to eat.
Eggs are a basic p a rt o f m ost people’s They also love crisps (w hat the Americans
diet. I f they are n o t frie d , they are call ‘chips’ ). A market research report in
either so ft-b o ile d and eaten d irectly 2005 found th a t they eat more than all
o u t o f th e ir shells w ith a spoon, o r the rest o f Western Europe put together.
hard-boiled (so th a t they can be
eaten w ith the fingers o r p u t in to
sandwiches).
C old meats are n o t very popular. In
a small superm arket, you can fin d a
large variety o f cheeses, b u t perhaps
only one kind o f ham and no salami at
all. To many British people, preserved
meats are typically ‘c o n tin e n ta l’.
It is com m on in m ost households
fo r a fa m ily meal to finish w ith a
prepared sweet dish. T his is called
either ‘ p u d d in g ’, ‘ sweet’, o r ‘dessert’
(class d istin ctio n s are involved here).
There is a great variety o f w ell-know n
dishes fo r this purpose, many o f w hich
are h o t (o fte n a pie o f some s o rt). In
fa ct, the British love ‘sweets’ (p lu ra l)
generally, by w hich they mean b oth all
kinds o f chocolate and also w h a t the
Am ericans call ‘candy’.
 EATING HABITS AND ATTITUDES 185

They were encouraged to be hard and pure, n o t soft and sensual.

Too m uch enthusiasm for food was seen as decadent (and, indeed,
W h en people e at w hat: meals
‘foreign’). In addition, British people have been mostly urban, with
little contact w ith ‘the land’, for longer than the people o f other Again, generalizations are
countries. They are therefore rather ignorant o f the origins o f what dangerous. Below is described
arrives on the dinner table or in their lunch boxes. In 2004, a poll o f w h a t everybody knows a b o u t -
b u t this is n o t necessarily w h a t
children aged eight to eleven found th a t h alf o f them th o u g h t th at
everybody does!
margarine came from cows, a th ird th o u g h t th a t ham came from
chickens and a quarter reckoned bread was made from potatoes or Breakfast is usually a packeted
rice. Perhaps this is wThy the range o f plants and animals which British ‘cereal’ (e.g. cornflakes) a n d /
o r toast and m arm alade. People
people eat is rather narrow. There are plenty o f enthusiastic British
do no t usually eat a ‘ tra d itio n a l’
m eat eaters who feel quite sick at the th o u g h t o f eating horsemeat. To British breakfast (see chapter 5).
m ost people, the idea o f going ou t to pick wild plants for the table is
Elevenses is, conventionally, a
exotic. It is perhaps significant th a t when the British w ant to refer to
cup o f tea and biscuits a t around
the people o f another country insultingly, they often allude to their 11 a.m. In fact, people have tea
eating habits. Because o f the strange things they do with cabbage, for o r coffee and biscuits whenever
example, the Germans are ‘krauts’. Because o f their outrageous taste they feel like it. This is usually
for frog’s legs, the French are ‘frogs’. quite often. (There is a vast range
o f biscuits on offer in even a small
However, this conservatism is not nearly as extreme as it used to be. superm arket, fa r more than other
In the 1960s, it was reported th a t the first British package tourists countries.)

in Spain n o t only insisted on eating (traditionally British) fish and Lunch is typically at 1 p.m.
chips b u t also on having them , as was traditional, wrapped up in b u t it is often a b it earlier fo r
specially im ported British newspaper! A lot has changed since th a t schoolchildren and those w ho
s ta rt w o rk at 8 a.m. Traditionally,
time. Items which 50 years ago were th o u g h t exotic and viewed w ith
Sunday lunch is an im p o rta n t
suspicion, such as peppers, garlic, and olive oil, are now to be found meal when the fam ily sits down
in every shop selling food. The country’s superm arket shelves are full together. But in fact only ten per
o f the ingredients needed for cooking dishes from all over the world cent o fth e British p o p ulation
(the increasing m ulticultural mix has helped in this respect). In fact, now does this.

the package holidaymakers seem to have ‘im ported’ some European Tea fo r the urban w o rkin g class
dishes. For example, as well as various traditional British dishes, an (and a w id e r section o fth e
extraordinary num ber o f pubs now offer dishes such as m oussaka and p o p u la tio n in Scotland and
Ireland) is the evening meal, eaten
lasagna. The latter dish is reported to be the country’s m ost popular
as soon as people get home from
‘ready meal’. This claim is also sometimes made for chicken tikka w o rk (a t around 6 p.m .). For
masala, which can perhaps claim to be the m odern British national o th e r classes, it means a cup o f
dish because it was invented in Britain by a Bangladeshi chef who tea and a snack at around 4 p.m.
adapted chicken tikka to British tastes.
Supper is a w ord fo r the evening
B ritish people are also showing increasing interest in the pure meal used by some o fth e people
w ho do n o t call it ‘tea’.
enjoym ent aspect o f food. There are num erous cookery an d food
program m es on TV, all o f them w atched w ith close enthusiasm . It Dinner is the oth e r w ord fo r the
is possible, then, th a t the negative rep u tatio n o f B ritish food will evening meal. It suggests a later
eventually become a historical hangover. A ttitudes have changed, tim e than ‘tea’. The w ord is also
used in connection w ith a special
b u t the quality o f food in everyday life is still p o o r because
meal, as when friends are invited
these changes have n o t had enough tim e to change habits and fo r a ‘d in n er p a rty’. M any people
expectations. One final example: In 2005, the buffet bar o f the ta lk a b o u t ‘ Christmas d in n er’,
E urostar train had a special offer. If you b o u g h t a sandwich, you even i f they have it in the m iddle
o fth e day. The same w ord is also
could buy a soft drin k and som ething sweet at an especially low
sometimes used to refer to the
price. There was a poster in the bar advertising the offer. It showed m idday meal in schools, w hich is
a Coca-Cola and a chocolate bar, w ith a slogan w ritten in D utch, served by ‘dinner ladies’.
186 FOOD AND DRINK
T h e m o d ern s to ry o f te a
in B ritain
Tea made its firs t appearance in
B ritain some 350 years ago and by
the end o f the seventeenth century
tea-drinking was well established.
However, d uring the eighteenth
century, its grow ing p o p u la rity
was halted by the breweries w ho,
concerned by this co m p e titio n ,
successfully lobbied fo r a series
o f tax rises on all tea im ports. It
was only in nineteenth-century
B ritain th a t polite society’s ritual
o f afternoon tea was born.
For m ost o f the tw entieth century,
tea reigned supreme in Britain.
To this day, ‘standard’ (black)
tea, served strong and w ith m ilk,
remains an indispensable aspect o f
m ost British households. However,
it is in slow decline. This started in
the 1970s, when it first saw serious
co m petition from fizzy s o ft drinks.
It continued in the 1990s, when
b ottled w ater became popular,
and continues today w ith the
increasing po p u la rity o f green tea
and herbal teas. And through all
this time, coffee has been gradually
on the rise. In to w n centres,
the num ber o f ‘tea room s’ has
fallen w hile the num ber o f cafes
specializing in coffee has risen.
These days, sales o f coffee are
larger than those o f standard tea.
However, the British tea industry
can proudly p o in t to the fa ct th a t
tea still accounts fo r a third o f
all liquid refreshment taken in
B ritain - fa r more than any other
drink. In fact, there is a sense in
which the ind ustry’s problem is
a result o f standard black tea’s
absolutely central place in British
habits. It is regarded as a basic
staple, so th a t British consumers
expect to be able to buy it in
supermarkets very cheaply.
French an d English. The D utch and French versions o f the slogan
translated in to English as 'A little som ething extra’. B ut the English
version was 'M ake it a m eal’. O nly in English could a can o f fizzy
d rin k an d an industrially produced chocolate bar, w hen com bined
w ith a sandwich, be described as a cmeaP.
Eating ou t
N ot so long ago, going to a restaurant was a rare event for m ost
British people. Regular eating o u t was confined to the richest section
o f society. By now, a far larger num ber o f people do it. But because
o f this history, there remains an elem ent o f snobbery attached to
it. Merely being in an expensive restaurant sometimes seems to be
more im portant to people th an the food eaten in it. And in such
restaurants, and even some less expensive ones, in a country where few
public notices appear in any language other th an English, you find a
unique phenom enon - many o f the dishes have non-English names,
m ost com m only French (reflecting the general high regard for French
cuisine). The only exception to this rule is the puddings, which is the
one course o f a meal th at the British have always been confident about.
There is another reason for this lack o f English nomenclature. Very
few restaurants in Britain could be described as British; th at is, they
do not serve distinctively British food, so the names o f the dishes are
not in English. History may also help to explain this fact. Because they
did it so rarely, people wanted som ething different when they went
out to eat. By now, people have got used to several kinds o f ‘ethnic’
cuisine and Britain’s towns and cities are alm ost totally dom inated by
restaurants offering them. A survey in 2006 found th at fully a quarter o f
all restaurants in Glasgow were Italian, th at in London there were no less
than 87 kebab outlets per square mile (2.6 km 2) and th at in N ottingham
(population 270,000) you could visit a different Italian restaurant every
week for half a year and a different Indian one every week for nine
m onths. Even the smallest towns have at least one Indian restaurant,
one Italian, and probably a Chinese one as well. Thai restaurants have
also become num erous in recent decades. Larger towns and cities have
restaurants representing cuisine from all over the world.
A part from pubs, only three types o f distinctively British eating places
exist. One offers mostly fried food o f the 'English breakfast’ type
(see chapter 5) and for this reason it is sometimes known as a 'greasy
spoon’. Traditionally, it is used principally by m anual workers, and is
therefore also sometimes called a 'w orkm an’s cafe’ (pronounced 'caff’).
But these days (when there are fewer m anual workers) it is also used by
anybody who wants a filling meal and likes the inform al atmosphere.
Many o f them are 'tran sp o rt cafes’ at the sides o f m ain roads. Second,
there is the fish and chip shop, used mainly for takeaway meals. Again,
the fish is fried. Finally, there are establishm ents in the centre o f towns
which are com m only referred to as 'tea room s’. They are open only
during the day and cater for a different kind o f clientele w ith waitress
service. They serve scones and other light snacks (and, o f course, tea).
 a lc o h o l 187

Fast food outlets are probably m ore com m on in Britain th an they W h a t p eop le d rin k
are in m ost other countries. Cynics
J
m ight
O
claim this is because the
As well as large am ounts o f h o t
British have no taste. However, their popularity is probably better
drinks such as tea, coffee and
explained sociologically. Except for greasy spoons, other types o f h o t chocolate, British p e o p le -
restaurant still retain echoes o f social pretension, so th a t some people especially children - d rin k squash
feel uncom fortable in them. A fast food place does n o t have these (a sweetened fr u it concentrate
associations. And they are cheap! th a t has to be d ilu te d w ith
w a te r) and brand-nam e ‘s o ft’
(n o n -a lc o h o lic ) drinks. They also
expect to be able to d rin k w a ter
A lcohol s tra ig h t fro m the tap.
The British attitude to alcohol in Britain is ambivalent. O n the one
Before the 1960s, w ine was
hand, it is accepted and liked as an integral, deeply-rooted part o f the d ru n k o nly by the higher social
national culture. And the prevalent attitude to getting d ru n k is that, classes and was associated
provided this does n o t lead to violence, there is no shame attached. in m ost p eople’s m inds w ith
On the other hand, the p u ritan tradition has led to the widespread expensive restaurants. Since
th a t tim e, it has increased
assum ption th a t drinking is som ething dangerous w’hich should
enorm ously in popularity.
therefore be restricted, w ith regard to both who can do it and also
where it can be done. M ost people, including regular drinkers, consider Beer is still the m ost p o p u la r
a lco h olic d rin k. The m ost
th a t it would be wrong to give a child even h a lf a glass o f beer. Quite
p o p u la r kind o f pub beer is
frequently, horror stories appear in the media about the shocking usually known as ‘ b itte r’, w hich
am o u n t o f alcohol drunk by teenagers. By law, people cannot be served is d ra u g h t (fro m the barrel). A
or drink any kind o f alcohol in pubs until the age o f eighteen. In fact, sweeter, darker version o f b itte r
both teenage drinking and alcohol consum ption generally are often is ‘ m ild ’. C onventionally, these
beers (w h ich are ofte n know n as
regarded these days as major social ‘problem s’, even though the British
‘ ales’ ) should be d ru n k at room
actually consum e less alcohol per head o f population th an many other tem perature, although many
countries in Europe. Perhaps this is because for many people, drinking pubs now serve them chilled.
is confined to pubs. M ost cafes are n o t allowed to serve beer or wine They have a com paratively low
a lco h o lic co n te n t. This is one
and these drinks are not as m uch a p a rt o f hom e life as they are in
reason w hy people are able to
some other European countries. d rin k so m uch o fth e m ! In m ost
For m ost o f the tw entieth century, pubs operated under strict laws pubs, several kinds o f b o ttled
beer are also available.
which lim ited their opening hours. These have now been relaxed.
Moreover, many m ore types o f shop now sell alcohol th an previously. Beer w hich is closer to
However, this lessening o f the negative a ttitu d e to alcohol has c o n tin e n ta l European varieties
is know n as ‘ lager’. D u rin g the
been balanced by increasing concerns about its im pact o n health
1980s, strong lager became
and safety. G overnm ent-sponsored guidelines state the m axim um p o p u la r am ong some young
a m o u n t o f alcohol which it is advisable for people to drink in a week people w h o , because they were
w ith o u t endangering their health. A lthough m illions o f people pay used to weaker tra d itio n a l beer,
little atten tio n to these, the general feeling th a t alcohol can be bad sometim es d ra n k to o m uch o f
it and became aggressive. They
for you has increased. became know n as ‘ lager lo u ts ’.
Nevertheless, alcohol, especially beer, remains an im p o rtan t part o f
In some pubs, cider is available
the lives o f many people. The occasional trip across the channel solely on d ra u g h t, and in some parts
for the purpose o f buying cheaper beer and wine in France or Belgium o f B rita in , m o st typ ica lly in the
is such a regular p a rt o f many people’s calendar th a t it has led to a English west country, it is this,
and n o t beer, w hich is the m ost
well-known colloquial coinage - the ‘booze cruise’.
c om m on pub d rin k.
At the time o f writing, there is continuing debate about licensing laws.
Shandy is h a lf beer and h a lf
W hen fu rther relaxing o f the laws was planned in 2005, it caused a fizzy lemonade. It has the
major political row. The medical profession, residents’ groups, and reputation o f being very good
m ost (but not all) o f the police were against the plan. One national fo r quenching thirst.
188 FOOD AND DRINK
T h e m eanings o f t h e w o rd
‘ b a r ’ in British English
1 The area in a hotel o r other
public place where alcoholic
drinks are sold and drunk.
2 The counter in a pub where you
go to get your drinks.
3 A place in the centre o f a
tow n o r city sim ilar to a pub
in general purpose, bu t which
serves a greater choice o f wines
than the typical pub (some
are even known as ‘wine bars’ )
and usually looks unashamedly
modern. Indeed, these bars are
a relatively recent phenomenon.
4 The different rooms in a pub.
This is an outdated meaning
which you may find used in
books about life in Britain
before the 1980s, when pubs
had tw o distinct kinds o f room.
The ‘ public bar’ had hard seats,
bare floorboards, a d a rt board
and other pub games and was
typically used by the w orking
class. The ‘saloon bar’, on the
other hand, was typically used
by the m iddle classes. Here there
was a carpet on the floor, softer
seats and the drinks were a little
more expensive. Some pubs also
had a ‘ private b ar’, which was
even more exclusive.
A typical pub sign.
newspaper organized a campaign to stop it. M uch o f the debate
revolves around the issue o f £binge drinking’. There has always been
som ething o f a problem o f public drunkenness in Britain and the
perception these days is th a t am ong young people it is an ‘epidemic’.
Those who w ant fewer regulations argue th a t this would reduce
drunkenness, which, they say, is largely the result o f having to drink
too fast. (And indeed, there is no doubt th a t the average British
drinker finishes a drink more quickly th an the average drinker o f other
European countries. This is a habit born o f generations subject to
lim ited drinking time.) They have a vision o f introducing to Britain
the more civilized drinking habits o f m ainland Europe.
Pubs
The British pub is unique. This is n o t ju st because it is different in
character from bars or cafes in other countries. It is also because it
is different from any o ther public place in Britain itself W ithout
pubs, Britain would be a less sociable country. The pub is the only
indoor place where the average person can comfortably meet others,
even strangers, and get into prolonged conversation with them. In
cafes and fast food places, people are expected to eat, drink, and get
out. The atm osphere in other eating places makes some people feel
uncom fortable. But pubs are classless. A pub w ith forty custom ers in
it is nearly always m uch noisier th an a cafe or restaurant w ith the same
num ber o f people in it.
The local pub plays an im portant role in alm ost every neighbourhood -
and pubs, it should be noted, are predominantly for the drinking o f beer
and spirits. Indicative o f this role is the fact th at it is commonly referred
to as ‘the local’ and people who go there are often known as ‘regulars’.
The action in all o f the country’s m ost popular soaps (see chapter 16)
revolves around a pub.
As w ith other aspects o f British life, pubs have become a bit less
distinctive in the last thirty years. They used to serve alm ost nothing
b u t beer and spirits and only things to eat you could get were ‘bar
snacks’ such peanuts and crisps. These days, you can get wine, coffee,
and h o t food at m ost o f them as well. This has helped to widen
their appeal.
Nevertheless, pubs have retained their special character. One o f
their notable aspects is th at there is no waiter service. If you w ant
som ething, you have to go and ask for it at the bar. This may n o t seem
very welcoming and a strange way o f m aking people feel comfortable
and relaxed. But to British people it is precisely this. To be served at a
table is discom forting for many people. It makes them feel they have
to be on their best behaviour. But because in pubs you have to go and
fetch your drinks yourself, it is m ore informal. You can get up and
walk around whenever you w ant - like being in your own house. This
‘home from hom e’ aspect o f the pub is encouraged by the relationship
between customers and those who work there. The latter are expected
 QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS 189

co know the regulars personally, to know w hat their usual drink is

and to chat with them when they are not serving someone. It is also
encouraged by the availability o f pub games (m ost typically darts) and,
frequently, a television.
T h e pub
A notable aspect o f British pubs is their frequent appeal to the idea o f
tradition. For example, each has its own name, proclaimed on a sign This photograph o f a pub shows
hanging outside, always w ith old-fashioned associations. M any are several typical features. First,
notice th a t it looks old. M o st
called by the name o f some aristocrat (e.g. T h e Duke o f Cam bridge’)
pubs are like this. It is p a rt o f
or after a monarch; others take their names from some traditional th e ir appeal to tra d itio n . Even a
occupation (e.g. ‘The Bricklayer’s A rm s’); they often have rural newly b u ilt pub is often designed
associations (e.g. ‘The Sheep Shearers’, ‘The Bull’). To call a pub ‘The to look, inside and out, as i f it
C om puter Program m ers’ or ‘The Ford Focus’ or som ething like th a t were several hundred years old.
Second, notice the windows. They
would be to make a very definite statem ent! For the same reason, the
are small because, unlike the large
person who runs a pub is referred to as the ‘landlord’ - even though he plate-giass windows o f cafes, they
or she is, in reality, a tenant. Nearly all pubs are owned by commercial help to make the pub feel homely.
companies. The ‘landlord’ is simply employed by the company as its But notice also th a t it is d iffic u lt
manager. But the word is used because it evokes earlier times when all to see inside the pub from the
outside. The V ictorians fe lt th a t
pubs were privately owned ‘in n s’ where travellers could find a bed for it was somehow n o t proper
the night. fo r people to be seen drinking.
Indeed, many pubs did n o t use
to have chairs and tables outside,
QUESTIONS though a garden at the back was
and is highly prized. Outside areas
1 How w ould you say British food is different from food in your have become more im p o rta n t fo r
country? pubs since 2007, when sm oking
inside them was banned.
2 Why do British people prefer to eat food from other countries when
they go out?
3 W hat are the differences (if any) between laws relating to alcohol in
Britain and those in your country? W hat possible reasons are there
for these differences?
4 In w hat ways are British pubs different from typical bars and cafes in
your country?

SUGGESTIONS
The m ost consistently popular and well-known cookery writer and
broadcaster in Britain is probably Delia Smith. Any o f her books will
give you a good idea o f the kind o f food British people cook (or would
like to cook) at home.