Customs and Traditions

06 October 2020
08:49

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).

Cuisine
 British cuisine is the specific set of
cooking traditions and practices
associated with the United Kingdom.
 Historically, British cuisine means
"unfussy dishes made with quality local
ingredients, matched with simple sauces
to accentuate flavour, rather than
disguise it."
 However, British cuisine has absorbed
the cultural influence of those that
settled in Britain, producing hybrid
dishes, such as the Anglo-Indian Chicken
tikka masala, hailed as "Britain's true
national dish".

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

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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.

Tea time

Tea is the English national drink. They drink

tea 5-6 times a day: tea for breakfast, tea at
lunch time, tea at tea-time, tea after dinner.
Some English families have "high tea" and
no supper.
As the English say “Seven cups of it wake you
up in the morning; nine cups will put you to
sleep at night”.
The English drink mostly strong and fresh
made Indian tea and only out of cups, never
out of glasses.
So tea means two things for the English - it is a
drink and a meal.

History Of Afternoon Tea

Tea consumption increased dramatically during the
early nineteenth century and it
Traditions is2around this time
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 History Of Afternoon Tea
Tea consumption increased dramatically during the
early nineteenth century and it is around this time
that Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford is said to have
complained of "having that sinking feeling" during
the late afternoon. At the time it was usual for
people to take only two main meals a day, breakfast,
and dinner at around 8 o'clock in the evening. The
solution for the Duchess was a pot a tea and a light
snack, taken privately in her boudoir during the
afternoon.

Serving Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea traditionally starts with sized smoked salmon, cucumber,

or egg and mustard sandwiches - followed by scones with jam and
cream , and finally a selection of cakes. Variations through Britain may
include the serving of English Muffins , thinly sliced, hot buttered toast
and in Scotland even a hot main course dish; bacon and eggs or a steak
pie as favorites.
Tea is traditionally served from heavy, ornate, silver teapots into delicate
china cups. Milk or lemon served with the tea is still a personal
preference. The sandwiches and the cakes should arrive at table on tired
cake stands.

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.

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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 Britainand 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 festivalof 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 inCardiganin 1176

N Ireland
St Patrick's Day occurs on March 17. It is a national holiday in Ireland and commemorates one of its

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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.

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