British cuisine

Traditional British cuisine is usually described as plain,

conservative and unvaried. There exists a popular joke
that it’s the worst cuisine in the world, moreover, the
British themselves often say so. It's been a stereotype for
ages, but it's most definitely true. Traditionally British
cuisine is considered to be rather primitive and unvaried.
Some people even say that there is no any specific cuisine
in Britain. However, many well-known and World’s best
chefs are of British origin. Consequently, there must be
something about eating habits and traditions that
characterize the
country. It is true
that traditional British
meals are rather plain
and easy to cook, but
they have a good and
natural taste at the
same time.
 Much attention is paid to the food quality that is why
people in Great Britain choose it accurately. In addition,
they prefer local products that are produced within the
country or grown naturally by
farmers. Traditional English
food has been greatly
influenced by other national
cuisines in recent years.
Despite this fact, if you travel
to Britain, you can still be
served up traditional English
dishes in a restaurant or at a
hotel. Today English food
continues to merge in national
cuisines from all over the world. Much attention here is
paid to the food quality.
 Meals during a day in
Britain traditionally
include breakfast, lunch,
dinner and supper. A
typical English breakfast
is usually quite big and
substantial. It includes
pork sausages, bacon
and eggs, tomatoes, baked beans, mushrooms and a
toast. Some people enjoy porridge, fruit and yogurt in the
morning, followed by a toast and jam, or orange
marmalade. A traditional breakfast drink is tea, which
British people prefer having with cold milk. Another
popular morning drink is orange juice.
 For many Englishmen lunch is a fast meal. In big cities
there are a lot of sandwich bars where office clerks can
choose all sorts of sandwiches with meat, fish, chicken,
ham, prawns, eggs, cheese, vegetables and lettuce.
English pubs also serve good food for lunch, hot and
cold. Quite a lot of workers go to famous “fish and chips
shops” and buy their favorite deep fried cod or haddock
with French fries.
 A lot of Englishmen drink their
5 o’clock tea. It’s a traditional light
meal after work. People enjoy their
favorite teas with cookies, cakes,
freshly baked sweet buns, scones
and other pastries.
 British people eat their evening meal at about 7 o’clock,
when all members of the family are at home together.
As a rule, a typical dinner is meat and vegetables. It can
be roast chicken or lamb with potatoes, or steamed
vegetables with meat gravy. For dessert, English wives
cook various puddings and serve them with ice-cream or
jam.
 On Sundays British families
like to sit together at the
table enjoying roast beef,
lamb or chicken, served
with Yorkshire pudding and
dressed with English
mustard, apple sauce,
cranberry sauce or mint sauce.
All in all, the British do have
food traditions and many
specific dishes that should
be tasted. Among which you
find the famous shepherd’s
pie, picnic eggs, beefsteak,
trifle and many others.
 But we can not deny that every country has foods that
seem strange to outsiders. The British have their own
collection of unusual foods that other nationalities find
disturbing although sometimes it’s just in the name.
Perhaps because of these dishes, British cuisine is the
worst cuisine in the world according to someone.
Five Strange British foods
1. Spotted Dick
This is one of Britain’s best known and most
humorous foods if you get the joke. In reality
this is simply a suet pudding into which raisins
and other dried fruits are mixed before cooking.
Naturally, these are the spots. Where the ‘Dick’
part of the name came from is still a mystery
although some claim it is a derivation of the
word “dough” meaning dog or the German
word “dicht” meaning thick.
  
2. Periwinkles
One of the great traditional foods of northern
England is the common periwinkle, a form of sea
snail. The winkle isn’t large and after they’ve been
collected they need to be soaked in fresh water
for 12 hours to remove excess sand and salt.
Once cleaned, they are boiled and the flesh is
then picked out of the shell with a pin giving rise
to the term winkle-pickers. They are best served
with salt, garlic and butter but can also be served
soaked in vinegar if a more piquant flavour is desired.
3. Haggis
Haggis is made from the heart, liver and lungs
of a sheep which is minced and mixed with
oatmeal, animal fat or suet, and onions. It is
flavoured with salt and pepper
before being stuffed into a cleaned
sheep’s stomach and then boiled for
a few hours.
4. Black Pudding
This is the British version of blutwurst and
is usually made from a mixture of
congealed pigs blood, lard and oatmeal.
Common seasonings usually include salt,
pepper, cloves and onions. It is
generally served sliced and fried
as part of a traditional English breakfast.
5. Laver Bread
The best way to describe this food is that
it is green, slimy and looks like badly boiled
cabbage. And … it’s not bread at all its seaweed.
Welcome to the Welsh delicacy: Laver bread.
The purple variety is considered best and after
it has been washed it will need to be boiled for
several hours. It is then pureed or minced and
so becomes the green gelatinous mass in the
picture. Apparently, it can be fried and served
with bacon, rolled in oats to form a patty or even used as a straightforward
vegetable accompaniment for lamb or mutton.
You can try British cuisine in Zaporozhye by
visiting restaurants “Dill” and “Coffeelab”.