British cuisine

I'd like to speak about British national cuisine. It's common knowl­edge that British cuisine is shaped by the country's temperate climate, its geography and its history. Traditional meals have ancient origins, such as bread and cheese, roasted and stewed meats, meat pies and freshwater and saltwater fish.

Traditional British cuisine is substantial but simple and wholesome. The British have three main meals a day. Breakfast is between 8 and 9 a.m. Lunch is a light meal or snack between 12 a.m. and 1.30 p.m. Din­ner, which is sometimes called supper or tea, is the main meal of the day between 6.30 p.m. and 8 p.m. On Sundays the main meal of the day is often eaten at around 1 p.m. This meal usually consists of roast meat, Yorkshire pudding and two kinds of vegetables.

Most overseas visitors see British breakfast as the typical version of eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms and baked beans, all ac­companied with a cup of tea or coffee. Today, however, a typical British breakfast is normally a bowl of cereal, a slice of toast, orange juice and tea or coffee.

During the week, due to a lifestyle of often working a long distance from home, many people have a 'packed lunch' or sandwiches for lunch, with a packet of crisps, fruit and a drink.

Sunday lunch is different when the family sits together for a tradi­tional Sunday roast. This consists of roast meat, different kinds of vege­tables, always including roast potatoes with Yorkshire Pudding, a flour based batter cooked in the oven. The most commonly eaten joints of meat are beef, lamb or pork, chicken is also popular. Beef is accompa­nied by white horseradish sauce, pork by apple sauce and lamb is eaten with green mint sauce. Gravy is then poured over the meat.

Traditionally dinner was similar to Sunday Lunch but today this is rarely eaten on ordinary days. Today most people in Britain prefer curry, rice or pasta for dinner. Fresh vegetables are also popular, such as peas, carrots, cabbage, onions and potatoes.

Needless to say, some traditional foods have remained British fa­vourites. Fish and Chips is the most famous English food, after the Sun­day Roast beef. Fish can be either cod, haddock or plaice and is deep fried in flour batter, then served with chips. This is British traditional take-away meal. Steak and Kidney Pie is pastry pie filled with steak, lamb kidneys and gravy, baked in the oven. This is accompanied with chips and fresh vegetables. Shepherds' Pie is made with minced lamb and onions with light gravy, topped with mashed potato and baked in the oven. Cottage Pie is the same as Shepherds' pie but made with beef in­stead of lamb.

     At the same time British families today rarely eat together. People often consume junk food, often in front of the television. The diet in in­creasing numbers of families consists mainly of salty or sweet snack foods - chips, crisps, chocolate bars, ready-meals, microwave pizzas which can cause obesity and health problems.