In the average British home, many people today don’t get to sit down to eat with the family as they once did. You will find that a lot of people eat in a hurry instead of dining in comfort at the dinner table.
However, even if we don’t always eat sitting together, what and when we eat are different than other countries of the world.
We eat breakfast whenever we get up before work (or even on the way there!), lunch between 12 and 2pm, and dinner around six or seven o’clock. Just to confuse things, if you live somewhere in the midlands or the north of England, you might find that people refer to the meal at 6 as ‘tea’ and call ‘lunch’ ‘dinner’!
Sunday lunch
One meal where families still make an effort to eat at the same time is for Sunday lunch. This is a very traditional occasion where people normally eat a roast dinner.
For this, you roast some meat - usually beef, pork, lamb or chicken – with a selection of boiled and roasted vegetables which might include any of: potatoes, carrots, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, parsnips, green beans, peas, courgettes, swede…and the list goes on! And all of this is topped with a meaty sauce called ‘gravy’.
Sunday lunch is something you should definitely experience while you are in the UK! If you are not living with English people, just get to a local pub or restaurant on a Sunday where you can always find this Great British meal being served up every week.
English breakfast
Another national tradition at mealtimes is the famous ‘full English’ breakfast. If you are a fan of healthy eating then look out – this is traditionally cooked by frying the meat in its own fat! This is why we sometimes call it a ‘fry up’. People in the UK in the past had this every morning – but now the doctors don’t recommend it!
You can get this national ‘delicacy’ at cafes all around the country every morning. Why not go to one, and then try cooking it yourself?
What you will need:
Bacon, sausages, eggs, tinned tomatoes, mushrooms
How to do it!
Instead of frying everything, a lot of people today do their breakfasts under the grill and ‘poach’ the eggs in water - this makes it a bit healthier. The most difficult thing is getting all the things ready at the same time!
- 1. First, start to boil a pan of water on the stove. Then…
2. Sausages – these take the longest, so cook them first. Cook under the grill on a low heat for 10 minutes, turning occasionally.
3. Add the bacon to the grill pan and cook with the sausages for a further 8 minutes – turning the bacon over once.
4. At the same time as the bacon is cooking you need to warm the tomatoes, fry the mushrooms and poach the eggs all at the same time. So make sure you prepare them in advance!
5. Poached eggs – once the pan of water is boiling, turn down the heat to low, and break the eggs into the pan. Cook them for 3 minutes (or 5 if you like them hard).
6. Tomatoes – heat these in a bowl in the microwave, or gently in a pan until they are hot.
7. Mushrooms – simply wash them and chop off the end of the stalks. Then slice them before frying them in some butter.
If everything has gone well, it should all be ready now. So put everything on a warm plate with some bread on the side. And if you want to do it the truly English way, add a squeeze of tomato or HP sauce!
Going to a dinner party
If you are lucky enough to be invited to someone else’s house for dinner, make sure you dress for dinner – most people would dress quite smart for such an occasion. But don’t overdo it. Guys should perhaps wear trousers and shirt, but definitely not a suit. And girls should maybe wear a skirt or a dress.
Take a bottle of wine – you won’t be expected to contribute to the food, but it is polite to take a bottle of wine. If you find out what is on the menu in advance you could even choose a grape that goes well with the meal!
Compliment the chef – even if what you are eating is not that good, always tell the host that the food is great!
Fish and chips
Fish and chips is a real English favourite. You will notice there are fish and chip shops everywhere! If you don’t want to cook, then go to your local ‘chippy’ and try the famous British takeaway.
You can get lots of things here to go with your chips. But traditionally, you will have cod in batter and chips topped with salt and vinegar. When you get home, make a sandwich with the chips and you can also experience what we call a ‘chip buttie’!
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By Matt Taylor
In the Home 
