British food now

Phil Taylor

People often ask questions like "What do British people eat?" or "What is typical British food?" This is actually a very difficult question to answer for two reasons. Firstly, although there are some very popular, traditional dishes which have been made and eaten for many years, these days people in the UK eat such a wide variety of things that it"s very hard to say what is "typical". Secondly, although the UK is quite small, there is an amazing variety of food eaten in different areas of the country.

Until around 15 to 20 years ago, most people in the UK ate quite heavy, bland meals. In Japan, the staple food is rice. In the UK it used to be potatoes and bread. A typical evening meal was the famous "meat and two veg" - a piece of meat served with two kinds of boiled vegetables such as carrots or peas, and of course potatoes and perhaps bread and butter. When people went out to eat, they usually did not want to try anything too strange or "foreign". There were choices like Indian, Chinese, Italian or French, but that food was often changed a lot to suit British tastes.

Nowadays, British people eat a much greater variety of food. In the mid-1990s, TV cooking shows became very popular. The chefs who presented these shows became very famous and their restaurants were always packed. People loved to try the latest fusion cuisine - combinations of food from different countries - and many food writers say that modern British cuisine is one of the most interesting types of food in the world.

As well as restaurants, the food revolution spread to many normal British homes. People who watched the celebrity chefs on TV started to buy more cookery books and try new ideas for themselves. A recent survey said that 1 in 5 people want to try different food because they watch cooking shows on TV. About 30% of British people say they now cook with many different types of food, and 24% say they now buy better quality ingredients than before.

British food is so exciting because, as well as all these modern flavours from around the world, you can still enjoy many delicious things which have been eaten for hundreds of years. Here are just a few to look out for:

Bakewell tart - the original recipe comes from the village of Bakewell, in Derbyshire. It is a delicious, sweet baked pie made with almonds and a layer of apricot jam.

Cornish pasties - originally from Cornwall. These are small pies filled with beef, onion and potatoes. They were originally created as a convenient lunch for farm workers to carry with them. You can buy them at bakeries, supermarkets and pasty shops all over the UK, and there are now many modern varieties made with different kinds of meat and vegetables.

Cumberland ring - a kind of long sausage from north-east England, made from pork and herbs and shaped like a ring or coiled up like a snail"s shell, instead of straight.

Plum duff - this is a very typical English-style boiled pudding originally made with dried plums, but now usually made with raisins. It is served with hot custard. "Duff" is an old local word which means "dough".

Pork pies - the most famous come from Melton Mowbray in the Midlands, but you can get them almost anywhere in England. They are made with chopped pork baked in a shiny brown pastry, and often have a boiled egg in the middle. The small ones are a very popular cold pub snack.

Rice pudding - a sweet, hot dessert made with special pudding rice (it looks a little like Japanese rice) and milk. You can now buy ready-made rice pudding in cans which you can simply heat up in the microwave.

Shepherd's pie - minced lamb and vegetables in gravy, topped with potato and baked in the oven. There are other varieties like Cottage pie (made with beef) and Fisherman"s pie (made using white fish).

Summer pudding - this is a popular cold summer dish made with red fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blackcurrants and so on). You may think it is unusual because it is made with slices of bread! There are quite a lot of other English puddings made with bread. In Victorian times, people thought that bread was very good for children and sick people to eat.

Welsh cakes - from Wales. These are small flat cakes with raisins, made like scones by dropping a mixture onto a hot stone plate. Many parts of the UK have their own kinds of flat cakes made in a similar way (for example crumpets and pikelets).

Yorkshire pudding - originally from Yorkshire, in the north of England. Although it is called pudding, it is not a sweet dish. It is a batter made from flour, eggs, milk and water, and baked in the oven. It is usually served with a traditional roast Sunday lunch, but it used to be served before the meat, to make people feel more full and "make the meal go further". Sometimes they were even eaten for dessert, too!

For recipes that you can try yourself at home, try these websites:

http://www.shopenglandonline.com/englishrecipes.html - many traditional English recipes

http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/World-Cuisine/Europe/United-Kingdom-and-Ireland/Main.aspx - a huge number of well-organized recipes from the UK and Ireland

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/ - the BBC Food site has many delicious modern and traditional British recipes. Try searching for "traditional" to find some of the old favourites