Transcript Food and Drink, Customs

Eating & Drinking
An introduction to
British foods and
beverages
Mealtimes (traditional)
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In many European countries people have a
long break at midday and all family members
return home to eat together.
This is not common in Britain because it is
often a long way from the place of work or
school to the home.
British people usually have a big breakfast
before they go to work and the midday meal
is not spent with family members but with
workmates or schoolmates.
Mealtimes (traditional)
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Lunch is normally eaten between 12:30 pm
and 1:30pm.
Most people finish work at 5:30pm. It often
takes an hour or so to get home and people
tend to eat their evening meal or "dinner"
between 6:30pm and 8pm.
Mealtimes (traditional)
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On Sundays people don't go to work so they
usually eat with their family.
Sunday lunch is usually the best meal of the
week and many of the meals which are
considered typically British are eaten for
Sunday lunch.
Mealtimes (traditional)
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E.g. Roast beef
and Yorkshire
pudding.
Roast beef
Roast potato
Yorkshire Pudding
Broccoli
Dinner or Tea?
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Although everyone in Britain understands
that “breakfast” is the first meal of the day,
there is disagreement about the words for
other meals such as "dinner”, “lunch”, “tea”,
“high tea” , “elevenses”, “brunch”, “supper”
In this lecture “Lunch” is the midday meal
and “Dinner” is the evening meal.
Fried Breakfast
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Many people like
to have a fried
breakfast which
can consist of
fried bacon and
eggs with fried
bread, baked
beans and
possibly fried
tomatoes or black
pudding.
Fried Breakfast
Breakfast - Baked Beans on Toast
Breakfast - Toast & Marmalade
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Some people
prefer to just
eat toast and
marmalade
with tea or
coffee
Breakfast - Cereal
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Cereals are also
very popular. The
most common are
cornflakes. They
are made with
different grains
such as corn,
wheat, oats etc.
Breakfast - Porridge
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In Scotland
many people eat
"porridge" or
boiled oats.
Porridge is very
heavy but it will
keep you warm
in winter.
Lunch
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Some
factories
and
schools
have
canteens
where you
can eat
Packed Lunch
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A packed lunch is the
most common thing to
eat. A packed lunch
normally consist of
some sandwiches, a
packet of crisps, an
apple and a can of
something to drink, for
example, coca-cola.
Dinner - Traditional
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The most typical thing to eat for dinner is "meat and
two veg".
This consists of a piece of meat accompanied by two
different boiled vegetables.
This is covered with "gravy" which is a sauce made
with the juice that was obtained when the meat was
cooked.
One of the vegetables is almost always potatoes.
The British eat a lot of potatoes
Dinner
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Today most British people eat meals from
many different countries e.g. spaghetti or
curry.
In fact you could even say that the British
don't eat much British food.
Fish and Chips
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The “traditional” national food of England.
It became popular in the 1860's when railways
began to bring fresh fish straight from the east coast
to the cities over night.
The fish (cod, haddock, huss, plaice) is deep fried in
flour batter and is eaten with chips.
Traditionally, the fish and chips are covered with salt
and malt vinegar and, using your fingers, eaten
straight out of the newspaper which they were
wrapped in.
Fish and Chips
Shepherds Pie
Bangers & Mash
Turkey & Bacon
Ploughman’s Lunch
Desserts - Trifle
Apple Crumble & Custard
Eating Etiquette (Table manners)
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The British generally pay a lot of attention to
good table manners. Even young children
are expected to eat properly with knife and
fork (cutlery).
Most food is eaten with cutlery. Foods not
eaten with a knife, fork or spoon include
sandwiches, crisps, corn on the cob, and fruit.
Things you should do:
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If you are a guest, it is polite to wait until your host(ess) starts
eating or indicates you should do so.
Always chew and swallow all the food in your mouth before
taking more or taking a drink.
You may eat chicken and pizza with your fingers if you are at
a barbecue, finger buffet or very informal setting.
Always say thank you when served something.
When eating bread rolls, break off a piece of bread before
buttering.
When eating soup, tip the bowl away from you and scoop the
soup up with your spoon.
When you have finished eating, and to let others know that you
have, place your knife and fork together, with the prongs on
the fork facing upwards, on your plate.
In a restaurant, it is normal to pay for your food by putting your
money on the plate the bill comes on.
Things you should not do:
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It is impolite to start eating before everyone has been served.
Never chew with your mouth open.
It is impolite to have your elbows on the table while you are
eating.
Don't reach over someone's plate for something, ask for the
item to be passed.
Never talk with food in your mouth.
It is impolite to put too much food in your mouth.
Never use your fingers to push food onto your spoon or fork.
It is impolite to slurp your food or eat noisily.
Never blow your nose on a napkin (serviette).
Never take food from your neighbours plate.
Never pick food out of your teeth with your fingernails.
Beer
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Traditional types of
beer include:
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Bitter
Mild
Stout
Porter
India pale ale
Newcastle Brown Ale
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Public Houses (“Pubs”)
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There are approximately 60,000 public houses in the United
Kingdom (UK).
In many places, especially in villages, a pub can be the focal point
of the community.
Pubs are social places for the sale and consumption of mainly
alcoholic beverages, and most public houses offer a wide range of
beers, wines, spirits and alcopops.
The owner or manager (licensee) of a public house is known as the
publican, and may be referred to as "guv" (short for guv'nor, or
governor) in some parts of the country.
Each pub generally has a crowd of “regulars”, people who drink
there regularly. The pub people visit most often is called their local.
In many cases, this will be the pub nearest to their home, but some
people choose their local for other reasons: proximity to work, a
traditional venue for their friends, the availability of real ale, or
maybe just a pool table.
Colloquialisms for the public house include boozer, the local,
watering hole and rub-a-dub-dub.
Pub Etiquette
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There is no waiter service in a British pub. You have to go to the bar to
buy your drinks and carry them back to your table.
It is customary for one or two people, not the whole group, to go up to
the bar to buy drinks.
To get served, you must attract the attention of the bar staff without
making any noise or resorting to the vulgarity of too-obvious
gesticulation. This is much easier than it sounds.
If you wish to pay for your drinks individually, then order individually. If
you order as a group, the bar staff will total the cost and expect a
single payment.
In most British pubs, you pay for your drinks in cash, immediately
when you order them.
Pubs often have a range of about 20 different beers behind the bar,
many of them on draught (on tap), some in bottles and a few in cans.
A pint of beer is 0.568 litres. A 'half' means a half-pint. When ordering
you just say "Half a bitter, please" or "Half a lager, please."
It is not customary to tip the publican or bar staff. Instead, if you really
want to, the common practice is to buy them a drink. This is a
genuinely personal and friendly gesture.
Pub Etiquette
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The term "bar" can mean either the actual counter at which drinks are served, or any room
in the pub which contains one of these counters. You may come across pubs with rooms
marked Public Bar, Lounge Bar or Saloon Bar.
There is no single, correct way to order a pub meal or snack. Some pubs take meal orders
at the bar, others have separate food counters. However, drinks must almost always be
purchased at the bar.
Round-buying is the reciprocal exchange of drinks. To the natives, round-buying is sacred.
Not "buying your round" is more than just a breach of pub etiquette - it's heresy.
Don't ask for an expensive drink like champagne if the person buying it is drinking costconscious halves of beer.
Unless there are signs specifically stating that children are welcome, always ask at the bar
if children (under 14) are allowed in the pub.
Pubs change according to the time of day. The quiet, pretty town-centre 'tourist' pub you
discovered at lunchtime may become a vibrant, crowded young people's pub at night.
Generally, pubs are not allowed to open until 11am (noon on Sundays). They cannot serve
drinks after 11pm (10.30pm on Sundays) in England and Wales although you are allowed
20 minutes to finish any drinks already purchased.
Toilets in pubs are for the use of customers, not the general public.
The pub, to many natives, is a second home - and some probably spend more time there
than they do in their own homes.
Pub talk is the most popular activity in all pubs. There are few restrictions on what you can
talk about - pub etiquette is concerned with the form of your conversation, not the content.
Pub regulars will often start an argument about anything, just for the fun of it. Arguments
follow a strict code of etiquette based on the First Commandment of pub law - Thou shalt
not take things too seriously.
Pubs
The most common pub names in
Britain are:
(1) The Crown – represents the king or
queen. Many pubs are named after
individual kings and queens (see
examples below).
(2) The Red Lion – the pub name
became popular after James the First
ordered a red lion to be displayed
outside all public places.
(3) Royal Oak – the king Charles the
Second escaped the Roundheads (at
the time of the English Civil War) by
hiding in the branches of an oak tree.
(4) Swan – a heraldic symbol, used in
the "coat of arms" of powerful families.
(5) White Hart – the white hart (rabbit)
was the heraldic symbol of the king
Richard the Second