That essential
British dish ...
I've been conducting a mini survey on behalf
of this website. I have been asking American friends what they think
typical British foods are. What do the British eat?
Well of course, we reputedly start the day with bacon, eggs, fried bread, sausages, black pudding, fried tomatoes, several cups of milky, sugary tea with a light dessert of toast, dripping with butter of course, and marmalade. We might also have had an appetizer of cornflakes, sugar and the top of the milk. Staggering our way from the table, we embark upon lunch.
Bearing in mind the 'fare', as they like to call it, that's served up in Floridian British pubs, they reckon our lunch consisted of anything ranging from Bangers and Mash and Toad in the Hole, to Fish and Chips and Shepherd's pie.
When you lived in England, how often did you eat Yorkshire puddings, followed by stew and dumplings, and then nicely topped your meal off with Spotted Dick and custard and a nice slice of Bakewell Tart just to keep you going until teatime? And how big would you be if you had?
But this is what my Floridian friends think we ate on a daily basis as a light lunch.
It's supposedly a well-known that the British get peckish during the afternoon. American's don't have teatime. If I say to an American friend "I'll call you at teatime' they have no idea what I mean. But they do know that in the afternoon we eat scones, clotted cream, strawberries, lots of jam and a few cucumber sandwiches as a concession to the fact that a healthy diet contains salad foods.
Dinner of course, was far posher. Elderly retainers staggered into our baronial dining rooms, knees buckling under the weight of covered dishes which revealed Beef Wellington, Rack of Lamb with those curly paper things on the end, grouse, pheasant, venison and anything else the Lord of the Manor had massacred on the moors.
Followed by Sherry Trifle, Carr's water biscuits and Cheshire cheese, this repast gave us the energy to stagger into our drawing rooms to give the port decanter some welly.
Before retiring, we'd guard against starvation during the night with mugs of Ovaltine and maybe, 'oh, I shouldn't, but alright then', a slab of fruitcake and, as a gesture towards healthy eating, an apple or two.
Of course, if you're like me and from the North, we ate - evidently - tripe, cowheel, fat and bread, chip butties, sheep's heads, pork scratchings, black pudding and lots and lots and lots and lots of beer. (Actually, when I come to think, my mother really DID eat like that! And I guess the beer thing isn't far off the mark, if I'm honest. But still...)
If you were from the 'sarf', you ate jellied ells, pease pudding and saveloys. I blame Lionel Bart for that one.
People from even further north ate haggis, lots of things with oats in them, soups with names like Och-na-cock-na-leekie, or anything that contained the words 'bannock' or 'griddle'.
The Irish and Welsh are easily explained as they eat (respectively) seaweed and potatoes, or daffodils and leeks - oh, and sheep.
Oh, my American friends are SO disappointed when I tell them that in England I lived on curry, Dominos pizzas, Burger King veggie burgers, Kitkats, diet Coke and red wine!
No elderly retainers, no freshly shot grouse and, despite the fact that I'm from the North, no black pudding and not an inkling of bread and dripping, and don't take me anywhere near a plate of tripe if you value your life
My informants tell me, that when you go out to dinner in the UK these days, you can forget about scampi in a basket. No longer do the British order a prawn cocktail as an appetizer and an entree of a well-done steak followed by Black Forest gateaux.
No, these days they go to the local Friday's. Pubs serve skins with sour cream and bacon bits, buffalo wings, chicken fingers and mozzarella sticks as bar snacks. Gone are the days when the shrimp woman used to come round to the pub with her basket laden with cockles, whelks and all those other things that looked like baby birds that have fallen out of their nests.
No-one in Britain eats the traditional British meals any more.
It seems to me that the only place you can get a true British meal, Shepherd's Pie, Toad in the Hole, Bubble and Squeak, Bangers and Mash - followed by Rhubarb Crumble, Curd Tart, Spotted Dick - is in a British pub in Florida.
Is that why we're here?????
Submitted by Jackie Jackson. Jackie is a long-term Florida resident who originates from Yorkshire. She is co-owner of Tangled Spider Web Design, the hottest design company in South Florida which is one hundred percent British owned.
