British Culinary Traditions: Meals, Brunch, and Restaurants

British Eating Habits

In Britain people have 3 meals a day: breakfast in the morning, lunch at middle and dinner or supper at about 7o’clock.
The traditional British Breakfast is bacon, eggs, sausages and tomato, toast with jam or marmalade (the difference between them is that marmalade is made from oranges and jam is made from all the other kinds of fruit).this meal is a very large meal and today British people don’t usually have time to prepare and eat all that, so they have cereals with milk, toast and a cup of tea or coffee (continental breakfast).

Quick Lunch in Great Britain

Lunch is a quick meal, between 12 and 1 pm. In many European Countries it is normal to have a long break in the middle of the day when all members of the family return to the houses and eat together. This is not very common in Britain. So people don’t usually go to back home for lunch and the meal at midday is not spent with the members of the family but with workmates or schoolmates. Children usually have lunch at school canteen. Many adults have lunch in a cafeteria, self-services, restaurants or snack bar and it consist of a hamburger, a salad or a sandwich. Big offices have a canteen.

Dinner as the Main Meal

Dinner (or supper) is the main meal of the day. Most people have it between 7 and 8 pm. The fist course (or starter) is usually a vegetables soup but sometimes it is a mixed salad. Then they have meat, chicken or fish with potatoes. In Britain people don't generally eat much fruit because it is quite expensive so they usually have a dessert. British people usually drink beer or tea. Tea is the national hot drink in Britain and the British like their tea strong with milk. The other national drink is beer. The place where they have beer and other alcoholic drinks is the pub, a sort of bar where children are not allowed.

Sunday Traditions

On Sunday people don't have to work so they take the opportunity to eat together with their family. They sleep a bit longer then they have one meal late morning. This meal is called Brunch that means breakfast and lunch all in one. Brunch includes all sorts of food. It is the best meal of the week. Many of the meals which are considered typically British (roast beef and pudding) are eaten for Sunday lunch.

Variety of Restaurants in Great Britain

Do you want to eat out? There is a large variety of restaurants in Britain. You can find cheap meals at "Fish and chips" shops, in Pubs or in fast food restaurants (these are now very popular with young people) or you can find special dishes in Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Italian, Greek or French restaurants.