Traditional English breakfast. What do they eat in England

Probably every person sometimes wonders how life is organized in other countries. This is ordinary curiosity, which, however, sometimes helps to diversify your life by introducing new notes into it. The cuisines of other countries are of particular interest. After all, now classic dishes of European and Asian cuisines are widely popular among certain circles of the population in our country. Let's talk about what Americans, British and French eat for breakfast. Maybe we should add something to our menu?

What do Americans eat for breakfast?

The culinary culture of the United States brings together many of the most different types regional as well as ethnic cuisine. However, there are a number of dishes that can be found on family tables, and in different restaurants in different regions of the country. The classic American breakfast is usually served in full only on weekends. It may consist of special pancakes with the addition of maple syrup; the table may also include sausages, fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, buns, bacon, toast, jam, and even smoothies. On normal weekdays, Americans prefer a breakfast of cereal with milk.

Pancakes are considered one of the most common breakfasts in the United States. This is the name for rather fluffy and at the same time small pancakes; they are usually served with honey or maple syrup. Chopped berries and fruits are often added to the pancake dough; they can also be served with bacon.

A smoothie is a cold dessert that consists of berries, fruits or vegetables chopped in a blender. Add ice, juice or milk to the resulting mass. Usually, only one ingredient is used to prepare a smoothie, less often two in equal proportions.

Also, quite often, Americans eat scrambled eggs for breakfast - nothing more than fried eggs in a special way. Immediately after the eggs set in the pan, they are actively stirred with a wooden spatula. So the scrambled eggs do not look like a single mass, but fall apart into pieces.

What do the British eat for breakfast?

Residents of England are especially committed to traditions, including in relation to food. Classic English cuisine has remained unchanged for many centuries. The traditional breakfast of a resident of England is high in calories and is quite heavy; it can effectively satisfy hunger for a good half of the day.

Morning meal in English hotels usually includes seven dishes, represented by fried bacon with a pleasantly crispy crust, several fried sausages, and a couple of fresh or canned tomatoes, which were sprinkled with oil from the fried bacon.

Also on the plate, tourists usually find a portion of white beans with the addition of tomato, and a certain amount of fried champignons. An English breakfast also usually includes a piece or two of fresh toast along with butter and a fried egg.

This hearty meal is washed down with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, coffee or tea with milk. In addition, such a menu may sometimes include a glass of milk along with corn flakes, as well as pancakes topped with strawberry jam.

The feeding feature is hearty food consists in the fact that all the described products are placed on one large plate. A pair of yellow scrambled eggs are framed by white clouds of fried whites, the beans are pink, the mushrooms look brown, the sausages are almost black, the tomatoes give off a bright red splash, and the golden toast sits nicely on the edge.

The indigenous inhabitants of the island usually eat this way only on weekends, and on weekdays they prefer to eat oatmeal with milk, scrambled eggs and bacon (sometimes mushrooms, tomatoes, sausage, etc. are added to it), as well as toast with jam or marmalade. They usually drink tea or coffee.

What do the French eat for breakfast?

The classic French breakfast is not as filling as in the USA and England, which we talked about just above. A typical breakfast for a resident of France consists of yogurt, coffee with milk, hot chocolate or juice, in addition to them there are traditional croissants, buns or toast with jam.

Traditional croissants are pan-au-chocolate, they are buns made from rich puff pastry, and have chocolate filling. In France they like to drink coffee with milk and a small amount of milk foam. This drink is not called cappuccino, but cafe-o-le.

At home, French people in large cities often eat not croissants, but so-called brioche. It is a rich bread and may include candied fruits and chocolate. The recipe for making such pastries came from Normandy, and now each province has its own version of its creation.

In small populated areas In France, where breakfast is the main meal until lunch, and sometimes until the evening, such a meal is much more satisfying. On the table there are various sandwiches with ham, as well as processed cheese, pies, classic crepe pancakes, etc.

Some tasty and interesting dishes that are popular in other countries can find a place here too. Such food will help diversify your diet and add an interesting note to it.

A well-known feature of the inhabitants of England - adherence to traditions - also applies to food. The traditional cuisine of England has remained unchanged for several centuries, but it attracts a lot of criticism, both from tourists and representatives of the local population. although the British do not strive to change anything in their traditional cuisine.

From the outside it seems that the indigenous people of England have formed a kind of food cult. But, for example, the geographic neighbors of the English, the French, joke that in hell only English cooks prepare food, and in order not to starve in England, you have to travel to the continent three times a day.

What constitutes an English breakfast, lunch and dinner, why there is confusion in these concepts, and how many meals and snacks the British allow themselves will be discussed below.

Meals: from the first cup of tea to dinner

Traditionally the day typical Englishman It starts with a cup of tea in the morning, which is drunk while still in bed. The first English breakfast occurs at 7-8 am and includes several fairly nutritious dishes.

Second breakfast or lunch occurs at 1-2 pm and usually takes place in small restaurants or pubs. In fact, in our country the second English breakfast is lunch, but in England it is customary to call the evening meal – dinner – “dinner”.

On weekends in England, breakfast smoothly flows into lunch– this extended meal, which lasts almost half a day and is, rather, entertainment and time spent together for the whole family, is called brunch (the beginning and end of the words breakfast and lunch are combined).

Dinner for the British takes place at 7-8 pm and is perhaps the most nutritious of all meals. When people want to refer to dinner more formally, they talk about lunch, which usually takes place in restaurants and includes three or more courses.

A traditional English breakfast begins with oatmeal (everyone remembers the famous expression “Oatmeal, sir!”), the birthplace of which is considered to be Scotland.

In Scotland itself, oatmeal is eaten without any additives. English oatmeal is served with milk or cream, and sugar can be added to taste.

Breakfast continues with scrambled eggs and bacon, to which you can also add mushrooms, fried tomatoes, herring or sausage, toast with jam and tea or coffee. Jam is completely separate component morning food - A traditional English breakfast is unthinkable without it. The only thing is that it is sometimes replaced with marmalade, which can be presented in different states– hard, crumbly or jelly-like.

Also, the English breakfast is replete with plenty of vegetables and fruits and fruit juices. In the morning, the world's popular corn flakes or muesli with milk are also acceptable.

Many English people spend second breakfast, lunch or dinner in restaurants, since it is not customary to go home for a lunch break. It may include meat or fish, salads, potatoes, fruit pudding for dessert.

As first courses, which are generally not very common in England, puree soups and broths are considered, however, more often they are still transferred to the evening meal.

Also popular during lunch are closed sandwiches or sandwiches with pate, boiled pork, ham, fish and other ingredients.

Drinks during lunch can be traditional tea or juices. Even on a weekday during lunch, some Englishmen drink draft beer - porter or black ale.

After a five-hour tea party, which takes place with all the formalities, it is time for a rather late dinner. For some English families, this meal is considered the main meal of the day.

On the eve of dinner, it is customary to serve an aperitif - usually wine. Then soup can be served as a first course, or several different hot dishes can simply be prepared.

For dinner they usually eat roast beef or steaks; as an addition to the second course they go vegetable snack(beans, corn, pickled vegetables, cauliflower etc.). Sauces are offered for each dish. At the end of the meal, something sweet is usually served with the favorite drink of the British - tea..

Useful for tourists

The national food in England is considered to include several dishes that are recommended to be tried by all visitors to this amazing country. Having found out what the British eat and what are their signature dishes, you can try one or another culinary masterpiece yourself.

So, you should definitely try the famous English pies. This could be a meat pie, which traditionally appears on the table during an evening meal, or apple pie, which is consumed as a dessert at any time of the day.

It's worth trying the healthy Scottish oatmeal, which for the most part makes up the English breakfast.

As a first course, Irish fish soup with tomatoes and finely chopped potatoes, seasoned with sour cream and nutmeg, is considered very tasty.

The most favorite side dish of the British is rice with tomato seasoning or potatoes.. Bread is not very popular among the people of Great Britain, but there is already a huge amount of food on the table!

The famous fish-and-chips dish is popular in England.. Also common here are blood sausage, Yorkshire pie or pudding named after a particular area, shortbread and other popular and original dishes.

The famous fish-and-chips dish

The British do not use sauces very often, because they consider the taste of dishes to be perfect without them. If you try roast beef, rare steak or rump steak in England, you can be sure that their taste will be different from those offered in other countries.

It's hard to imagine national cuisine English people by reading or watching films about her. You can try to cook a typical English pudding or roast beef according to an English recipe, or you can buy a ticket and go study the culinary talents of English chefs. Bon appetit!

Therefore, when you arrive in the country, try to experience the delights of an English breakfast. Even those who categorically refuse to try oatmeal (and in vain!) will not remain hungry.

There are several options for English breakfast. Moreover, the British consider pancakes their breakfast, which they eat not with sour cream and certainly not with caviar, and not even with maple syrup. The British top the pancake with treacle - sugar molasses (molasses). Some people start the day with a big bowl of corn flakes and milk. All this is generously sprinkled with white granulated sugar.

The British drink tea with milk. Milk is poured into the mug first, followed by tea. This sequence, according to the British, is mandatory. If you order tea, be sure to highlight what kind of tea you want (black, green, herbal or white, i.e. with milk). For those who like tea with lemon, this should also be discussed separately.

Oatmeal, sir!

What's for breakfast?

Oatmeal, sir!

This dialogue from the film about Sherlock Holmes by the cult Russian director Igor Maslennikov was loved by many thanks to the brilliant performance of Nikita Mikhalkov. The viewer recalled his childhood in kindergarten, when literally a whole group sat at the table with just such an expression of disgust on their faces and looked with envy at the lucky ones who were already “able to go play.” And sympathy for Sir Henry, for whom bad Barrymore again prepared porridge, filled their hearts: how we understand you!

Oatmeal is sometimes served with a soft-boiled egg and bacon. This, as they say, is morish: for those who don’t want to think about food until the evening while enjoying the architectural monuments and landscapes of Great Britain.

The British also eat rice porridge (pudding), but buckwheat, despite its usefulness, is not recognized.

How the British prepare porridge

In the UK, the process of eating oatmeal is by no means accompanied by negative emotions. Perhaps it's the ingredients? Or do they know how to cook it? Oatmeal is dipped in cold milk (water) and, stirring, brought to a boil. After boiling for a minute or two, remove the porridge, let it stand for a while and put it on plates.

Many English people do not add salt to this dish at all. And sugar (it’s very tasty to use light brown soft sugar) is sprinkled on the porridge, first poured with cream on top. The British have a famous sweet tooth! Sometimes honey or treacle is used instead of sugar.

Some people use a microwave to prepare porridge, in which they place a dish of oatmeal in milk for 3.5 minutes

The opinion of English scientists about oatmeal.

Oatmeal is a source of B vitamins, which are responsible for the health of your nerves. Perhaps this is why the British are characterized by imperturbable calm? According to scientists at Cardiff University, UK, regularly eating oatmeal for breakfast can make you even smarter.

The experiment was conducted with a group of volunteers aged from 30 to 80 years old who were given oatmeal for breakfast for a month. It was found that in just a week, the experiment participants had improved brain function, and side effects The subjects received cheerfulness and good mood.

Not only porridge is prepared from oatmeal, but also soups, desserts, pies and jelly. A traditional Welsh breakfast, for example, consists of pies made from a variety of seaweeds mixed with oatmeal. The mixture is fried in fat and served with shellfish or other seafood.

English scientists are famous for having their own authoritative opinion on literally everything in the world. It turns out that the custom of pouring milk into a cup first also has a scientific basis. The fat in milk is contained in globules that burst when boiling water is added to a cup, thereby improving the taste of the tea.

Full English breakfast

A fry-up or full English breakfast is a fried egg, bacon, sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes. Much attention is paid to the appetizing arrangement of seemingly simple ingredients on a plate: fried eggs (or scrambled eggs), sausage, 2 pieces of bacon, half a tomato and 2-3 champignons.

Sauces, of which there are many varieties on the island, are served separately. Depending on the area, the ingredients may vary, but only slightly. An amateur can add some details.

The British mainly eat bread in the form of toast, cutting a piece at an angle, and the crusts are cut off. No one is in a hurry to butter hot toast. None of the mishmash that Russian journalists like to write about is allowed. The British wield a knife and fork no worse than the Chinese with chopsticks, sequentially putting tiny pieces cut from different components into their mouths.

Brunch is breakfast & lunch

If you are used to eating in a way that is not clear: whether it is a late breakfast or an early lunch, from 11.00 to 16.00 you can try brunch. The word brunch is formed by combining the words breakfast & lunch. Very often, in addition to tea (coffee), the brunch menu includes juice or even wine, and on a huge plate all the ingredients of the fry (often doubled) + one or more types of pudding or even fried potatoes are placed. Pies or cookies are served separately.

Often the whole family gathers for brunch on the weekend, because communication plays a key role here. The modern pace of life does not allow many Britons to enjoy all the delights of breakfast during the week; they have to make up for it on the weekends.

The author of the word brunch belongs to Charles Dodgson, better known under the pseudonym Lewis Carol. As a student Oxford University, he proposed introducing a new tradition: students and teachers get together and, in a relaxed atmosphere, not only have a meal, but also discuss exciting topics.

The rector of the University approved the idea. The initiative was taken up first at Cambridge, then at other universities. Gentlemen's clubs began popping up all over the country, hosting brunches with the message, "Get some rest, you're not at work." During the gold rush, brunch moved to America...and with the outbreak of World War 1 it spread throughout Europe.

Afterword.

The famous English wit Oscar Wilde advised: “If you want to eat well in England, have breakfast three times a day.” Well, if you think that an English breakfast is still not for you, ask the waiter to bring you a continental breakfast. Here it consists of tea (or coffee), juice, toast, butter, jams, muesli and fruit (apples or oranges). Please be aware that cheese or boiled eggs You may be served, but sausage, ham and other meat products are not included in the continental breakfast.

The mannerisms, upbringing and aristocracy of the British are known all over the world. Even their food culture is significantly different from ours. The English breakfast has long been considered a unique attraction of Great Britain, but many mistakenly believe that the best start to the day for a resident of Foggy Albion is oatmeal, toast and tea. In fact, the breakfast of a true Englishman consists of very high-calorie and tasty foods, which we will tell you about.

Interesting story

The tradition of having a hearty breakfast appeared in England back in the 19th century. Of course, she came from rich, noble families. It was customary to prepare many hearty delicacies for the morning table, and breakfast could last for an hour, or even two.

The idea of ​​eating well in the morning was also liked by ordinary residents, who quickly realized that a real English breakfast can give strength and energy for the whole difficult working day. And after two World Wars, it became so popular that you can now try it in every cafe, restaurant, hotel and many other public institutions.

One of the most delicious in the world

The beginning of the day is a very important period for every resident of England, because there is hard work ahead, travel, meetings, work with documents and much more. Therefore, a dish prepared for breakfast should bring not only gastronomic pleasure, but also saturate the body for a long time. This is why people in the UK call their breakfast “all day breakfast”.

What does the morning menu consist of?

  1. First of all, these are fried chicken eggs, they are usually prepared in quantities of two pieces.
  2. Thinly sliced ​​and crisp-fried bacon.
  3. Fried sausages (bangers), which contain wheat breadcrumbs, which add a special texture and taste.
  4. Fresh or canned tomatoes.
  5. Beans in tomato sauce.
  6. Champignons.
  7. Toast with butter.
  8. Tea, coffee, orange juice.

To prepare all this variety, it will take little time at all, although glossy magazines insist that you will have to prepare almost a dozen different containers and 2-3 frying pans. In fact, one will be enough.

So, everything in order

  1. You need to take a large, roomy frying pan and lightly fry the pre-chopped bacon in it. 1-2 minutes is enough for a crispy crust to appear. After this, place the bacon on paper towel to remove excess fat, then transfer to a plate.
  2. In the fat left over from the bacon, fry the sausages until they have an appetizing crust. To natural casing did not burst during frying, you can pierce them in several places with a toothpick.
  3. A traditional English breakfast always includes tomatoes. To do this, they need to be cut into rings and slightly heated in a frying pan. At this stage you can add mushrooms.
  4. The British love to eat eggs mainly in the form of fried eggs. Sometimes you can also find scrambled eggs or poached eggs, but this is already modern interpretation morning menu.
  5. Residents of Britain almost never cook beans themselves, using canned beans from the famous Heinz brand, which has long become a tradition.
  6. You can make croutons in a toaster, or buy round buns, which you need to cut and dry a little in the oven or heat in a frying pan.

In some parts of England, it is also customary to serve the well-known “bloodfish” or baked fish for breakfast. In addition, many cafes offer a light menu option, where there is no fat in the bacon and the sausages are low in calories.

In the center of the capital, you will have to pay 7 pounds (a little more than 8 euros) for a delicious start to the day, while on the outskirts the same set of dishes will cost 2 pounds less.

The concept of an original, hearty and tasty breakfast has remained unchanged for several centuries. Even in this seemingly ordinary ritual lies the desire of the British to strive for order in everything. Start your morning pleasantly, and may your every day bring joy and success.

English cuisine is a very conservative tradition. The dishes there have not changed their recipes for centuries. It's no wonder the hearty English breakfast remains so popular across the UK.

What do the British have for breakfast?

Following tradition, the British have a very hearty breakfast in the morning. This is due to those times when workers tried to eat as much as possible before leaving for the fields, so as not to feel hungry until lunch, or even until the evening.

What does an English breakfast include? Today you can see the following products there:

  • Scrambled eggs or omelet;
  • Blood sausage or sausage;
  • Porridge;
  • Beans or beans;
  • Tomatoes;
  • Fried bacon;
  • Buttered toast;
  • Mushrooms;
  • And sauces.

If you inadvertently thought that all this is provided to choose from, then you are mistaken. The above products can be found on one plate during a traditional English breakfast.

All this fatty and high-calorie variety is washed down with coffee or orange juice.

Until the 20th century, only tea was served for breakfast in England, but modern people increasingly, they are replacing it with freshly brewed coffee.

This breakfast, like any other meal, undoubtedly has its own characteristics.


Subtleties of English breakfast

In the UK they have breakfast at 7 or 8 am. For a large meal, allow enough time to prepare and eat it.

Tomatoes as part of the first morning dish are always fried, dried, but never canned. Beans in tomato sauce must be placed on a plate separately.

Instead of ketchup for sausages, you can choose brown sauce, which is prepared with the addition of dates and vinegar. The sauce has a sweet and sour taste, perfectly complementing all fried ingredients.

Is there anything sweet served during English breakfast? Of course, the main morning sweet in England is jam on toast. Traditionally, tea and coffee are often drunk with milk. For modern English youth, porridge, especially oatmeal, is successfully replaced by muesli.

It is believed that a nutritious breakfast among the British is also the first cure for a hangover. These are the properties of the products in its composition.

English cuisine is full of simple and high-calorie dishes. The morning meal is no exception. The price of a standard set of products for the first meal may vary, as it depends not on the quantity, but on the quality of the products.