Monday, September 08, 2003
"To eat well in England you should have breakfast three times a day."
W. Somerset Maugham
Possibly still true! There is nothing quite like it for starting the day, a hearty breakfast can cure most ills.
In medieval times they would have eaten only twice a day starting the day with flagons of beer, they would accompany this with cold pork and bread.
In the middle ages the rich would have boiled beef and mutton and possibly pickled herring.
In the reign of king Henry the farm workers and laborers would eat well on butter cheese bacon and bread
The Victorians breakfasted with some serious gusto.
In the houses of the rich and middle classes is was not unusual to be confronted by tables piled with breakfast dishes Devilled kidneys, roast game, smoked fish kippers sliced meats, kedgeree sausages, bacon, mutton chops. Black pudding
The word Break- fast was related to the longest period of time the human body was not ingesting food, eight hours of sleep brought on an enormous hunger, so the excess of food was a wake up call for the body in the form a a protein fix.
The classic breakfast has been steadily devalued over time it would not be unusual to just have fruit juice or a bowl of cereal now, very few people settle down to a cooked breakfast at home.
Most people who have that luxury are out on the road stopping at transport cafés and motorway service stations for breakfast!
The French have worked their culinary charms on us, we have inherited the continental breakfast, an abomination! Jams and some crusty bread what kind of start to the day is that.
I will have to concede to the croissant though, flaky warm and buttery is not dismissed quite so easily!
The Dutch and the Baltic states like to have cheese, sliced cold meats and salamis some herring possibly, coffee being the drink of choice.
The Scots have always adhered to the theory of porridge oats for many centuries and porridge has adhered to just about everything try feeding your children porridge!
Japan shocks the British palate at breakfast time, rice mixed with raw egg, salted grilled fish and umeboshi seaweed, green tea all things bound by tradition and history, elegance abounds.
A nation of builder’s lorry driver’s postmen and working people every morning in cafés homes and up and down the England call out for the full English.
Britain on a plate.
W. Somerset Maugham
Possibly still true! There is nothing quite like it for starting the day, a hearty breakfast can cure most ills.
In medieval times they would have eaten only twice a day starting the day with flagons of beer, they would accompany this with cold pork and bread.
In the middle ages the rich would have boiled beef and mutton and possibly pickled herring.
In the reign of king Henry the farm workers and laborers would eat well on butter cheese bacon and bread
The Victorians breakfasted with some serious gusto.
In the houses of the rich and middle classes is was not unusual to be confronted by tables piled with breakfast dishes Devilled kidneys, roast game, smoked fish kippers sliced meats, kedgeree sausages, bacon, mutton chops. Black pudding
The word Break- fast was related to the longest period of time the human body was not ingesting food, eight hours of sleep brought on an enormous hunger, so the excess of food was a wake up call for the body in the form a a protein fix.
The classic breakfast has been steadily devalued over time it would not be unusual to just have fruit juice or a bowl of cereal now, very few people settle down to a cooked breakfast at home.
Most people who have that luxury are out on the road stopping at transport cafés and motorway service stations for breakfast!
The French have worked their culinary charms on us, we have inherited the continental breakfast, an abomination! Jams and some crusty bread what kind of start to the day is that.
I will have to concede to the croissant though, flaky warm and buttery is not dismissed quite so easily!
The Dutch and the Baltic states like to have cheese, sliced cold meats and salamis some herring possibly, coffee being the drink of choice.
The Scots have always adhered to the theory of porridge oats for many centuries and porridge has adhered to just about everything try feeding your children porridge!
Japan shocks the British palate at breakfast time, rice mixed with raw egg, salted grilled fish and umeboshi seaweed, green tea all things bound by tradition and history, elegance abounds.
A nation of builder’s lorry driver’s postmen and working people every morning in cafés homes and up and down the England call out for the full English.
Britain on a plate.
Great Britain is a island nation, over the centuries we have borrowed ,imported and stolen other peoples culture.
We have accepted settlers from other countries along with there ideals religions and food.
In our murky past we have been guilty with others of partaking in the slave trade.
Bristol was a major slave port, and so west Indians worked in our houses ,looked after our children and cooked our food.
The west Indian food culture has failed tro make a lasting impression on us ,although the spice route through Jamaica brought Jamaica Spice as so called in old recipes now more commonly recognized as all spice.
Our long association with the colony of India did however bring a rich food heritage of well spiced food, curries in particular and many anglicized dishes such as mulligatawny soup (mulligatawny means pepper water) and kedgeree which was made with fish chopped eggs and spiced rice, sometimes served with a vegetable curry and usually for breakfast.
Nowadays curries feature highest on our most popular food in Britain the most popular is Chicken Tikka Masala, not a traditional Indian dish at all, in fact it has become so popular that it is appearing on menus back in India!
England’s first Chinatown sprang up in the East End’s Limehouse district in the 1880's. Chinese seamen settled there to escape the poor accommodations provided by the shipping companies.
Along with the influx of the Chinese into London came restaurants and other services to meet the demands of the community.
,There is very little evidence of the Chinese settlement in Limehouse today except for a few remaining street names.
But the food culture has remained and become part of our culinary history Chinatown now Features in most major cities in the UK and the food rivals Hong Kong for quality and diversity.
Where is British food well we do eat it! the Breakfast a hearty meal bacon ,eggs, sausages ,Black pudding ,Fried bread,, kippers, devilled kidneys ,baked beans.
I am beginning to wonder are they English after all Heinz is American!
The French who like to call us Le rostbeef! After our love of roasted beef were a huge culinary influence on us, all industry chefs training is based on French techniques even today,
Escoffier the great chef at the Savoy in London added greatly to the British food tradition
Creating lots of standards we still cook today.
There a nothing more British than fish and chips eaten with salt and vinegar, fish and chips is one of our Great British institutions
But where did this famous culinary delight originate?
The simple answer is that no-one really knows.
We do know that fish and chips developed separately- the French invented chips or 'chipped pommes de terrre a la mode' (from the humble potato commonly believed to have been brought to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 17th Century) and in 1839 Charles Dickens referred to a 'fried fish warehouse' in Oliver Twist. The great British fish and chip trade grew out of these existing small businesses which sold fish and chips separately in the streets and alleys of London and some of Britain's industrial town, in the1850s.
Both, Lancashire and London stake a claim to the origin of our most famous meal - chips were the standard fare of the industrial north whilst fried fish was introduced in London's East End. Most likely I think to be of Jewish in origin.
Now the fish and chip shop is in every town and city in the UK in seaside towns there are many, fishing ports like Grimsby are full of fish and chip shops doing lots of business,
It is still our favorite food The first fish and chip shop in the North of England is thought to hove opened in Mossley near Oldham, Lancashire, around 1863. Mr Lees sold fish and chips from a wooden hut in the market and later he transferred the business to a permanent shop across the road which had the following inscription in the window "This is the first fish and chip shop in the world." But in London, Joseph Malin opened a fish end chip shop in Cleveland Street within the sound of Bow Bells 1in 1860. There are now around 8,100 fish and chip shops across the UK that, eight for every one McDonalds outlet.
However the dish originated, fish and chips is a national favourite, eaten and loved by every generation, - in fact its position as the nations favourite hot take away remains unchallenged, despite the advent of the Fast food chains.
The nations favourite fish is cod. followed by had dock, although there are regional variations. For example whiting is popular in Northern Ireland and some parts of Scotland and skate and huss are often seen In the south of England
In 1999 the British consumed nearly 300 million servings of fish and chips - that equates to six servings for every man woman and child in the country
Over 4,000 is the record for the largest number of portions sold in one day by an independent fish and chip shop.
So there is a popular British Food that everybody can identify with and it is something to be proud of a, British through and through Fish and Chips!
We have accepted settlers from other countries along with there ideals religions and food.
In our murky past we have been guilty with others of partaking in the slave trade.
Bristol was a major slave port, and so west Indians worked in our houses ,looked after our children and cooked our food.
The west Indian food culture has failed tro make a lasting impression on us ,although the spice route through Jamaica brought Jamaica Spice as so called in old recipes now more commonly recognized as all spice.
Our long association with the colony of India did however bring a rich food heritage of well spiced food, curries in particular and many anglicized dishes such as mulligatawny soup (mulligatawny means pepper water) and kedgeree which was made with fish chopped eggs and spiced rice, sometimes served with a vegetable curry and usually for breakfast.
Nowadays curries feature highest on our most popular food in Britain the most popular is Chicken Tikka Masala, not a traditional Indian dish at all, in fact it has become so popular that it is appearing on menus back in India!
England’s first Chinatown sprang up in the East End’s Limehouse district in the 1880's. Chinese seamen settled there to escape the poor accommodations provided by the shipping companies.
Along with the influx of the Chinese into London came restaurants and other services to meet the demands of the community.
,There is very little evidence of the Chinese settlement in Limehouse today except for a few remaining street names.
But the food culture has remained and become part of our culinary history Chinatown now Features in most major cities in the UK and the food rivals Hong Kong for quality and diversity.
Where is British food well we do eat it! the Breakfast a hearty meal bacon ,eggs, sausages ,Black pudding ,Fried bread,, kippers, devilled kidneys ,baked beans.
I am beginning to wonder are they English after all Heinz is American!
The French who like to call us Le rostbeef! After our love of roasted beef were a huge culinary influence on us, all industry chefs training is based on French techniques even today,
Escoffier the great chef at the Savoy in London added greatly to the British food tradition
Creating lots of standards we still cook today.
There a nothing more British than fish and chips eaten with salt and vinegar, fish and chips is one of our Great British institutions
But where did this famous culinary delight originate?
The simple answer is that no-one really knows.
We do know that fish and chips developed separately- the French invented chips or 'chipped pommes de terrre a la mode' (from the humble potato commonly believed to have been brought to Europe by Sir Walter Raleigh in the 17th Century) and in 1839 Charles Dickens referred to a 'fried fish warehouse' in Oliver Twist. The great British fish and chip trade grew out of these existing small businesses which sold fish and chips separately in the streets and alleys of London and some of Britain's industrial town, in the1850s.
Both, Lancashire and London stake a claim to the origin of our most famous meal - chips were the standard fare of the industrial north whilst fried fish was introduced in London's East End. Most likely I think to be of Jewish in origin.
Now the fish and chip shop is in every town and city in the UK in seaside towns there are many, fishing ports like Grimsby are full of fish and chip shops doing lots of business,
It is still our favorite food The first fish and chip shop in the North of England is thought to hove opened in Mossley near Oldham, Lancashire, around 1863. Mr Lees sold fish and chips from a wooden hut in the market and later he transferred the business to a permanent shop across the road which had the following inscription in the window "This is the first fish and chip shop in the world." But in London, Joseph Malin opened a fish end chip shop in Cleveland Street within the sound of Bow Bells 1in 1860. There are now around 8,100 fish and chip shops across the UK that, eight for every one McDonalds outlet.
However the dish originated, fish and chips is a national favourite, eaten and loved by every generation, - in fact its position as the nations favourite hot take away remains unchallenged, despite the advent of the Fast food chains.
The nations favourite fish is cod. followed by had dock, although there are regional variations. For example whiting is popular in Northern Ireland and some parts of Scotland and skate and huss are often seen In the south of England
In 1999 the British consumed nearly 300 million servings of fish and chips - that equates to six servings for every man woman and child in the country
Over 4,000 is the record for the largest number of portions sold in one day by an independent fish and chip shop.
So there is a popular British Food that everybody can identify with and it is something to be proud of a, British through and through Fish and Chips!
