Food & Drink

Can you guess what the most popular food in Britain is?

You may have several ideas about typical British food, all of which are probably right, but the most popular dish in Britain at the moment is... curry!

The British diet has been enriched by the variety of ethnic foods available in our shops and restaurants, from Indian and Italian to Chinese and Thai. Indeed curry is now Britain's most popular meal.

A curry is a spicy dish, made with meat, fish or vegetables, cooked with crushed spices. It has countless variations and degrees of 'heat', depending on how much chilli pepper you use. One of the finest dishes, and one that is frequently ordered in Indian restaurants in the UK, is chicken tandoori. The chicken is marinated for several days in yoghurt and spices and then cooked in a sealed tandoor oven.

Fish and chips may have been the meal which came to mind when you thought of British food. They are the most popular 'fast food' in Britain. Fish and chip shops first appeared at the end of the 19th century and since then the dish has been a firm favourite, especially in seaside towns where fresh fish is readily available. A piece of white fish - usually cod, haddock or plaice - is first dipped in a batter made from flour, eggs and water and then deep fried in hot fat. Chips are made from thick batons of potato and deep fried. Salt and vinegar are then added according to taste. Fish and chips are served over the counter wrapped in paper - at one time newspaper was always used - and the experts say they prefer to eat them straight out of the paper because they taste better that way!

The best-known British dish eaten at home is roast beef, traditionally eaten on Sunday. The dish used to be so popular that the French still refer to the British as 'les rosbifs'! Roast beef is served with roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy - a sauce made from meat juices and stock, thickened with flour. Yorkshire pudding - batter baked in hot fat in the oven - is a favourite accompaniment to roast beef.

Why Do the British Like Drinking Tea?

Everything in Britain, says a popular song, 'stops for tea'. It's certainly true that tea is the most popular drink in Britain - far more popular than coffee, which is favoured throughout the rest of Europe. The Dutch brought the first tea to Europe in about 1610, but it was not until 1658 that the first advertisement for tea appeared in a London newspaper. By 1750, tea had become the principal drink in Britain, yet at that time a pound of the cheapest tea cost about one-third of a skilled worker's weekly wage! Tea was jealously guarded by the lady of the house, and kept in special containers call tea-caddies, often with a lock, and carefully doled out by the teaspoon.

Gradually, tea-drinking developed into a fashionable social ritual and tea gardens blossomed in places like Vauxhall and Marylebone in London, where couples could stroll in the afternoon and enjoy a cup of tea with bread and butter and cakes. Tea parties were also popular at home and soon the ritual of ''afternoon tea' was firmly established. Today, throughout the homes, tea-shops and hotels of Britain, the custom of tea-time continues, and it remains a feature of any cricket match or summer féte.

High Tea is a more substantial evening meal, popular in northern England and Scotland.

Tea in Britain is traditionally brewed in a china teapot, adding one spoonful of tea per person and one for the pot. Great importance is attached to the use of freshly boiled water, which is poured onto the leaves and then the tea is left to 'brew' for a few minutes. Most people in Britain prefer a rich, strong cup of tea with milk, and sugar is sometimes added to taste.

For recipes and articles about British food visit the What's Cooking Britannia web site.

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