Hi, my name’s Ed.
Welcome to Ed explains English, life in the UK
I hope you have already eaten, because you’ll feel peckish after listening to me telling
you about food in the UK!
For some reason our food seems to have a bad reputation around the world, which is odd,
because nearly everyone who visits us, loves our big breakfasts, roast dinners on Sundays,
as well as fish and chips.
Furthermore, if we are so bad at cooking, why is it that Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver’s
TV shows are so popular, all over the world?
On the whole, the four countries in the UK eat the same meals, but naturally there are
some regional variations.
Let’s start with Scotland.
I suppose the most famous dish of the Highlands has to be Haggis.
It is made out of, among other ingredients, sheep intestines, but don’t let that put
you off.
It can be eaten with neeps and tatties, which are the slang words for turnips and potatoes.
The Scots also have a breakfast equivalent to the English one, but they often add black
pudding and sometimes haggis too.
Naturally a porridge breakfast, made of oatmeal would be the healthier choice.
In recent years, visitors have returned home telling me, that they ate a battered Mars
bar, which is basically chocolate, deep fried in batter.
Just so I have something else sweet on the list, shortbread is a delicious biscuit to
eat with tea or coffee.
Crossing over the Irish Sea to Northern Ireland, let’s begin with what is considered to be
the ultimate breakfast food, the Ulster fry, which like its English and Scottish counterparts,
has sausages, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, the exception this time is that soda farls
and potato bread are added, all washed down with tea or an Irish coffee, with a dash of
whiskey, of course!
Other dishes include Irish Stew, Champ, Wheaten bread, Pasties and a sweet dessert called
Fifteens.
Let’s go to Wales next, to sample their delicacies and start with Welsh rarebit, which
was originally called rabbit, even though, thankfully, the cute animal is not one of
the ingredients!
Other dishes to try are Welsh Cawl, Bara Brith and to finish with, something sweet, Welsh
cakes.
Because your friend Ed is from England, I know more about English specialities.
This would be my perfect Sunday.
I would start by eating a full-English breakfast washed down with a big mug of tea and a side
order of white bread.
When that’s been digested, I can prepare myself for a roast beef dinner with all the
trimmings and spotted dick for pudding.
If I can still walk, I’ll have a cream tea with scones at the local café in the afternoon.
Other favourites of mine include, steak & kidney pie, shepherd’s pie, bangers & mash and
fish & chips.
That said, my typical day starts with a simple breakfast of cereal and toast.
Lunch is normally a cheese sandwich and for dinner a simple meal of meat, potatoes and
vegetables.
Like the rest of the world, the speed of life has led to people relying on ready-made foods
and take aways, more often delivered to people’s homes these days.
In fact, UK citizens spent a total of £8.5 billion on the food delivery business in 2019.
Even though the amount spent on going to restaurants was over double at just under £19 billion,
the market suffered its fastest decline in seven years.
Whether we eat out or in, we tend to embrace food from other countries.
In fact, chicken tikka masala is reported to be the most popular dish ordered in restaurants.
As well as Indian cuisine, Chinese, Italian, American, Mexican, Spanish, Greek, Thai and
Indonesian are also popular choices.
In 2005, the then France President, Jacques Chirac, famously joked about the English,
that ‘one cannot trust someone, whose cuisine is so bad’, so I hope that you can believe
me, that everything I’ve told you is true.
Despite the insult, we often use the French, ‘Bon appetite’, before eating.
Other than that a simple ‘enjoy your meal’ is acceptable.
Anyway, it’s tea time, so I’ve got to go.
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Thanks for watching.
Cheerio for now.