When it comes to British food, many people scoff at it, including some of the continent's neighbors. Former French President Jacques Chirac once satirized Britain: "A country with such a bad food cannot be trusted." ”
But over the past 20 years, British cuisine has improved by leaps and bounds. The British can taste a wide variety of traditional and international cuisine.
Let's talk about the history of British cuisine!
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="51" > the history of British cuisine</h1>
Britain's food culture is inseparable from British history.
Ancient England was influenced by the Romans, who brought to England a variety of exotic foods, including game (hare, pheasant), vegetables (cabbage, leeks, peas, onions, radishes), fruits (grapes, cherries) and nuts (walnuts).
They also introduced vanilla and condiments such as garlic, pepper, basil and passion fruit.
In addition, the Romans built a network of roads, and British agricultural products were able to circulate throughout the country.
The English Middle Ages were influenced by the French, and for centuries the British aristocracy ate French cuisine.
The Vikings and Danes brought the technique of smoked and dried fish to England, and to this day the best pickled fish can still be found on the northeast coast of England and Scotland.
When the Normans invaded, they brought spices from the East: cinnamon, saffron, nutmeg, ginger, etc. These spices were exclusive to the upper classes, including the British, and the chefs added a variety of spices to their dishes, which was one of the important differences between aristocratic cooking and commoner cooking.
Sugar was discovered by Western Europeans during the Crusades, and the earliest record of sugar in Britain was in 1099. It remained an expensive luxury until the 18th century.
Before the advent of sucrose, honey and fruit juice were the only sweeteners.
From the Tudor era onwards, the development of overseas trade introduced more and more new foods, including spices from the Far East, potatoes, peppers and sugar from the Americas and the Caribbean, coffee and cocoa from South America, tea from China, etc.
The benefits of colonization for the British Empire must be mentioned here. The British imported tea from China and introduced the cultivation and production technology of tea to India, which is also the origin of the current Indian tea.
The British introduced various curry spices in India, on the basis of which a series of hot sauces were developed, including ketchup, mint sauce, Worcester sauce and mustard sauce.
To this day, curry is very common in the UK – of course, British curry and Indian curry are not the same thing.
As an island nation, the UK relies on imports for many goods. During the two world wars, ships importing food had to rely on military ships for escort and had to reduce the number of voyages, which led to shortages of many british goods and a shortage of supply.
From January 1940 (during the Second World War), the British implemented a food rationing system, which was gradually abolished after the war.
In the late 1980s, British cuisine began to look for new directions. The chefs build on tradition and incorporate diverse and novel ingredients that form the basis of modern British cooking.
For example, game, which has always played a central role in the British diet, continues to rise in popularity and is favored by modern British cooking.
In London in particular, one can taste not only the best of the UK, but also the best in the world, with many unique ethnic cuisines and Chinese, Indian, Italian and Greek restaurants very popular here.
While some traditional dishes such as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, Cornish pie, beef loin pie, bread butter pudding, syrup pie, raisin pudding and fish fries remain popular, British eating habits have undergone a major shift.
Rising consumption of rice and pasta has led to a decline in potato consumption and a decline in meat consumption. Vegetable oils and salad oils have largely replaced the use of butter.
Roast beef is still the national cuisine of the UNITED Kingdom. It's a chunk of roast meat, usually served at noon on Sundays, and served with potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, two vegetables, rich horseradish sauce, gravy and mustard.
Today, most restaurants and markets in the UK place more emphasis on quality, fresh ingredients, serving food from around the world, such as salmon, Dover flounder, Norwegian prawns, New Zealand lamb, exotic fruits and more.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="94" > typical British cuisine</h1>
So what does typical British cuisine look like? In fact, in the end, it is a combination of meat and two kinds of vegetables. Traditional British cuisine is based on meat or fish, including beef, lamb, pork, chicken and fish, accompanied by potatoes and other vegetables.
Fish is still important to the British diet today, after all, the waters around the UK are rich in fish resources.
Offshore waters include flounder, haddock, cod, flounder, cod, flounder, mullet and dollyfish.
Oily fish (mackerel, sardines and herring) and crustaceans such as lobsters and oysters are also abundant.
Eels are also common, and adding lemon, parsley and shallots makes for a delicious pie filling.
When it comes to desserts, many are associated with various religious festivals of the year. For example, eat cross bread on Good Friday, eat fruit cake on Parents' Day, eat raisin pudding on Christmas, and eat Epiphany cake on Epiphany.
The above is some of the history of British cuisine, if you have other additions, please feel free to leave us a message
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