The reason why we want to put double quotation marks on the "cuisine" of the United Kingdom is because in the eyes of our international students, there are only a few British cuisines, and most of the food is mediocre or even not delicious. Europe is obviously a region full of national cuisines, but once you leave the continent, the tastes and types of food take a sharp turn.
(1) The World-renowned National Cuisine of the United Kingdom
1. Fish and chips
Britain's first major national cuisine is fish and chips. The British Prime Minister will also serve such a dish when he invites guests from all over the world. This is a rather traditional British dish, and the british people used to eat it directly from old newspapers wrapped in fish and chips.
The cod is wrapped in flour and fried to get a golden crispy, juicy and tender fish. The fish is flanked with french fries and dips, and a famous British dish is baked. It's a dish that can be found on the streets of britain, and people line up to buy it in any small town or big city. And the taste can never be wrong, its practice and taste have been carved into the bones of the British. However, fish and french fries are fried after all, and eating too much will naturally be greasy and cannot be eaten often. Occasionally eating stimulates the taste buds, or good.
Classic fish and chips
2. English breakfast
Another most famous dish is the English breakfast, which is also a must-have British dish in every restaurant. Standard English breakfast with eggs, sausages, bacon, potato cakes, beans, tomatoes and toast. Some restaurants will make eggs into poached eggs, some will make scrambled eggs, and some restaurants will add mushrooms or other local specialties, such as some haggis in Scotland.
It's an English breakfast with haggis added, and the black part in the upper right corner is haggis
For britons who are not very good at cooking, it is really not easy for an English breakfast to include so much content. When eating AnGlo breakfast, it is often two or three people or a family sitting together, chatting, enjoying food with a knife and fork, accompanied by English breakfast tea or coffee, just like we drink Cantonese morning tea. People can talk for a morning, talk about business, talk about gossip, and the time passes quickly.
Eat an English breakfast while looking out the window
3. English Afternoon Tea
Afternoon tea is another interesting invention of the British, with a long history that originated in the British royal family. The British love afternoon tea is well known, and at some point in the afternoon, people stop their work and start drinking tea. Set up a ritual tea set and pour tea from around the world to start enjoying a relaxing afternoon tea time.
Black tea is probably the most popular variety of afternoon tea, and their favorite Earl's tea also originated in China. There is also a special blend of Ceylon tea with a special floral aroma and a soft taste, which is also one of their favorites. The British like to add milk and sugar when drinking tea, which creates a cup of sweet and warm milk tea. This habit of adding milk also influenced me, making me a follower of English milk tea.
Leisurely afternoon tea in the small shop
While drinking tea, the British will also be accompanied by a variety of desserts, including cakes, waffles, ice cream and so on. Dessert is a good trick for the British people, they will make too many sweet varieties, the taste is also very good, can be described as a perfect match for afternoon tea. However, the dessert is also really sweet and cannot be eaten more.
Mousse cake
(ii) Other food in the UK
In addition to the above household names, other foods in the UK are really hard to describe. After all, you can't eat English breakfast and fish and chips every day in your daily life. So, what other options do we usually have for eating?
(1) Food in the school cafeteria
Our school canteen is providing three meals a day, but the taste is really too ordinary, and the variety is very single.
Pizza, grilled chicken, pasta, fried fish, baked potatoes, etc. are most commonly served with beans, rice, salads and desserts. However, the seasoning of these foods is either not salted at all, the taste is weak and needs to be sprinkled with seasoning powder, or the taste is particularly heavy and sweet, very throaty. Even if there is rice, it is a very hard texture. We Chinese students are really not used to eating, and the only delicious thing is roast chicken.
School roast chicken is served with fries, green bean salad and waffles
(2) Go outside and get out of the restaurant
There are many exotic restaurants in the UK, and there are many Chinese restaurants, so we who are not used to school dishes will also order takeaway or go directly to the next restaurant to eat. The owner and cook of the Chinese restaurant are all Chinese, the taste of the meal is natural and authentic, our foreign students also like the food of the Chinese restaurant, sometimes because the Chinese restaurant clerk is not good in English, foreign students will let us help call to order takeaway.
Eat hot pot in Chinese restaurants
However, the cost of going to the restaurant and ordering takeaway is still quite high, and it will cost 100 yuan for a meal.
(3) Cook your own food
Self-cooking is the most basic skill for international students to live overseas, and it takes more time to save money and make what they want to eat. We buy pots and pans, buy condiments and ingredients in Chinese supermarkets or hypermarkets, and then make food in the kitchen for several days at a time and put them in the refrigerator.
I cooked a meal on my birthday
In addition to cooking our own meals, we also gather with Chinese students so that we can eat more Chinese home-cooked food. Sometimes, we also attend the gatherings of foreign students and taste exotic foods. However, we may not be accustomed to eating food from other countries, such as the taste of the dishes made by my Turkish roommate.
My Chinese classmates cooked a sumptuous dinner
Attend a birthday party for malaysian classmates
This is a pancake breakfast made by European students
Dishes made by my Turkish roommate
Overall, there are relatively few british cuisines, and apart from the few dishes that are household names, as well as their afternoon tea and dessert techniques, most of the food practices are relatively simple. They like to buy food bags that are directly packaged and cut from the supermarket, and take them home to the microwave to heat and eat with spices, and the taste will naturally not be very good. This is probably what has contributed to the popularity of restaurants in other countries in the UK. At the same time, this also indirectly requires international students to improve their cooking skills and make the dishes they want to eat.