ENGLISH FOOD AND MEALS

The two features of live in England that is possibly give visitors their worst impressions are the English weather & English cooking. English food has often been described as tasteless. But it would be unfair to say that all English food is bad. Many traditional British dishes are as good as anything you can get anythere.
Meals & mealtimes in England are not the same in all families. The English usually have 4 meals a day: breakfast, lunch, tea & dinner.
Breakfast is the first meal of the day. But it is often rather hurried & informal meal. Most people do not have a full breakfast at all apart from a hot drink. People who do have a full breakfast say that it is quite good. Breakfast can be a full “English breakfast” of cornflakes with milk & sugar, bacon or eggs, toast & marmalade, tea or coffee.
The British are the world’s greatest tea-drinkers. They drink the quarter of all the tea grown in the world each year. They like to have “a nice cup of tea” 6 or 8 times a day, sometimes even more. At midday everything is stopped for tea. Most offices & small shops are closed for an hour. Afternoon tea is taken at about 5 o’clock, but it can hardly be called a meal. It is a cup of tea & cake or biscuits. At the weekends afternoon tea is a special occasion. Friends & visitors are often invited to have a chart over a cup of tea.
Lunch is a light meal & eaten at school or work. Lunch takes 30 – 40 minutes. Some offices have installed (óñòàíàâëèâàòü) a microwave oven for employees to use. Popular lunches are: a salad or sandwich, a baked potato, beans (ôàñîëü) on toast. Snacks are very popular in Britain & many people frequently eat snacks between meals. Schools & workplaces may also sell snacks such as crisps, chocolate, sweets & biscuits. Instant snacks are the fastest-growing sector of the food market.
Dinner is usually the main meal of the day. It usually eaten at 7 o’clock & consists of two courses. The first course may be soup (though the English don’t like it very much). The main course will often be fish or meat, perhaps the traditional roast beef & a lot of vegetables. The next course will be something sweet & often cooked, such as fruit pie. Last of all may be cheese, often with biscuits.
The English like what they call “good plain food”. They must recognize what they are eating. Usually they like steak, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, fish & chips.