United Kingdom Lecture

1. British Isle Cuisine
“ To eat well in England you should have
breakfast three times a day.”
W. Somerset Maugham

2. INTRODUCTION
The United Kingdom (UK) has also been
called the British Isles or Great Britain at
different times in history.
The cuisines of Britain, Ireland, Scotland, and
Wales provide the basis for a cooking style
that reminds people of the purpose of food,
comfort, and nourishment.
Irish food is known for the quality and
freshness of its ingredients. Most cooking
is done without herbs or spices, except for
salt and pepper.

3. England: Mostly bland (not spicy) but
hearty and flavorful. Fish and chips are
very popular. Beef is the prepared meat.
Scotland: Rich in seafood’s and fish. Fish
recipe is the traditional main dish.
Ireland: Potatoes is the main national crop.
Meat from pork and cured products like ham
and bacon is favorite. Goat meat is popular
along with goats milk as beverage and for
cheese processing.

4. Wales: well known for its sheep farming and
lamb dishes. Has savory recipe using lamb
eaten with local breads and vegetables. Beef
and dairy cattle are raised and served in
many of their menus.
The potato became the mainstay of the Irish
diet.
. Foods are usually served without sauce or
gravy.
The staples of the Irish diet have traditionally
been potatoes, grains (especially oats), and
dairy products.

5. The Irish have also been accomplished
cheese makers for centuries. Ireland makes
about fifty types of homemade "farmhouse"
cheeses, which are considered delicacies.
Soups of all types, seafood, and meats also
play important roles in the Irish diet.
Traditional "high tea" included formal
preparation of tea, accompanied by an array
of finger foods, such as cucumber
sandwiches, cheese and chutney (a type of
pickle relish) sandwiches, scones, and
small, delicate teacakes.

6. Irish soups are thick, hearty, and filling, with
potatoes, seafood, and various meats being
common ingredients.
Since it is surrounded by water, the Irish
enjoy many types of seafood, including
salmon, scallops, lobster, mussels, and
oysters.
The most common meats are beef, lamb, and
pork. A typical Irish dinner consists of
potatoes (cooked whole), cabbage, and
meat. Irish stew has been recognized as the
national dish for at least two centuries

7. Bread is an important part of Irish culture.
Fresh soda bread, a crusty brown bread
made from whole wheat flour and buttermilk,
is a national dish of Ireland. They bake a
wide variety of other hearty breads and
cakes.
The most common everyday beverage in
Ireland is tea.
 Popular alcoholic beverages include
whiskey, beer, and ale.
Beer is the National Beverage in United
Kingdom

8. Coffee mixed with whiskey and whipped
cream is known throughout the world as
"Irish coffee.“
The Irish value hospitality, and generous
portions of food are common at home and
in restaurants.
"Supper" in Ireland means a late‐night
snack. A typical supper is a slice of bread
with butter and a glass of milk.
Worcestershire sauce was originated in
England

9. In Scotland the national dish is haggis.
Haggis is comprised of sheep innards boiled
in a sheep stomach.
 In Wales leeks, a relative of the onion, are
used in many dishes.
 Welsh rarebit, comprised of a cheesy sauce
over toast, is popular as an appetizer or a
light meal.
 Throughout the United Kingdom, pasties or
meat pies are popular.
Other favorite meals are fish and chips.

10. Both fish and chips and curry (a dish
introduced by immigrants from India) are
popular take‐out foods. At around 4 P.M.,
people in the UK traditionally took a break
for tea.
 Afternoon tea is a social tradition in
United Kingdom

11. FAMOUS FOODs and DRINKs
Blood Pudding
Onion Soup
Yorkshires Pudding
Irish Fry
Beer (National Beverage)
Wines (Sherry/Madiera)
• Barm Brack is the traditional cake bread
eaten at Halloween. Irish Christmas Cake

12. COMMON INGREDIENTS USED
• Potatoes
• Seafood's
• Salt
• Pepper
• Bacon
• Sausage
• Onion
• Meat
• Fruits (Apples, Oranges, Berries)

13. TABLE MANNER & ETIQUETTE
• You may use a piece of bread on a fork to
soak up sauce or gravy. Never hold the
bread in your fingers to do this.
• Break bread and rolls with your fingers not
with your knife.
• Break off a small piece of bread (or roll
and butter it. Do not butter the whole slice
or half a roll at one time.
• Soup should be spooned away from you.
Tilt the bowl away from you.

14. • If you are at a dinner party wait until your
host(ess) starts eating or indicates you
should do so.
• Chew and swallow all the food in your mouth
before taking more or taking a drink.
• Only clear consommé should be drunk
directly from the soup bowl, and then only if it
has handles.
• You may eat chicken and pizza with your
fingers if you are at a barbecue, finger buffet
or very informal setting. Otherwise always
use a knife and fork.

15. • Never put too much food in your mouth.
• Never mash or mix food on your plate.
• Do not blow on hot food or drink.
• Do not sip from a coffee spoon or teaspoon.
• Never use your fingers to push food onto your
spoon or fork.
• The fork is held in the left hand, the knife in
the right to cut food and to help carry food to
the fork. The fork is held, tines down, and the
knife used to move food unto the fork or
support food so the fork can pick it up. There
is no shifting of cutlery.

16. • All wine, red, white, and sparkling is held
by the stem of the glass. Wines should be
served in sequence ”white before red, light
before heavy, young before old.

17. HOLIDAY CELEBRATION
Many festivals and holidays in Britain are
centuries old. Every town, village and hamlet
in Britain has its own traditions, some
involving months of careful planning and
preparations of costumes and choreography,
others requiring simply a worrying desire to
make a complete and utter fool of oneself
Public Holiday are known as ‘bank Holidays”

18. • January
• 1st New Year's Day
• 5th Twefth Night
• February
• 1st Candlemas Day
• 14th Valentine's Day
• March
• 1st St David's Day
(Wales National Day)
• 17th St. Patrick's Day
(Ireland's Special Day)
•

19. • March/April
• Shrove Tuesday, Lent
• Mothering Sunday
• Maundy Thursday
• Easter
• April
• 1st April Fool's Day
• 23rd St George's Day (England's National Day)
• May
• 1st May Day
• June
• Trooping the Colours
• Wimbledon Tennis Tournament
• July
• Swan Upping

20. • August
• Notting Hill Carnival
• September
• Harvest Festival
• October
• 31st Halloween
• November
• 5th Bonfire Night
• 11th Remembrance Day
• 30th St Andrew's Day
(Scotland's National Day)
• December
• Advent
• 25th Christmas
• 26th Boxing Day

21. TABLE MANNER AND ETIQUETTE

22. • Napkins should be placed on the lap as soon
as you are seated. When you get down from
the table, leave the napkin, unfolded on the
table, to the left of the place setting.
• Sit a comfortable distance away from the
table, so that with the elbows bent the hands
are level with the knives and forks.
• Sit up straight, sit square with hands in the
lap and do not fidget. Do not put elbows on
the table.
• If you are served a meal that is already on
the plate, wait until everyone has been
served before picking up your cutlery, unless
invited by your host to start.

23. • Make sure others have been offered anything
they might want from the table, such as
butter, water, salt or pepper. Help yourself
last and never stretch across people.
• Do not begin eating until everyone has been
served, unless the host or hostess gives their
permission for diners to start.
• Eat at a relaxed pace and pace yourself to
match your fellow diners.
• Talking while there is food in your mouth
should be avoided at all costs - even when
you have a conversational gem up your
sleeve.
.

24. • Keep your mouth closed and try to avoid
making noises of any kind while eating, either
with implements against the plate or teeth, or
with actual ingestion of the food, eg slurping
soup.
• When you have finished, place your knife and
fork - with the tines facing upwards - together
on your plate.
• If you are confronted with a plateful that is not
to your taste, try to soldier on to avoid hurt
feelings. Always compliment the cook.

25. • A knife should be held firmly in your right
hand, with the handle tucked into your palm,
your thumb down one side of the handle and
your index finger along the top (but never
touching the top of the blade). It should never
be eaten off or held like a pencil.
• When used with a knife or spoon, the fork
should be held in the left hand, in much the
same way as the knife, with the prongs facing
downwards. On its own, it is held in the right
hand, with the prongs facing upwards, resting
on the fingers and secured with the thumb
and index finger.

26. • A spoon is held in the right hand, resting on
the fingers and secured with the thumb and
index finger. Food should be eaten off the
side of the spoon; it should never be used at
a right angle to the mouth.
• When eating, bring the fork or spoon to the
mouth, rather than lowering the head towards
the food. Bring the food promptly to the
mouth and do not gesticulate with the knife
and fork.
• Cutlery should be rested on the plate/bowl
between bites, and placed together in the
bottom-centre when you are finished.

27. • Never gesture with your cutlery, and don't
scrape or clatter it noisily against your plate
or bowl. Equally, it is bad manners to loudly
clank your utensils against your teeth.
• Always eat puddings with a spoon and fork
(both should always be laid); the spoon
should be a dessert spoon. Ice cream may be
eaten with a teaspoon, or a long teaspoon if
served in a tall glass. Sorbet, served between
courses, is eaten with a teaspoon.
• Never use chopsticks to pass food to people,
and never use them to point at other people..