The guide to eating in England, its intricacies, methods and secrets. If you feel you can improve or add to this section please email us.

English food has often been criticised but it also has a lot of flair. Imagine a high tea served with old porcelain, mountains of cakes and clotted cream, silver tea pots and a picnic setting or a oak panelled room. And while the most popular food in England today maybe curry, traditional foods like Yorkshire pudding, roast beef, jam roly poly or cornish pasties are still common and mouth watering.

SPECIALTIES
The staple foods of England are meat, fish, potatoes, flour, butter and eggs. Some of the more traditional dishes include:
Roast beef (roast meat, two vegetables and potatoes). This is the traditional Sunday lunch family affair.
Yorkshire Pudding (made from a batter of flour, eggs and milk, and cooked in the oven)
Fish and chips (deep-fried fish and the "chips" are fried potatoes)
Ploughman's Lunch (cheese, pickle, pickled onion and bread)
Shepherds Pie (made with minced lamb and vegetables topped with mashed potato and grated cheese.) Recipe
Roast chicken
Roast lamb
Hotpot (beef/pork/chicken stew)
Toad-in-the-Hole (a sausage covered in batter and roasted.)
Pie and Mash
Bubble & Squeak (made from leftover potatoes and cabbage fried together).
English breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausages, fried bread, mushrooms, baked beans)
Bangers and Mash (mashed potatoes and sausages). Bangers are the sausages and were named after WWII when sausages had a tendency of exploding due to the amount of water in them
Black Pudding (a thick sausage made from the blood and fat of a pig).
Lancashire hotpot
Bacon Roly-Poly (made with a suet pastry)
Cumberland sausage
Pie and Mash
Pork pie
Steak and Kidney pie (stewed steak and kidneys)
Cornish pasties (a semi-circular pastry case stuffed with meat, potatoes and vegetables). Cornish pasties are a traditional meal from the West Country of England.

Many deserts include milk, sugar, eggs, flour and butter but also involve fresh fruit like raspberries or strawberries, custard, cream, and cakes. The traditional accompaniment is custard.

The Victoria Sponge - Named after Queen Victoria
Trifle
Bakewell pudding
Shrewsbury biscuit
Custard
Bread and butter pudding - old English favourite
Semolina
Spotted Dick (sponge pudding with sultanas and raisins)
Jam roly-poly (rolled up sponge with jam)
English Crumpets (tasty "muffin" spread with butter and preserves)
Mince Pies (Pastry shells filled with mince meat, and sometimes brandy or rum).
Treacle pudding (a steamed pudding with a syrup topping).
Lardy Cake
Rhubarb crumble

Over 400 varieties of cheeses are produced in England. The most common are the harder varieties such as Cheddar, Stilton, Red Leicester, Cheshire and Double Gloucester.

HOW IT'S EATEN
Breakfast - between 7:00 and 9:00,
Lunch but called 'dinner' - between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. The main meal
Dinner but called 'tea' - anywhere from 6:30 at night to 8:00 p.m.
On Sundays the main meal of the day is often eaten at midday instead of in the evening. This meal usually is a Roast Dinner consisting of roast beef,Yorkshire pudding and two kinds of vegetables.

The typical English breakfast consists of eggs, bacon, sausages, toast, mushrooms, baked beans and coffee. But more people are likely to have cereal, toast, orange juice or coffee. Lunch has also become less traditional and may consist of just a sandwhich, fruit and a drink. The traditional dinner of meat and two veg is also rarely eaten nowadays. Curry, rice or pasta are now more common.

Afternoon tea takes place at about 4pm and is a small meal, not a drink. Most families do not have time for this at home but it was once a tradition whereby rich ladies invited their friends to their home. Traditionally it consists of tea or coffee with:
Scones Freshly baked scones and crumpets served with cream and Country preserves
Afternoon tea sandwiches often thinly sliced cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off.
Assorted pastries

High Tea was originally for the British working population that did not have afternoon tea. They had a meal at midday, a meal at work and a meal at home after work known as 'high tea' or just 'tea'. This was a substantial meal that combined sweet foods like scones, cakes, buns or tea breads, with savouries such as cheese on toast, toasted crumpets, cold meats and pickles or poached eggs on toast. This meal is now often replaced with a supper due to people eating their main meal in the evenings rather than at midday.

SHOPPING FOR FOOD
Common English supermarkets like Marks & Spencer can be found everywhere with a range of foods.

FOOD BUDGET PER DAY
If you eat out three meals a day you can budget on:
Breakfast - About 1 pound for coffee, 1-2 pounds for fruit or toast
Lunch - 5 pounds for a sandwhich and drink
Dinner - 10 pounds in a pub

ALCOHOL
English pubs are historical icons and a lot of English social life still takes place at the bar. Pubs are only licensed from 11am-11pm. Britain is also well known for its ale which tends to be dark in appearance and heavier than lager. It is known as "bitter"

TEA
Tea is Britain's favourite drink and cold milk is added to it. Tea in Britain is traditionally brewed in a warmed china teapot, adding one spoonful of tea per person and one for the pot. If you asked for a cuppa, someone is asking if you would like a cup of tea. If someone says 'let me be mother' or 'shall I be mother', they are offering to pour the tea.

RECIPES
If you have a great recipe of English food to share with readers please email us.

RECIPE BOOKS
Search Amazon.com for great recipe books and culinary topics.