British cuisine |
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British cuisine is the specific set of cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom, including the cuisines of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. According to food writer Colin Spencer, historically, British cuisine meant "unfussy dishes made with quality local ingredients, matched with simple sauces to accentuate flavour, rather than disguise it". [1]
International recognition of British cuisine was historically limited to the full breakfast and the Christmas dinner; however, Celtic agriculture and animal breeding produced a wide variety of foodstuffs for indigenous Celts. Wine and words such as beef and mutton were brought to Britain by the Normans [2] while Anglo-Saxon England developed meat and savoury herb stewing techniques before the practice became common in Europe. The Norman conquest introduced exotic spices into Great Britain in the Middle Ages.
New foodstuffs have arrived over the millennia, from sausages in Roman times, and rice, sugar, oranges, and spices from Asia in the Middle Ages, to New World beans and potatoes in the Columbian exchange after 1492, and spicy curry sauces from India in the 18th and 19th centuries. Many vegetables seen today in British cuisine such as cabbage, peas, and cherries, were also brought as crops by the Romans. [3]
Traditional British dishes include full breakfast, roast dinner, fish and chips, toad in the hole and shepherd's pie. Traditional desserts include trifle, scones, apple pie, sticky toffee pudding and Victoria sponge cake. Cheddar cheese originated in the village of Cheddar in Somerset. Modern British cuisine is influenced by other cuisines and has in turn influenced the cuisines of cultures around the world.
The sandwich is named after its supposed inventor, John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. [4]
Bread from mixed cereal grains was first made around 3700 BC in Britain. [5]
Cider is an ancient British beverage. The first recorded reference to cider dates back to Julius Caesar’s first attempt to invade Britain in 55 BC, when he found the native Celts fermenting crabapples. He took the discovery back through continental Europe with his retreating troops. [6]
In Roman times, further foods were introduced, such as sausages, [7] [8] rabbit, [9] herbs and spices from further south in the Roman empire such as chives [10] and coriander, [11] and wine, which was produced in Britain in vineyards as far north as Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire. [12]
After the Roman period and prior to the Norman conquest of England in 1066, British food mostly consisted of vegetables, cereals and mutton. [13] The Anglo-Saxons introduced bacon to Britain sometime during the 1st millennium AD. Since the Saxon times the English have bred pigs domestically as a source of bacon and breeding pigs was traditionally a seasonal affair. Each family had their own secret recipe for curing and smoking bacon and in the cities they bought bacon from butchers who also had their own secret recipe, if you lived in London you had access to a wide range of bacon brought in from different parts of Great Britain. [14]
Bread and butter became common fare among the middle class and the English, in particular, gained a reputation for their liberal use of melted butter as a sauce with meat and vegetables. [15]
The Norman conquest reintroduced spices and continental influences in the Middle Ages; [16] oranges arrived in the late 13th century, [17] sugar cane in the 14th, [18] and carrots in the 15th century. [19]
With the Western exploration of the New World in 1492, the Columbian exchange led to the arrival in Europe of many new foods, including refined sugar, the potato, the banana [20] and chocolate. The growth in worldwide trade brought foods and beverages from the Old World too, including tea [21] and coffee. [22] Developments in plant breeding greatly increased the number of fruit and vegetable varieties.
The turkey was introduced to Britain in the 16th century, [23] but its use for Christmas dinner, with Christmas pudding for dessert, was a 19th-century innovation. [24] [25] Other traditional British dishes, like fish and chips and the full breakfast, rose to prominence in the Victorian era; [26] [27] while they have a status in British culture, they are not necessarily a large part of many people's diets. [28]
The world’s first sweet tasting pea was developed in the 18th century by amateur plant breeder Thomas Edward Knight of Downton, near Salisbury, England. [29]
Before the Industrial Revolution, bacon was generally produced on local farms and in domestic kitchens. The world's first commercial bacon processing plant was opened in Wiltshire in the 1770s by John Harris. [14]
During the World Wars of the 20th century difficulties of food supply were countered by measures such as rationing. Rationing continued for nearly ten years after the Second World War, and in some aspects was stricter than during wartime, so that a whole generation was raised without access to many previously common ingredients, possibly contributing to a decline of British cuisine. [30] Writing in the 1960s about British cuisine in the 1950s, the Good Food Guide called the food of the 1950s "intolerable" due to a shortage of natural ingredients such as butter, cream and meat. [31] A hunger for cooking from abroad was satisfied by writers such as Elizabeth David, who from 1950 produced evocative books, starting with A Book of Mediterranean Food , stipulating ingredients which were then often impossible to find in most of Britain. [32]
By the 1960s, foreign holidays, and foreign-style restaurants in Britain, widened the popularity of foreign cuisine. This movement was assisted by celebrity chefs – on television and in their books – such as Fanny Cradock, Clement Freud, Robert Carrier, Keith Floyd, Gary Rhodes, Delia Smith, Gordon Ramsay, Ainsley Harriott, Nigella Lawson, Simon Hopkinson, Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver. [32] [33]
From the 1970s, the availability and range of good quality fresh products increased, and the British population became more willing to vary its diet. Modern British cooking draws on influences from Mediterranean (especially from Italian cuisine), and more recently, Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines.[ citation needed ] In the 1990s and early 2000s, a form of "virtuous eclecticism" emerged in discourse around British cuisine, arguing that British cuisine can be distinguished by its apparently unique ability to draw from other cultures. [31]
Furthermore, from the 1970s there was an increased push to recognise a distinctly British cuisine. The English Tourist Board campaigned for restaurants to include more British historical and regional dishes on their menus. In the 1980s, in the face of globalisation – which made foreign cuisines and imported produce more widely available in the UK – a style of cooking known as Modern British Cooking emerged in an effort to construct a national cuisine for the tourist industry. This new style of cooking focused on the garden and vegetables. [31]
In the 18th and 19th centuries, the British Empire began to be influenced by India's elaborate food tradition with strong spices and herbs. Traditional British cuisine was modified with the addition of Indian-style spices and ingredients such as rice, creating dishes such as kedgeree (1790) [34] and mulligatawny soup (1791). [35] [36]
Curry became popular in Britain by the 1970s, when some restaurants that originally catered mainly to Indians found their clientele diversifying. [37] Chicken tikka masala, a mildly spiced dish in a creamy sauce, was acclaimed "a true British national dish" as "a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences". [38] [39]
Culinary standards and preferences have continued to evolve in the 21st century. Debora Robertson, writing in The Daily Telegraph , has claimed that the 21st century has seen 'a revolution in British dining, fine and otherwise' and now rivals that of France. [40]
A 2021 survey, by Mortar Research, showed many people claim never to have eaten traditional favourites such as toad in the hole, spotted dick, Scotch eggs, black pudding, or bubble and squeak, and a minority did not believe these dishes existed. [41]
Also in 2021, a YouGov survey reported 8% of respondents claimed to be eating a plant-based diet and more than a third of respondents said they were interested in becoming vegan. [42] In 2023, Government statistics on meat and fish consumption showed Britons were eating the least meat at home since record keeping began in 1974. [43]
In recent years, there has been a growing movement to revive traditional British bread-making. Chef Michel Roux Jr. highlighted the decline of artisanal baking in the UK and the need to return to traditional methods. In a BBC article, Roux emphasized the importance of making bread with simple, natural ingredients and the benefits of supporting local, independent bakeries. He hopes that public awareness and consumer choices will help preserve this valuable culinary heritage. [44]
According to Warde, three definitions of British cuisine in response to globalisation predominate:
British food has tended to be perceived internaionally as "terrible": bland, soggy, overcooked and visually unappealing. [45] The reason for this is debated. One popular reason is that British culinary traditions were strong before the mid-20th century, when British cuisine suffered due to wartime rationing. [45] A lot of myths about British food originate from this period.
According to a survey by YouGov, the most popular British food is the Yorkshire pudding, which over 85% of Brits say they like, closely followed by Sunday roasts and fish and chips. The least popular was jellied eels, which only 6% of those who had tried it liked. Scones and Victoria sponge are the most popular sweet foods, while the Deep-fried Mars bar is the least popular. [46]
The Full English Breakfast was ranked number 1 in "The Most Popular British Dishes (Q3 2023)" by YouGov polls. With an 87% popularity rate, it is the national dish of the U.K. which is currently voted as most popular. [47]
Curries are a large part of British cuisine, with cooks in the United Kingdom creating curries distinct to the country. Chicken tikka masala, which comprises 15 per cent of orders in British Indian restaurants, was called "a true British national dish" by the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in 2001. [48] Generally, British curries are thicker and sweeter than their Indian counterparts. Furthermore, curry sauces in Britain are interchangeable between meats, while in India different meats have non-interchangeable sauces. [49] A key ingredient to a British curry is curry powder, a "British concoction" of spices. [50]
English cuisine has distinctive attributes of its own, but also shares much with wider British cuisine, partly through the importation of ingredients and ideas from North America, China, and India during the time of the British Empire and as a result of post-war immigration. Some traditional meals, such as sausages, bread and cheese, roasted and stewed meats, meat and game pies, boiled vegetables and broths, and freshwater and saltwater fish have ancient origins. The 14th-century English cookbook, the Forme of Cury , contains recipes for these, and dates from the royal court of Richard II. [51]
Northern Ireland's culinary heritage has its roots in the staple diet of generations of farming families—bread and potatoes. [52] Historically, limited availability of ingredients and low levels of immigration resulted in restricted variety and relative isolation from wider international culinary influences. The 21st century has seen significant changes in local cuisine, characterised by an increase in the variety, quantity and quality of gastropubs and restaurants. There are currently three Michelin star restaurants in Northern Ireland, all of which specialise in traditional dishes made using local ingredients. [53]
Scottish cuisine has closer links to Scandinavia and France than English cuisine has. [54] Traditional Scottish dishes include bannocks, brose, cullen skink, Dundee cake, haggis, marmalade, porridge, and Scotch broth. [54] [55] The cuisines of the northern islands of Orkney and Shetland are distinctively different from that of mainland Scotland. [54] The nation is known for its whiskies.
Welsh cuisine in the Middle Ages was limited in range; Gerald of Wales, chaplain to Henry II, wrote after an 1188 tour that "The whole population lives almost entirely on oats and the produce of their herds, milk, cheese and butter. You must not expect a variety of dishes from a Welsh kitchen, and there are no highly-seasoned titbits to whet your appetite." [56]
In modern times, the cuisine includes recipes for Welsh lamb, and dishes such as cawl, Welsh rarebit, laverbread, Welsh cakes, bara brith and Glamorgan sausage. [56]
The UK has had availability of a large variety of foreign cuisines since the post-war period. In 1970, the Good Food Guide stated: "London now has a richer variety of restaurants than any other city on Earth". [31] In 1995, the Good Food Guide argued that the fusion of national cuisines "could only happen here", as Britain is a melting pot without as distinct of a national cuisine as other such countries. [31]
Curry is a dish with a sauce or gravy seasoned with spices, mainly derived from the interchange of Indian cuisine with European taste in food, starting with the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch and British, and then thoroughly internationalised. Many dishes that would be described as curries in English are found in the native cuisines of countries in Southeast Asia and East Asia.
In cooking, a sauce is a liquid, cream, or semi-solid food, served on or used in preparing other foods. Most sauces are not normally consumed by themselves; they add flavor, texture, and visual appeal to a dish. Sauce is a French word probably from the post-classical Latin salsa, derived from the classical salsus 'salted'. Possibly the oldest recorded European sauce is garum, the fish sauce used by the Ancient Romans, while doubanjiang, the Chinese soy bean paste is mentioned in Rites of Zhou 20.
English cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with England. It has distinctive attributes of its own, but is also very similar to wider British cuisine, partly historically and partly due to the import of ingredients and ideas from the Americas, China, and India during the time of the British Empire and as a result of post-war immigration.
Indonesian cuisine is a collection of various regional culinary traditions that formed in the archipelagic nation of Indonesia. There are a wide variety of recipes and cuisines in part because Indonesia is composed of approximately 6,000 populated islands of the total 17,508 in the world's largest archipelago, with more than 1,300 ethnic groups.
Pakistani cuisine can be characterized as a blend of regional cooking styles and flavours from across South, Central and West Asia. Pakistani cuisine is influenced by Persian, Indian, and Arab cuisine. The cuisine of Pakistan also maintains certain Mughal influences within its recipes and cooking techniques. Pakistan's ethnic and cultural diversity, diverse climates, geographical environments, and availability of different produce lead to diverse regional cuisines.
South African cuisine reflects the diverse range of culinary traditions embodied by the various communities that inhabit the country. Among the indigenous peoples of South Africa, the Khoisan foraged over 300 species of edible food plants, such as the rooibos shrub legume, whose culinary value continues to exert a salient influence on South African cuisine. Subsequent encounters with Bantu pastoralists facilitated the emergence of cultivated crops and domestic cattle, which supplemented traditional Khoisan techniques of meat preservation. In addition, Bantu-speaking communities forged an extensive repertoire of culinary ingredients and dishes, many of which are still consumed today in traditional settlements and urban entrepôts alike.
Anglo-Indian cuisine is the cuisine that developed during the British Raj in India. The cuisine introduced dishes such as curry, chutney, kedgeree, mulligatawny and pish pash to English palates.
Kofta is a family of meatball or meatloaf dishes found in South Asian, Central Asian, Balkan, Middle Eastern, North African, and South Caucasian cuisines. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced meat—usually beef, chicken, pork, lamb or mutton, or a mixture—mixed with spices and sometimes other ingredients. The earliest known recipes are found in early Arab cookbooks and call for ground lamb.
Indian Chinese cuisine, Chinese Indian cuisine, Sino-Indian cuisine, Chindian cuisine, Hakka Chinese or Desi-Chinese cuisine is a distinct style of Chinese cuisine adapted to Indian tastes, combining Chinese foods with Indian flavours and spices. Though Asian cuisines have mixed throughout history throughout Asia, the most popular origin story of the fusion food resides with Chinese labourers of Calcutta, who immigrated to British India looking for work. Opening restaurant businesses in the area, these early Chinese food sellers adapted their culinary styles to suit Indian tastes.
Sephardic Jewish cuisine, belonging to the Sephardic Jews—descendants of the Jewish population of the Iberian Peninsula until their expulsion in 1492—encompassing traditional dishes developed as they resettled in the Ottoman Empire, North Africa, and the Mediterranean, including Jewish communities in Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Syria, as well as the Sephardic community in the Land of Israel. It may also refer to the culinary traditions of the Western Sephardim, who settled in Holland, England, and from these places elsewhere. The cuisine of Jerusalem, in particular, is considered predominantly Sephardic.
Tunisian cuisine, the cuisine of Tunisia, consists of the cooking traditions, ingredients, recipes and techniques developed in Tunisia since antiquity. It is mainly a blend of Mediterranean and native Berber cuisine with Punic influences. Historically, Tunisian cuisine witnessed influence and exchanges with many cultures and nations like Italians, Andalusians, French and Arabs.
Padang dish or Minangkabau dish is the cuisine of the Minangkabau people of West Sumatra, Indonesia. It is among the most popular cuisines in Maritime Southeast Asia. It is known across Indonesia as Masakan Padang after Padang, the capital city of Western Sumatra province. It is served in restaurants mostly owned by perantauan (migrating) Minangkabau people in Indonesian cities. Padang food is ubiquitous in Indonesian cities and is popular in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.
Bermudian cuisine blends British and Portuguese cuisine with preparations of local seafood species, particularly wahoo and rockfish. Traditional dishes include codfish and potatoes served either with an add-on of hard-boiled egg and butter or olive oil sauce with a banana or in the Portuguese style with tomato-onion sauce, peas and rice. Hoppin' John, pawpaw casserole and fish chowder are also specialties of Bermuda. As most ingredients used in Bermuda's cuisine are imported, local dishes are offered with a global blend, with fish as the major ingredient, in any food eaten at any time.
The global cuisine or world cuisine is a cuisine that is practiced around the world. A cuisine is a characteristic style of cooking practices and traditions, often associated with a specific region, country or culture. To become a global cuisine, a local, regional or national cuisine must spread around the world, its food served worldwide. There have been significant improvements and advances during the 20th century in food preservation, storage, shipping and production, and today many countries, cities and regions have access to their traditional cuisines and many other global cuisines.
Welsh cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Wales. While there are many dishes that can be considered Welsh due to their ingredients and/or history, dishes such as cawl, Welsh rarebit, laverbread, Welsh cakes, bara brith and Glamorgan sausage have all been regarded as symbols of Welsh food. Some variation in dishes exists across the country, with notable differences existing in the Gower Peninsula, a historically isolated rural area which developed self-sufficiency in food production.
In cooking and gastronomy, goose is the meat of several species of bird in the family Anatidae, which also includes ducks and swans. The family has a cosmopolitan distribution, and various wild species and domesticated breeds are used culinarily in multiple cuisines. There is evidence as early as 2500 BC of deliberate fattening of domesticated geese in Egypt.