A Typical British Meal

A traditional English breakfast is a very big meal – sausages, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms... But nowadays many people just have cereal with milk and sugar, or toast with marmalade, jam or honey. Marmalade and jam are not the same! Marmalade is made from oranges and jam is made from other fruit. The traditional breakfast drink is tea, which people have with cold milk. Some people have coffee, instant coffee, which is made with just hot water. Many visitors to Britain find this coffee disgusting!

For many people lunch is a quick meal. In cities there are a lot of sandwich bars, where office workers can choose the kind of bread they want – brown, white, or a roll and then all sorts of salad and meat or fish to go in the sandwich. Pubs often serve good, cheap, food, both hot and cold. School-children can have a hot meal at school, but many just take a snack from home – a sandwich, a drink, some fruit, and perhaps some crisps.

'Tea' means two things. It is a drink and a meal! Some people have afternoon tea, with sandwiches cakes, and, of course, a cup of tea. Cream teas are popular. You have scones (a kind of cake) with cream and jam.

The evening meal is the main meal of the day for many people. They usually have it quite early, between 6.00 and 8.00, and often the whole family eats together.

On Sundays many families have a traditional lunch. They have roast meat, either beef, lamb, chicken, or pork, with potatoes, vegetables and gravy. Gravy is a sauce made from the meat juices.

The British like food from other countries, too, especially Italian, French, Chinese and Indian. People often get take-away meals – you buy the food at the restaurant and then brin it home to eat. Eating in Britain is quite international!