What to do you think of British food? Heard they are not so tasty, or boring? Today, I am here to tell you that food in England is quite good. I can say so especially because I spent two weeks staying in England, tried various food there, and found they were much better than I expected; I even enjoyed eating them! We’re, therefore, quite stereotyped by what people say about British food: they say that the only thing we can enjoy is the English breakfast. To find out why British food came to be called in such a negative way, we have to trace a little bit of a historical background about the county. So, I’ll divide up into four aspects of British food.
1. Attitude towards eating: It is often said that British food is plain especially because Puritan religions restricted people from enjoying food, or eating luxurious cuisine. No wonder then they tend to be simple flavored, as the culture dominated people’s lives. It is also said that Victorian attitudes about health and style had very much influence on English people’s eating habits.
2.Influence of France: This goes back to middle ages, where the Norman Conquest brought French cultures into England. Because the English aristocracy ate French food, admired elegant French culture, they needed not to develop their own style of cuisine, and that is also why lots of menu in high-standard restaurants in England are written in French.
3. Industrial Revolution: IR is said to be one of the causes that more English people cared less about food. As many workers in the city suffered by food shortages and time to spend on eating, they shortened the amount of time on cooking. They were under the severe environment where they spent most of time on working. The most well-known British food, Fish and Chips is developed during these times, being the city workers’ main food. It is also interesting to know the traduitions of British pubs. They are not just places for drink, but you can eat decent British food. They are usually called “gastro-pubs”. Below are the photo of fish and chips that I ate in one of the oldest pubs in Oxford.
4. Sweets and Afternoon Tea: the culture of the afternoon tea has its roots in England, during the Restoration when Charles the second brought French style into England and enjoyed the custom of tea drinking. After many years tea and sugars became the main factors of imported goods from British Empire and East India Company.
If any of these aspects of British food interests you, I recommend that you give it a try and it might change your conventional images of British food!
Next, I am talking about the difference in eating habit seen between Britain and Japan from the perspective of both historical background. British mean is often seen as bad for its taste. In some ways, this is not true: if you choose a good restaurant or foodstuff, you will realize that idea is not correct. However, in a way, this is true when we look at British history.
The reason why British meal is not tasteful can be traced to the Industrial Revolution, started in 18th. As a result of the revolution, a huge amount of people moved from farm village to the city such as London, to labor. They spent almost whole day working, not taking much time cooking. In a very limited time, they ate a handy meal such a canned food which was easy to store. This way of eating habit had been established over time as a eating culture, and British consciousness for meal had shifted to the one that nutritious food will do.
Meanwhile Japanese seem to regard eating as important in their lives. In Edo era, ordinary citizens created their own culture which had thrived for a long time. People in Edo relatively could get a job whatever it was: dancing in front of the audience or selling flowers on the sideways could be a job. This way, they made spare time for cooking various types of food money. by earning money. In addition to this, hundreds of years later, Japan was met by rapid economic growth during 1955-74, which accelerated Japanese eating culture: more introduction of western food, diverse foodstuff in supermarkets, removal of traditional extreme labor force. These trends made meal a more and more important factor in life.
Works cited:
http://cravingboston.gbhh.org/article/20151027/learn-eat-puritan-settler
http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-french-cafe-greek-street-soho-district-central-london-england-britain-58041816.html
http://www.filicoriblog.com/usa/the-english-traditional-afternoon-tea/
http://www.projectfind.org/what_s_cooking_high_or_afternoon_tea_what_s_the_difference_and_when_did_it_all_start