Sometimes little appreciated traditional British cuisine offers many wonderful dishes and a great variety from different corners of the UK. British culture (and cuisine!) Has been greatly enriched by immigration and foreign influences.

Although there are commonalities across the British Isles, it must be remembered that the United Kingdom is a union of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, each of which has its own distinctive culinary and cultural traditions. In addition, as already mentioned, immigration and trade with other nations have greatly influenced British food and have led to the emergence of new culinary styles such as Anglo-Indian.

British cuisine, and especially English, has not always had the best reputation abroad. For example, in 2005, French President Jacques Chirac described English food as the second worst in Europe (he ranked Finnish cuisine as the worst). However, while it is true that there are some poor quality restaurants, despite this reputation, there are also many excellent British restaurants (in 2005, Restaurant Magazine said that 14 of the top 50 restaurants in the world were in the UK), and the willingness of the British population to experiment with new styles and dishes, both at home and away from home.

Some popular British foods and foods include:

– Full English Breakfast – Sausage, bacon, eggs (usually fried or scrambled), fried bread, fried mushrooms, roasted tomatoes, blood sausage (a type of blood sausage), and baked beans.

– Sunday roast – Roast meat with roasted potatoes and vegetables, traditionally eaten on Sundays. There are several common varieties: roast beef (beef with gravy, horseradish sauce and mustard, served with Yorkshire pudding, a dish made from baked dough), roast pork (pork with “chicharrón” (crispy cooked pork rind), apple sauce) , roast lamb (lamb with mint sauce or currant jam) and roast chicken (chicken with chipolata, bread sauce and cranberry sauce or currant jam).

– Toad in the hole – Sausages cooked in Yorkshire pudding batter.

– Fish and chips – Battered and fried fish (often cod or plaice) with chips. Peas (a green “soup” made from peas) are a popular side dish.

– Sausages and mashed potatoes – Sausages and mashed potatoes.

– Pie and Mash – A pie containing ground beef (“minced”), served with mashed potatoes. Traditionally, in London’s East End, tarts were made with the leftover water from braised eels, which are served as a cold garnish (“jellied eels”).

– Shepherd’s Pie – Ground lamb (“minced”) topped with a layer of mashed potatoes and optionally cheese. There are variations with beef (“cottage pie”) or fish (“fisherman’s pie”).

– Lancashire Stew – Meat, onion and potatoes baked in a pot or casserole for a long time over low heat.

– Cornish pasty – A distinctively shaped baked pastry traditionally filled with beef, onion, potato and turnip (kohlrabi). Traditionally these were consumed by miners working in the Cornish tin industry, and it was sometimes claimed that the fruit was placed on one end of the pie to serve as a sweet dish.

– Kedgeree – Flaked fish (usually smoked haddock), with boiled rice, eggs and butter. The dish has its origin in the time of the British Indian Empire.

– Chicken tikka massala – Anglo-Indian dish made by cooking chicken pieces marinated in curry sauce. It is usually eaten with rice or naan (Indian bread).

– Balti: an Anglo-Indian dish originally from Birmingham: a thick curry made from lamb (“balti gosht”) or chicken (“balti murgh”), cooked and served in a flat-bottomed iron or steel pot. To eat it, naan (Indian bread) is used to collect the sauce.

– Chicken Leek Soup – A Scottish soup made with potato broth, leek, and chicken.

– Arbroath smokie: lightly smoked haddock, originally from Arbroath in Scotland.

– Haggis: One of the most famous traditional Scottish dishes, haggis is made from sheep’s heart, liver and lungs (collectively known as “plucking”), shredded (ground) and mixed with oats, onions, tallow, spices and broth. and then boiled in the stomach of the sheep.

– Minced meat and tatties – Minced beef (ground) and mashed potatoes.

– Welsh Rarebit (sometimes called “Welsh Rabbit”) – Shredded cheese mixed with beer, milk and butter, then spread on toast and roasted (roasted).

– Bakewell Tart: a traditional English pudding, consisting of a puff pastry shell, jam filling (fruit preserve) and a sponge-like filling.

– Spotted Cock – A steamed pudding containing dried fruit and raisins. It is often served with custard.