Food in Britain

Carmen looks at the different food that people in Britain enjoy eating and talks about how food in Britain comes from all over the world.

Do the Preparation task first. Then watch the video. Next go to Task and do the activity. If you need help, you can read the Transcript at any time.

Preparation

Before you watch

Think about the following questions:

  • What kinds of food do you like?
  • What is your favourite dish?
  • What is a typical dish from your country?

Now, watch the video to find out more about food in Britain.

Transcript

Transcript

Carmen: The Chinese introduced oriental food to Britain. But before the Chinese, immigrants from all around the world came to live in London. 

British people enjoy a huge range of food and flavours from other countries.

This is Borough Market, London’s oldest food market. Today, you can find food here from all over the world.

This is Italian cheese. Each group of settlers brought their own food and styles of cooking and people here embraced the exciting new flavours… maybe, because British food wasn’t very good.

Restaurants from all around the world can be found on most British high streets. Indian, Chinese, Greek, Italian, Spanish, Persian... the list goes on.

But just what are the UK’s favourite dishes?

On the Street: My favourite meal is Thai green curry.

On the Street: One of my favourite meals is... cottage pie with peas.

On the Street: My favourite food is... Chinese.. Chinese.

On the Street: What’s my favourite meal? Still full English breakfast.

......

Chef: This is a full English breakfast. Tomato, black pudding, sausage, bacon, egg, mushroom.

......

A big fried breakfast might not be to everyone’s taste. But in Britain, there is something for everyone.

Celia Brooks Brown is a food writer and knows all about food and the future of food in the UK, today.

Mmm! It looks good. What have we got here, Celia?

Celia: Well, this is a British tomato salad with a Yorkshire-made sheep’s cheese. And here we have a Barnsley lamb chop with new potatoes and a mint hollandaise sauce.

Carmen: So is this a sign of developments in British cooking?

Celia: Yes, people want to know where their food comes from. Chefs in restaurants like these are reinventing classic British dishes. They’re using ingredients that are locally sourced and locally grown.

Carmen: So what about world cuisine?

Celia: Well anything goes. Chefs love to experiment with ingredients from different cultures. And we live in a globalised society. It’s very exciting.

Carmen: OK Celia, if you were cooking these dishes at home, what ingredients from different cultures would you use?

Celia: Well, I might use something like this. This is a Moroccan spice mix called Ras el Hanout. Have a sniff.

Carmen: Hmm. That’s really strong.

Celia: Lovely, isn’t it? Now, this might make a lovely spice rub for that lamb chop.

Carmen: I can’t wait to taste this.

......

The food in Britain reflects the many different cultures here. But some of the old favourites are here to stay. I’m off for my favourite, fish and chips. Want a chip?

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Submitted by silangit on Wed, 05/12/2018 - 01:19

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Hi Teacher, Let's have a look at this sentences " Restaurants from all around the world can be found on most British high streets". My question is, why "the" article is missing at " on (the) most British,...,"?

Hi silangit,

In this sentence 'British' is an adjective. The noun is 'high streets'.

When we are talking in non-specific terms about plural things (i.e. about 'most high streets' not about particular high streets), we do not use an article.

If we were talking about a particular group of high streets then we could use an article but it would come before the moun, not before 'most':

...most of the high streets in this part of London...

 

Peter

The LearnEnglish Team

Submitted by Dania92 on Fri, 27/07/2018 - 10:17

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hi i am Dania from Syria I enthsiastic about trying new food and flavours i hope i can travel more to taste new food by the way i like home made food in my country the traditional food is based on fresh ingredient