If You Thought English Food was a Joke...
Stop Laughing!

In some circles, English food has a bit of a reputation.

True, the post-war excesses of quantity over quality, engineered "convenience" foods and attempts at foreign cuisine left a lot to be desired.

But since then, many cooks have gone a long way to resurrect old, traditional recipes like filling soups, splendid roasts and luscious puddings.

Teaming up with a new breed of artisan producers, who pride themselves on the quality of their produce, English cooks and restaurants now rank amongst the best in the world.

Heston Blumenthal's restaurant "The Fat Duck", in the sleepy Berkshire village of Bray, was voted the world's best in 2005! (He was runner-up in 2006 and 2007)

But while nobody would describe Heston Blumenthal's dishes as 'Traditional English Food", the success of his and many other restaurants indicates a real interest in good food.

So follow me into a tour of discovery: English food, from breakfast to supper, from pudding to cake to preserve, from cider to cheese as you've never seen it before!

Breakfast

Somerset Maugham once wrote that "to eat well in England, one should have breakfast three times a day."

And while this may be a little extreme judging by the wonderful artisan food produced round the country these days, there is no quibbling with the basic sentiment behind the comment.

Nothing sets you up for the day, or helps you recover from the night before, like a proper English breakfast.

While for most English families a proper breakfast is most often reserved for weekends or holidays, most hotels and quite a few town centre restaurants pride themselves on their traditional English breakfasts, sourcing bacon, eggs and sausages locally, and making their own jams, preserves and kedgeree.

If you want to try your hand at a 'fry-up', make your own kedgeree, or even try your hand at jam making then boldly go to the English breakfast page for inspiration and links to our most popular recipes.

Afternoon Tea

A pot of tea and a scone or some home baked cakes will pick you up wonderfully after a day spent walking on the moors or exploring a busy town. Or you could try turning afternoon tea into an occasion and make a meal of it.

England has a long tradition of baking. Traditional recipes for tasty cakes, tarts, buns and biscuits are still collected and passed on.

Books about English food list simply reams of recipes that will turn your afternoon tea from the commonplace into the extraordinary.

So get out grandma's tattered cookbook and have a go!

Sandwiches

Invented by the Earl of Sandwich's man, because the earl could not bear to leave the gaming table despite his rumbling stomach, sandwiches have become the traditional workday lunch for many English.

Initially little more than slices of cold meat or cheese between two slices of bread, sandwiches can now be as simple or as elaborate as circumstances allow.

They are elevated to an art form as part of a traditional afternoon tea, provide the ideal food on the run or can partner a salad or soup for a quick, filling lunch.

Sunday Lunch and Dinner

For many families, a Sunday lunch of roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, pot roast pork with apples or roast lamb with green beans and mint sauce, is still a cherished tradition, while bangers and mash or wonderful warming casseroles fit less formal weekday suppers.

Alternatively, a traditional fish supper is hard to beat.

Cod or haddock in crispy, rustling batter with thick-cut chips, green peas or - up north at least - mushy peas and gravy on the side.

And liberally sprinkled with salt (and malt vinegar for the real traditionalists). Even better, when eaten outside, straight from the wrapper. For some reason, this enhances the taste!

So, what's for dinner today?

And for Afters?

Just check out the menu of any average restaurant or pub and you'll be amazed at the number and variety of puddings on offer.Many of the recipes are seasonal, making use of what's at its best in the garden or the hedgerows.

But there are also eternal favourites such as Jam Roll, Custard Tart, or Orange Marmalade Cake, which make regular appearances.


And I think only the English could invent something as delicious as The Pudding Club!

Worried that traditional sweets were being pushed aside by frozen ready-made desserts, the members got together to celebrate Sticky Toffee Pudding, Spotted Dick, Sussex Pond Pudding, Randall's Pudding and all their famous and not so famous associates.

Cakes, Scones and Buns

Baking has therefore a long tradition in English food and cookery, and the many tea shops that you can find in English towns and villages are a superb advertisement for this noble art.

It's highly unlikely that you'll only be offered one or two cakes to choose from. Often, there will be scones, bath buns, fruit bread and short bread laid out alongside a number of cakes and pastries.

The only problem you'll have is deciding what to have!

Liquid Refreshments

The selection of teas available in England is staggering and still growing. Black, green and herbal teas are all available, as are traditional and specialist blends. You can even try tea that has been grown in England!Look out for a separate page on English tea coming soon!

You'll find two types of beer in an English pub. There is continental beer, or lager, which is served chilled, has a noticeable head and is pale amber in colour.

Ale is usually darker, with barely any head and is served at room temperature. There are many more varieties of ale in England, than you'll be able to find lagers and they differ quite considerably in taste and strength. And with small local breweries springing up in many places, this trend can only get better.

But it does not have to end there!

Cider - a sparkling alcoholic drink made from apples - and perry - made from pears - are very refreshing if you don't fancy a beer.

And English summer would not be summer without Pimms, that fruit salad in a glass!

Fruit cordials and juices are popular and plentiful. And England also produces a fair share of wine!

Grapes have been grown in England since Roman times and yield usually dry and off-dry whites. Recently, some vineyards have begun to produce light red wines. And if you care to look you can find some very tasty English sparkling wines!

But wine making in England is not restricted to grapes. Gardens and hedgerows yield the fruit for many a delicious fruit wine or liqueur and then, of course, there are such ultra-traditional drinks like mead and sloe gin.

Jams, Preserves, Pickles and Chutneys

Dealing with a glut of home-grown produce has always been a challenge to the thrifty cook, but one that the English have nobly risen to.

Jams, marmalades and fruit spreads are available in a wide variety of tastes, from traditional orange to elderberry and everything in between.

And English food would not be complete without pickles and chutneys! They brighten up sandwiches and salads, spice up cold cuts, enliven barbecues and generally add zest and zing to everything they come into contact with!

As with jams and preserves, the best ones are usually to be found at farmers' markets or sales held by the local Women's Institute!

The Best of English Food

As farmers struggle to survive, they often turn to small-scale food production to supplement their income, using traditional animal breeds and production methods.

You can now find superb local cheeses, yoghurts and ice creams all over the country. Cheese especially has turned into an amazing success story, as artisan cheese makers rediscover old recipes or invent new ones.

There have always been butchers who made their own sausages, cured their own hams, and raised their own pork pies, but they too are seeing an increased demand for their wares.

Between breakfast and supper, English food can be by turns delicate and hearty, but in no way boring.

And then, of course, there are the many regional specialities that have become classics all over England and beyond: Devonshire cream tea, Lancashire Hotpot, Yorkshire Pudding, Cornish Pasty, Cumberland Sauce, Sussex Pond Pudding.

So check out our English food pages, eat your way around England and have fun doing so!

Want to try some English food?
Find ideas for tastry traditional dishes in the recipe section.