Food and drinks

[EnRs]

Привет, англоманы.

У меня завалялись кое-какие тексты про британскую еду, питье и праздники.

Может кому будет интересно почитать =)



1. Food

Traditional British food, with its emphasis on puddings, pies, cakes, meat dishes and fried food, no longer forms a main part of most people's diet because of the trend towards lighter, more easily prepared food. Traditional methods of preserving meat and fish, such as salting and smoking, are no longer necessary and food such as kippers (smoked herrings), salt pork and beef, and bacon are eaten less frequently than before. Nevertheless, many traditional dishes survive, especially those associated with special occasions.

There are many regional dishes, usually named after a county, such as Lancashire hotpot, roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, and Cornish pasties, which are popular all over the country. There are many different kinds of regional cheese, including the best-known, Cheddar, as well as Cheshire, Leicestershire, Double Gloucester, Caerphilly, Wensleydale and Stilton, each with its own distinctive colour, flavour and consistency. Welsh rarebit is a popular dish of toasted cheese.

The British have always liked meat dishes, from the traditional roast beef to popular favourites such as 'bangers and mash' (sausages and potatoes), shepherd's pie (also called cottage pie), toad in the hole (sausages baked in batter), steak and kidney pudding, mixed grill, steak, and bacon and eggs. Scotland has its traditional haggis. Beef, lamb, mutton, pork and chicken are the most common kinds of meat. Sauces that traditionally accompany meat are mint sauce for lamb, horseradish sauce for beef, apple sauce for pork and cranberry sauce for turkey.

Fish and chips is a favourite fish dish, although fish fingers and fish cakes are also popular, especially with children. Kippers are eaten either for breakfast or supper. Plaice, cod, herrings and mackerel are the most common kinds of fish. Trout and salmon are usually considered a luxury, especially when they have been smoked.

Eggs are eaten boiled, fried, poached or scrambled, with boiled eggs usually preferred soft, and traditionally cooked for three minutes.

Potatoes (' spuds') are one of the most common vegetables, served either as chips, roast or mashed potatoes, or baked in their skins (jacket potatoes).

Breakfast often begins with fruit juice, followed by cereal to which milk and sugar are added. Some people, especially in Scotland, still prefer porridge to cereal, and eat it with milk and sugar or salt. A traditional English breakfast also includes a cooked dish such as bacon and eggs, but few people eat this nowadays, preferring a lighter 'continental' breakfast. Toast and marmalade, and tea or coffee, complete the meal.

Puddings of all kinds are typically British, and the word itself can describe both savoury and sweet dishes, or mean simply 'dessert' in general. Among the best-known sweet dishes are rice pudding, bread-and-butter pudding, steamed pudding, suet pudding and Christmas pudding. Plum pudding (which does not contain plums) is another name for Christmas pudding. Other familiar desserts are fruit-based ones such as apple pie or gooseberry fool.

There are many varieties of bread and cake. Bread is white or brown. There are different kinds of loaf, including the specially shaped cottage loaf and cob loaf. For a 'continental' breakfast, many people now prefer French-type rolls such as croissants.

For tea, crumpets, muffins, toasted teacakes and buns are often eaten, especially in winter. Otherwise bread and butter with jam, honey, meat or fish paste or some other spread is usual for the meal.

A cake can be large, needing to be cut or sliced, or small, for one person. Gingerbread is not bread but a ginger-flavoured cake. Bath buns, Chelsea buns and doughnuts are all made from bread dough. The many different kinds of biscuit include chocolate digestive biscuits, ginger nuts and custard creams. Water biscuits or cream crackers are usually eaten with cheese.

Some foods are traditionally prepared for a particular festival or celebration. Christmas pudding is eaten at Christmas, pancakes are often served (as a sweet course, with lemon and sugar) on Shrove Tuesday, and hot cross buns are eaten on Good Friday. Special big cakes are prepared for weddings and birthdays. Wedding cakes are usually elaborately iced and decorated, with two or more tiers; birthday cakes are also normally iced, with the person's age shown by the number of small candles stuck in the icing.

The British enjoy eating sweets, especially chocolate, and the many popular types of confectionery include toffee, marshmallows, mints and boiled sweets. Sticks of rock are traditionally popular in holiday resorts, as are ice cream, candy floss and other 'fun foods'.

In recent years there has been an increase in the consumption ofconvenience' and unhealthy junk1 foods, but also a growing interest in healthy, natural or 'organic' foods. At the same time, the British diet now includes many dishes that would formerly have been regarded as exotic or unusual. Among the most popular are Chinese, Indian and Italian, which have largely been popularized by ethnic restaurants.

In the USA too the food of many different nationalities has become part of the national diet. Particularly American dishes, though, are clam chowder (a thick soup containing clams), southern fried chicken, pecan pie, pumpkin pie, hot dogs, burgers, apple pie and hash browns (potato pancakes, often served at breakfast).



2. Eating Out

There is a wide variety of places to go when you want to eat out in Britain. In the most expensive restaurants and hotels, the style of cooking is often French and the menu is usually written in French, often with an English translation.

Most towns have a variety of restaurants offering the cuisine of several different countries, with Indian, Chinese and Italian restaurants the most popular. Most of these ethnic restaurants are owned and run as small family businesses. Other restaurants are part of a chain and offer a standard menu throughout the country.

Almost all pubs now offer food, which may be snacks bought at the bar or meals in a separate dining area. Wine bars also serve meals or snacks with a wide selection of wine, whereas in pubs beer is the main drink.

Fast-food restaurants serving American-style pizzas and hamburgers are very popular, especially with children and young people. There are fewer cafes than there once were, but they can still be found in most towns. They provide a cheap place to have a cup of tea or a meal and are usually open all day.

Another feature of British life that is found less frequently nowadays is the 'fish and chip' bar or shop, where you can buy fried fish and chips to eat at home. Other kinds of 'take-away' meals are provided by Chinese, Indian or pizza restaurants.

Many towns, especially those in popular tourist areas, have tea-shops. Although they mainly provide afternoon tea, with scones, buns and cakes, many also serve morning coffee and lunch. Tea-shops are often in old buildings and the atmosphere is old-fashioned. There are also coffee shops open throughout the day, which serve food as well, mainly cakes and biscuits rather than full meals.

One of the cheapest places to eat is a snack bar, a type of cafe. It may not serve meals at all, but only tea and coffee, with food such as rolls, soup and sandwiches.

The range of restaurants available in the USA is in many ways similar to that in Britain. Many fast-food chains found in Britain, such as McDonald's, Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut, are American companies. The variety of ethnic restaurants is even greater in the USA than in Britain.



3. Drinks

By tradition, the British national drink is tea. It is drunk not only on its own but with or after maeals, from breakfast to supper and from early in the morning (often in bed) to last thing at night. It has given its name to the characteristically British meal, tea, either 'afternoon tea' or 'high tea', meaning the meal itself rather then just a cup of tea or 'cuppa'. The traditional way to make tea is in a teapot, which is first warmed with hot water. When the pot is warm, very hot water is poured onto the tea-leaves, and the tea is allowed to 'brew' for a few minutes before being poured out. Most people drink tea with milk and many add sugar.

In recent times coffee has become much more popular and for many people has replaced tea as the usual drink. It has always been served as an after-dinner drink, when it is often drunk black, i. e. without milk, and cafes and coffee shops serve 'morning coffee' in the middle of the morning. Other hot drinks are those made with milk, e. g. cocoa, hot chocolate and drinkssold under brand names such as Horlicks or Ovaltine. They are often drunk as a nonalcoholic 'nightcap', especially in winter.

Among alcoholic drinks, beer is traditionally the most popular in Britain, especially with men. It is the main drink served in pubs, in pints or half-pints and is associated with leisure and conviviality. There are a number of different types, from the weakest, known as 'mild' to the strongest, called bittег". Traditional draught beer is served from the barrel by means of a pump. The more modern type of beer is called keg beer. CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, is an association that supports traditional draught beer, which is also being replaced by canned beer, especially lager. Stout, a dark type of beer, is also popular, especially in Ireland. Shandy, beer mixed with lemonade or ginger beer, is also served in pubs. Cider, made from apples, is another traditionally popular drink, especially in Devon, Somerset and Herefordshire, where it is made.

Wine has for centuries been imported to Britain from France, but it is only in recent years that wine drinking has become common.

Whisky is not only a popular drink in Britain. It is one of the country's major exports. There are over a hundred distilleries in Scotland and more than 80 per cent of what they produce is exported. Whisky is often drunk diluted with water or soda water and is more often drunk by men than women. A glass of whisky and soda is a traditional 'nightcap'. Gin is often mixed with tonic water or with fruit drinks such as lime or orange. Less traditional but popular mixtures are rum and Coca Cola or vodka and orange juice. Brandy and fruit-flavoured liqueurs are sometimes drunk at the end of a meal with coffee.

There are high taxes on alcoholic drinks in Britain. People who make their own wine and beer can avoid paying these taxes, but it is illegal to sell home-made alcoholic drinks. Shops need a special licence to sell alcoholic drinks and there are laws that restrict the hours when alcohol may be sold. It is illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under the age of 18, either in a shop or in a bar or restaurant.

In the USA there are also legal restrictions on the sale of spirits, but not of wine or beer, which is by far the most popular alcoholic drink. In many states it is illegal to sell spirits to people under the age of 21. As in Britain, there are high taxes on alcohol.

With the trend towards healthier living, cocktails, i. e. mixtures such as gin and dry vermouth (called a Martini) or whisky and dry vermouth (called a Manhattan) have become less fashionable, and long drinks like spritzers (a mixture of white wine and soda water) are becoming more popular. These are also called wine coolers.

Soft drinks are as popular in the USA as in Britain and Coca Cola is regarded throughout the world as a typically American drink. Drinks made with milk, especially milk shakes, are also popular.

The main wine-growing area in the USA is California but, as in Britain, wine is also imported from many countries in Europe and elsewhere.