English food to what the majority of the population (residents of big cities in particular) eat now the changes will be dramatic.
If we ask middle-aged English-learners (we refer teachers of English to this group as learning a foreign language is a life-long process) what textbook was extremely popular in the 60ies, 70ies and even the 80ies of the previous century, many of them are likely to name Essential English by C.E. Eckersley. At that time it was the most relevant (reliable) source of information. According to the book "The usual meals are breakfast, lunch, tea and dinner or in simpler homes, breakfast, dinner, tea and supper. The usual English breakfast is porridge or Corn Flakes with milk or cream and sugar, bacon and eggs, marmalade (made from oranges) with buttered toast, and tea and coffee. For a change you can have a boiled egg, cold ham, or perhaps fish ".
In fact, only about 10% of the people in Britain actually have this sort of breakfast. Even those who do eat cereal instead of Corn Flakes and a fry-up instead of bacon and eggs, a fry-up being a mixture of such ingredients as eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes, mushrooms and even bread fried together. Two-thirds of the British have cut out the fry-up and just have the cereal, tea and toast. The rest have even less. What the majority of British people eat in the mornings is much closer to what they call a "continental" or European breakfast than to the British one. p> The image of a British gentleman eating an underdone beef steak is also out of date. Since most people have afternoon meals at work they have to do with what the nearest eating place offers. James O'Driscoll mentions two types of eating places used during the day, both of which are comparatively cheap. One is a workman's café (pronounced 'caff') frequented by manual workers who want a filling or substantial meal. It offers mostly fried food. The other popular place is a fast food outlet. Surprisingly as it may seem fast food outlets are now more common in Britain than they are in most other countries. Although it may contradict the stereotyped idea of ​​British conservatism and hatred of all foreign or American, the popularity of fast food restaurants can be explained sociologically. They have no class associations and as a result are visited by people of various backgrounds.
The only eating place which can still be called typically English and can hardly be found anywhere else is the fish-and-chips shop, used in the evening for "Take-away" meals. The fish is deep fried which contradicts another stereotype that the British eat everything boiled. In fact typical British cooking involves a lot of roasting.
Healthy lifestyle obsession which seized thousands of British people in recent years has made many of them vegetarians or even vegans. Their diet does not include such typically British foods as beef, mutton, bacon or eggs. James O'Driscoll write, "There are quite a large number of vegetarians in Britain and an even larger number who are aware of the implications for their health of what they eat. "Health food shops are as abundant in the country's high streets as delicatessens. In spite of their reputation British people are more tolerant and more open to new experiences including the cuisines of other countries. In the 1960ies the first British tourists in Spain not only insisted on eating (Traditionally British) fish and chips but also on having them, as was traditional, wrapped up in specially imported British newspaper. By now, however, the country's supermarket shelves are full of the spices and souces needed for cooking dishes from all over the world. There is no town in the country which does not have at least one Indian restaurant and probably a Chinese one too. Larger towns and cities have restaurants representing cuisine from all over the world. It can easily be explained by the increasingly multicultural nature of the population and the cosmopolitan character of such cities as London.
All the above mentioned stereotypes can be referred to as minor and unimportant in comparison to the stereotyped image of the British as the greatest tea drinkers in the world. May be about 50 years ago this statement (assumption) was true. It is not accidental that the English language is so rich in idioms related to tea. One can hardly imagine an English man or woman without a cup of strong tea they enjoy sitting by the fire place. However, this may seem a bit out of date. It is true that tea is still prepared in a distinctive way (strong and with milk), but more coffee than tea is now bought in the country's shops. As for the tradition of afternoon tea with biscuits, scones, sandwiches or cake, this is a minority activity, largely confined to retired people and the leisured upper-middle class.
More people have "elevences" rather than five o'clock tea. Elevences ...