What do British people eat on a daily basis?

Beans on toast is a staple.

Aspic

Google.

OP, no they don't. Young children in Britain eat a lot of fresh peas, a snack after school is often salted and buttered radishes, sometimes smoked fish, or beans and bangers.

Not food but Brits drink a HELL of a lot more than Americans.

I guess gay British boys know where to find the boys and the BOOZE!

The diets increasingly varied tbh. Things as far apart as Spaghetti Bolognese and Curry are accepted as part of the national dish. I can't expertly speak for outside England. But London, Manchester and Liverpool have a thriving ethnic food scene. I Grew up in rural Northern England and going home to meet my mothers cooking is a weird blessing/curse. But the diet has changed rapidly over the last decade. if you'd asked someone in 2011 if the ate Tofu they'd probably have punched you in the face. Now its pretty normal

Radishes? After school everyday? That sounds dreadful. I guess it's an acquired taste. Also why British children aren't as overweight as American kids. That, and lots more walking. Americans will get in the car and drive a block to a convenience store.

Scampi is hugely popular, lots of frozen shrimp is consumed by the brits, also Spam is extremely popular and the U.K is second only to Samoa in Spam consumption.

I ate Eel Pie today, also known as Camilla.

What the hell, OP? I certainly did not grow-up eating the crap listed in your post, and none of the kids I know now eat it either. Where in godsname do you live?

[quote] Radishes? After school everyday? That sounds dreadful. I guess it's an acquired taste.

No more an acquired taste than your dreadful crisps and PB&J. Radishes go really well with jellied eels. All the kids love them. It’s the #1 after school snack.

All school children are dosed with Metamucil starting in Infants School through Key Stage 3.

Crisps?!

When I lived in London most everyone at A LOT of sandwiches. Also take-away Indian food. I never saw a radish...

I have to admit I freakin' love the English breakfast. Its the best breakfast to me of all the cuisines. I can't stand pancakes with syrups and cereal craps. I also find toast and beans very appetizing. Delicious, filling and low on sugar. Fuck! I'm so turned on.

OP - what family eats hamburgers and hot dogs every week? Or even hamburger helper?

I think you're describing people on food stamps. Working class people eat much better than that.

R13 crissops!

Spotted dick

[quote] OP - what family eats hamburgers and hot dogs every week? Or even hamburger helper? I think you're describing people on food stamps. Working class people eat much better than that.

Most Working-Age SNAP Participants Work, But Often in Unstable Jobs

Vanity Fair had James McAvoy and Emily Blunt run down a stereotypical British day and they discuss the food.

Tea and crumpets.

[quote] No more an acquired taste than your dreadful crisps and PB&J. Radishes go really well with jellied eels. All the kids love them. It’s the #1 after school snack.

Troll

R3 that article was very informative, but I can't fathom being able to walk around in public with an alcoholic beverage. In America, that would be a citation for public drunkenness. LOL. I love how relaxed the UK is about drinking.

They eat a lot of toast. They put weird things on sandwiches, like Space Raiders with Dairylea (what we’d call Laughing Cow).

cheddar cheese and Branston pickle sandwiches - yum

Don't forget Marmite!!

r23 The best way I can describe it is American drinking laws are flipped on their head. You can drink ANYWHERE except places that are specifically defined as non alcohol spaces

New Orleans and Las Vegas allow public drinking.

Off the top of my head - curry, pizza, chips, Sunday roast dinners, breaded fish/fishfingers, baked beans, peas, fried bacon, eggs (fried/scrambled/boiled/poached), sausages, toast, cereal, spaghetti bolognese, chicken pie, lasagne, tinned tuna, burgers, sandwiches, lamb/pork chops, fried potatoes, lots of tea, beer, cider, wine, whisky..

But honestly it probably depends on your family and background; there will be differences. P.S. I've never encountered buttered radishes in my life and the spam thing is an outdated stereotype - never had that either.

What R29 said. I’ve also never had (or even heard of) buttered radishes....and haven’t had Spam since I was at school.

A standard days eating for me (a standard person) is cereal & toast for breakfast, sandwich & soup for lunch and pasta for dinner. I’ll snack on fruit and/or biscuits (cookies), drink loads of tea through the day and may have wine with dinner.

I do agree that, compared to many other nations, we drink a hell of a lot. We have a very strong drinking culture and our city centres are full of puking drunks every Friday and Saturday night. We also take it with us to other countries like Spain, which is shameful.

Gruel.

Who cares? They don't brush their teeth to begin with.

R32 Actually we do.

Is your life difficult now that you have to pretend you don’t hate black people? Is that why you are directing your racism elsewhere?

Waddle off and find another tub of lard to eat, yank.

Ham, eggs and chips for my lunch today.

Tonight I'm having baked beans on toast for my tea.

Tomorrow I'm making Chicken, leek and ham pie for lunch.

I may just do a Caesar salad for my tea tomorrow.

Only place I’ve ever encountered buttered radishes was at an American restaurant. They were served with olive tapenade and they were good, actually. Can’t imagine anyone eating them every day as some sort of dietary staple, however.

[quote]What do British people eat on a daily basis?

Muddy arse.

Cheese sandwich, bacon butty, fish fingers, pie 'n' mash with liquor.

We do not have Hamburger Helper.

We don't say macaroni AND cheese, it's just macaroni cheese, and it's not generally bought in a box like in the US, usually fresh if it's pre-made, but can be frozen.

Canned vegetables exist but I think they are not much of a thing except for sweetcorn. Soup is widespread - you can get pretty much any type of soup in a can and there are loads of fresh options these days.

One thing you never see in the UK which seems to be (or at least was) popular in the US is meat loaf. Even the name sounds gross to me.

In terms of what British people DO eat on a daily basis, well surely like anywhere it varies and we eat cuisine from around the world - there's no set meals! British people love Indian food, Chinese food, Italian, Greek, Spanish, South American - it's not all roast dinners and fish 'n' chips!

R24 no, Dairy Lea and Laughing Cow are two different brands of soft spreadable cheese.

R11 is trolling, hardly anyone eats jellied eels these days let alone kids, and salted buttered radishes are not a common schoolchild snack.

The full fried breakfast is a cliché. The only people who could eat that every day are either doing heavy work that burns it off, or gluttons. The radish thing isn’t true either. I saw Ina Garten saying that French children have it as a snack. Maybe they did in the 1930s.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Oh yeah R42 mushy peas from a tin is a thing - I forgot them because I don't like them.

What Brits were ordering during lockdown.

That list has made me hungry R44

UK guy here, and I make all my food from scratch. I’m making lamb dhansak for dinner tonight.

Buttered radishes are delicious, but they’re a French dish rather than a British dish. Buttered radishes in a baguette, with a bit of salt - very yummy and somehow just a little elegant.

I dated an English guy and he bought some kind of canned peas that were atrocious. Mushy or mashy? I love peas but these had a really weird flavor.

R3 - my roommate's cousin is married to a vegetarian in Exeter. So when he came at Christmas in 2019, we asked him what an English bus driver can eat without meat and he did say it was pretty standard with the beans on toast but no shame in eating falafel, pizza with vegetable toppings, ordering just lentil or vegetable dishes at curry houses and tofu at Chinese places. Not like EVERYONE is always eating a meat pie or Yorkshire steak anymore. Plus so many fast food have vegetarian options now, it's become a non-issue compared to 30 years ago.

Bangers.

OPs post is a load of bullshit. We never ate that shit in my house growing up. Everything was homemade and nothing came from a box. In fact, I can't recall one time we ate mac and cheese for dinner, much less hot dogs. That was crap I had a handful of times at a friend's house. The one thing we did have on that list was spaghetti, but even then, we made our spaghetti sauce from fresh or home-canned tomatoes.

faggots and spotted dick

I'll have more of the former and less of the latter, if you don't mind.

[quote] young children in Britain eat a lot of fresh peas,

Unless fresh peas are a LOT more readily available in the UK than they are here, I have a hard time believing that. You can't even find fresh peas at most American supermarkets. They're notorious for not having a long shelf life. And pretty much everyone uses frozen peas, which taste the same -- or better-- than fresh ones.

Mexican style TAK-ohs.

R54, you can get small bags of fresh shelled peas in just about any supermarket in the UK, pretty much all year round. Relatively expensive though.

I eat a lot more salad now my husbear has established a corner of the garden for the growing of such things, but I strongly believe that radishes should only ever be used as a BDSM accoutrement.

They can barely grow tomatoes and squash without special care, but those wonderful flowers (and peas) love it.

If you gave peas to the average child in the UK you would be abruptly advised to fuck off. Who came up with this nonsense?

I've watched several UK soaps over the years, and it seems someone's always announcing that they've "MADE A LASAGNE" .. lol!

It's also quite common to try to lure others to show up or do something by announcing you're making spag bol or ordering a curry takeaway. The latter is often followed-up by the mention that there will be extra poppadoms!

After a night of heavy drinking (quite common), the standard is to go for a kebab. During recovery the following day, this often becomes the "dodgy kebab" (while running to the toilet).

When people are feigning illness or actually sick, we often hear mention of having eaten "bad shrimp."

Consumption of coffee (lattes, espresso, etc.) is much more prominently featured.

I'm an advocate for whirled peas. (All we are saying is, give peas a chance.)

I had a cottage pie for my dinner tonight.

My grandma was British and she made my mother endure something that was like Cream of Wheat, with fish in it.

Why do Brits put corn in everything? Youtuber Mike Jeavons puts it in Spaghetti Bolognese and on tuna sandwiches.😝

^Also pizza!

We eat a lot more Lamb than people in the US, a personal favorite is slow-roasted Lamb Shoulder (not sure about cider gravy though, I'd probably use red wine).

r56 i applaud your use of "accoutrements" in your post. You did me a kindness.

^^ not sure why the video didn't post.

Digestives.

WTF?

maybe they're called digestives because they tend to have more fiber/fibre?

Digestive biscuits are kind of like graham crackers. I don't know how they'd taste in S'mores, though.

Digestive Biscuits were invented by two Scottish Doctors.

[ITALIC] In 1839, digestives were developed in the United Kingdom by two Scottish doctors to aid digestion. Digestives featured in advertisements for the Berkshire-based biscuit company Huntley & Palmers in 1876, with a recipe being given in Cassell's "New Universal Cookery Book" of 1894.

In 1851 an issue of The Lancet London's advertising section offered brown meal digestive biscuits. At the time, it was asserted grain millers knew only of bran and endosperm. After 10% of the whole grain's coarser outer-bran coat was removed, and because the innermost 70% of pure endosperm was reserved for other uses, brown meal, representing only 20% of the whole grain, remained, consisting of about 15% fine bran and 85% white flour.[8] By 1912 it was more widely known that brown meal included the germ, which lent a characteristic sweetness.

In 1889, John Montgomerie of Scotland filed a U.S. patent application, which was granted in 1890. This patent asserted a prior patent existed in England dated 1886. The U.S. patent, titled "Making Malted Bread", included instructions for the manufacture of digestive biscuits. Montgomerie claimed this saccharification process would make "nourishing food for people of weak digestion" [/ITALIC]

belVita ?

R71 Then we fucked up the whole premise of healthy and put chocolate on the Digestive Biscuits.

My guess was pretty good.

R63 Corn in Spaghetti Bolognese is unusual (unless you are trying to bulk it out).

Tuna with sweetcorn or cucumber is pretty normal, again it may be an attempt to make more sandwiches from a smaller amount of tuna. Not sure why as canned tuna is incredibly cheap in the UK?

R41 et al, I was served buttered salted radishes in France a few times as an appetizer. With lots of bread as R47 suggests.

Blech corn in tuna?! Insane. Cucumber or pickle, yes.

I like corn and tuna on the same salad plate - a kind of variation on a Nicoise salad that I make - since I don't include the olives. But I can't really see mixing them together (with mayo) for some kind of sandwich. That's what I've seen anyway.

Agreed, r78...i can deal with Nicoise/Salad type dish. Not mixed together as a sandwich spread though. Not okay. Sweet pickle relish provides a balance in tuna salad for that purpose. Corn is way too sweet and sweet pickle provides a bit of a foil with the vinegar.

Tacos and salsa.

I’m an American former latchkey kid & have literally never eaten Hamburger Helper. I used to see commercials for it & asked my mom if she could make it & she said no, we don’t eat that! Then I saw the Vacation movie where the White trash family eats HH, minus the hamburger, & figured, okay, we’re not that lowly.

Cheese and biscuits.

tea, scones, kebab. at least that seems to be the major food groups.

Leftovers

Parsnip mash is quite common.

No, parsnip mash isn't common. I've never seen or had it. Potato mash, yes.

R79 Isn't the predominant canned tuna in the US Albacore (white, milder) tuna? In the UK it's Skipjack which tends to overwhelm anything else in terms of flavour, I think the sweetcorn is 'padding'.

Parsnips are NOT good. This would be among one of the last possible foods I would consume. Sour.

[quote] faggots and spotted dick

I had never heard of faggots until I went to a pub in the Cotswold where in big, bright letters it stated: Today's special - Homemade Faggots. I thought I had walked into a Bordello and got excited for a minute. Then I found out they're just meatballs.

In the US, it's common to have "chunk light" tuna AND white albacore. I have used both in meals and kind of like the "chunk light" better. And this is from a person that doesn't tend to like fish for the most part. I do eat some sushi once or twice a year.

[quote] the spam thing is an outdated stereotype

Maybe it varies by region, r29. I spent 18 months in Glencoe, and the CoOp there literally had a whole shelf for Spam and they seemed to have trouble keeping it stocked. I didn't see it very much in England, though.

R89 Hmmm.... Not exactly meatballs. They are made with liver, heart and sometimes kidney wrapped in caul (the fat from around the organs).and then fried.

Taste great if you don't mind offal.

[quote]radishes should only ever be used as a BDSM accoutrement.

I hate myself for asking, but how?

R91 is lucky, Glencoe is beautiful!

Offal is AWFUL! i don't understand how anyone likes/eats organ meats. disgusting!

I heard they eat worms. Is it true?

I can answer OP's question absolutely and definitively in a single word: FOOD.

[quote] American children of working parents grow up on Hamburger Helper, spaghetti, hamburgers, hotdogs, macaroni and cheese, canned vegetables, soup, etc.

Only on Datalounge, where it will forever be 1987

[quote] Hmmm.... Not exactly meatballs. They are made with liver, heart and sometimes kidney wrapped in caul (the fat from around the organs).and then fried.

I mean, technically, that's still a meatball . . .but I get your point. I tried them before I knew what was in them, and they were delicious actually.

Tomahto soup.

Macaroni and cheese isn't that popular in the UK, you can get it chilled or frozen in supermarkets but I've never heard anyone say that they were preparing it at home from scratch. It could be something that comes from WWII rationing when bulked out meals were common, my Mother who is 81 hates it.

When I lived over there, I'd eat rich tea biscuits and chocolate digestives every day. I miss them.

R88 If you roast Parsnips rather than boiling them they become very sweet, perfect with any grilled or roasted red meat.

Nutella.

Prawn cocktail crisps and Percy Pigs.

Sherbet Lemons

Has anyone mentioned how inexpensive fresh salmon is in the UK?

It's pretty much the cheapest fish that we can buy, frequently under £3 ($4.50) per pound. Even the people on social benefits aren't keen on eating it..

Greggs, Asda readymeals, turkey twizzlers, a cheeky Nando’s, curry and spag bol, chip buttys, Mr Kipling slices, Harvester, cauliflower cheese, prawn cocktail crisps, Jammie Dodgers, and pork scratchings.

I've never known anyone to willingly eat Spam.

Do Brits still have to put coins in their gas or electric meter?

R109, poor ones, yes. "As of 2019, around 4.3 million people in the UK have a prepayment energy meter, according to Ofgem."

Guilt

Shame

Bangers

No, R109. Coin meters were never common and haven't been a thing for decades. Prepayment meters nowadays are usually operated with a card that's charged offsite, or via an online connection. It isn't 1970.

Coin meters were common in the 1970s, (even on TV's). My Gran was the worst debtor ever and wouldn't pay anyone (even though she could afford to?). Some of her capers were epic.

They also aren't penalised in terms of cost St now and can't be overcharged as they were in the past.

Still fucking tragic, it's such a cold Country you can need heating for ten months of the year as you move North.

The foods that the OP listed actually were pretty common dinner staples for a lot of families in the late '60s through '80s. They were introduced as modern, convenient, easy, and fast as housewives were entering the work force. A lot of folks thought they were better than from scratch foods.

A couple of my college roommates in the early '80s came from households that ate just like that. I was kind of amazed because my mom would never cook like that. We ate hor dogs at BBQs and had burgers on occasion. Always fresh veggies, homemade soups, etc. The most processed my mom got were an occasional bag of mixed frozen vegetables and Rice a Roni. One roommate cracked me up when he mentioned how his mother switched from canned to frozen vegetables because they were more modern. I think America was more gullible about advertising back then.

[quote]I mean, technically, that's still a meatball . . .but I get your point. I tried them before I knew what was in them, and they were delicious actually.

You've had worse faggots in your mouth, undoubtedly.

R101 You're right about roasted parsnips. When boiled they're loathsome but roasted they have an almost nutty flavour.

Parsnips roasted in goose fat, and finished with a little drizzle of honey about 10 minutes before they come out of the oven. Heavenly.

What does OP eat on a daily basis?

Spag Bol? Why do they always infantilize and abbreviate things? Is it that hard to say spaghetti Bolognese? I've heard brekkie, lippie too. Ugh.

Spag bol sounds like something growing in the sewer.

It's the new Daleks on Dr. Who.

OP, growing up as a child in a low income household, we never, ever ate any of those things.

Take notice when you are browsing the grocery store. When Hamburger/Tuna/Chicken Helper are on sale, the shelves are cleared out. Spaghetti sauce as well.. Working moms buy a lot of bagged, pre-made salads too. I'm just going by what I see. I grew up on a lot of Crock Pot meals. My mother would occasionally make something "fancy" like a chocolate souffle.

Jellied eels and winkles

Curry everything and anything.

clotted cream w/scones

Which British people? The Anglo-Saxons or the Wogs?

They eat babies with their snaggle teeth every day, that's the kind of beasts they are.

They eat babies with their snaggle teeth every day, that's the kind of beasts we're dealing with.

"Let them eat Bombes Glacées!

I think it's odd that they call every dessert pudding.

I had a British pen pal who sent me a recipe for apple sauce/white vinegar/potatoes/spinach/ale(beer would do) and raisins. It was delicious. Not what we'd call potato salad, but close to what they would.

I had toad in the hole today.

Scotch eggs.

spotted dick

Are scotch eggs served hot or cold?

Pickled Eggs.

R125 Scotch Eggs are usually served cold (picnic food).

The nearest English version is Gala Pie, which has pastry instead of breadcrumbs.

Sorry R135

R131 That sounds suspiciously like a Wartime/Rationing recipe when eggs and oil were in short supply.

I have eaten it though and it's surprisingly good (don't mention the other Rationing favourite, Woolton Pie which is absolutely horrible).

R135 The pub near me serves it "warm" with gravy as a "starter."

I thought it was Fish and Chips and Bangers and Mash.

R140 Seems to be a more modern innovation with Scotch Eggs, I've seen them warm/hot on a few menus?

Cold and greasy (like pork pie) I can cope with, I'm not sure about hot and greasy.....

OP is describing a working class diet from the 60s and 70s. My nephews and grand nephews didn't grow up eating such garbage. The parents go way out of their way to please their kids and many of them develop fairly sophisticated taste.

Wow r140's "starter" looks more like a "entree/main" to me.

Speaking of pork pies -- on a lot of British detective shows, they refer to "telling porkies." Is that Cockney rhyming slang? The only thing I could think that would make sense is "porky pies = lies." Is that how it works? And does anyone say "porky pie?"

Avocado Toast is a breakfast thing. The avocado is usually smashed and spread on the toast, sometimes served with a fried or poached egg on it, tomatos.

R145, yes common place . Cockney rhyming slang is fabulous. Aussie rhyming slang too