Culture of England 9 languages

Main article: English cuisine

Ploughman's lunch with bread, cheese, salad, butter, a pork pie, and chutney

Pork pie

Sunday roast with roast beef and yorkshire pudding
Since the early modern period the food of England has historically been characterised by its simplicity of approach and a reliance on the high quality of natural produce.^[115] During the Middle Ages and through the Renaissance period, English cuisine enjoyed an excellent reputation, though a decline began during the Industrial Revolution with the move away from the land and increasing urbanisation of the populace. This has resulted in a traditional cuisine which tended to avoid strong flavours, such as garlic, and also complex sauces which were commonly associated with Roman Catholic Continental affiliations.^[116]
The cuisine of England has, however, recently undergone a revival, which has been recognised by food critics with some good ratings in Restaurant's best restaurant in the world charts.^[117] An early book of English recipes is the Forme of Cury from the royal court of Richard II.^[118] Traditional meals have ancient origins, such as bread, vegetables, cheese and onions,^[119] popular today as the Ploughman's lunch (usually accompanied by butter, pickles, chutney, ham, fresh green salad, boiled eggs, and apples), pottage and frumenty; roasted and stewed meats; meat and game pies; and freshwater and saltwater fish.^[120][121]
The last half century has seen significant changes in food manufacturing, retailing and consumption;^[122] an interest in different international cuisines; and the establishment of large restaurants, food outlets, coffee shops and supermarkets. However, distinctively English dishes,^[123] artisanal production, delicatessens, home cooking and traditional establishments such as pubs, cafes and tearooms remain widespread. The 1990s saw the rise of the gastropub, serving traditional English dishes, and farmers' markets, where English cheeses, breads, vegetables and other items are sold.^[124] Food culture in England has been taken more seriously since the 1960s due to writers and broadcasters such as Derek Cooper, Matthew Fort, Jonathan Meades and Nigel Slater.^[125]
Roast beef is a food traditionally associated with the English; the link was made famous by Henry Fielding's patriotic ballad "The Roast Beef of Old England", and William Hogarth's painting of the same name. Lamb is eaten especially at Easter.^[126] An English commentator wrote: "We have, throughout our history as a nation, had a weakness for meat in pastry which, while it is not unique, is a sort of hallmark of our taste."^[127] Pies appear in common English idioms such as "to eat humble pie", "as easy as pie", a slice of the pie". Suet is an ingredient in many traditional English puddings, such as Norfolk Plough Pudding.^[128] Dumplings made with flour, suet and seasonings^[129] and pearl barley^[130] may be cooked with casseroles and stews. Potatoes are served roasted, boiled, baked, mashed, and as chips; popular varieties in England including King Edward, Jersey Royal, Charlotte potato,^[131] and Maris Piper.^[132]
Typical English main courses include lamb shank,^[133] pork and lamb chops^[134] chicken and chips, gammon, egg and chips, steak and kidney pie and other variants of steak pie, chicken and mushroom pie, bacon and egg pie,^[135] shepherd's pie,^[136] cottage pie,^[137] fish pie, Lancashire hotpot, scouse,^[138] Beef Wellington, steak and kidney pudding, stuffed marrow^[139] savoury bacon roll, boiled beef and carrots,^[140] rissoles, faggots, liver and bacon in onion gravy,^[141] Northumberland pan haggerty,^[142] sausage and mash, and toad in the hole.^[143] Butchers sell artisanal sausages, which are sometimes made from the meat of pedigree breeds such as Gloucester Old Spot pigs. English sausages generally contain about 70 per cent meat, bread rusk and seasonings.^[144] Cumberland, Lincolnshire, Newmarket and Oxford sausages are regional varieties.^[145] The best-known types of English ham are from Wiltshire and York. Game dealers sell venison and wild game, such as pheasant, partridge and grouse.^[146] Jugged rabbit and hare are traditional dishes.
A Sunday roast^[147] comprises roast meat served with gravy, roast potatoes^[148] and vegetables such as cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, parsnips, swede, spring greens, spinach, runner beans, broad beans, leeks^[149] and garden peas. Courgettes became widely available in the late 1960s and broccoli first appeared in supermarkets in the late 1970s, initially as a seasonal item. Meats served as part of a Sunday roast include beef, typically a fore rib of beef, with Yorkshire puddings and horseradish sauce or English mustard;^[150] lamb, typically a leg, shoulder or saddle of lamb, with mint sauce or redcurrant jelly; pork, typically leg, shoulder or loin of pork, with crackling and apple sauce; honey-glazed gammon with cloves and parsley sauce; and poultry, such as chicken, duck (e.g. Aylesbury duck)^[151] and goose.^[152] Consumption of chicken increased from the 1950s when the introduction of poultry factories, pioneered in England by JB Eastwood Ltd. owned by John Bealby Eastwood,^[153] significantly reduced the price.^[154]
An English Christmas dinner traditionally consists of roast goose, duck, pheasant or (now most often) turkey,^[1] cranberry sauce, bread sauce, stuffing, gravy, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, chestnuts, brussels sprouts and other vegetables.^[103] It is sometimes accompanied by cooked gammon and usually followed by Christmas pudding, traditionally made on stir-up Sunday, with rum or brandy butter, mince pies filled with mincemeat and Christmas cake.^[3] Biscuits in the form of gingerbread men are associated with Christmas, as are oranges, which are traditionally placed in Christmas stockings.

Fish and chips

Cornish pasty

Apple pie originated in England and English apple pie recipes go back to the time of Chaucer.
The most popular types of fish in England, mainly imported through seaside and coastal towns,^[155] are salmon, cod, haddock, tuna and prawns.^[156] Fish and chips, sometimes served with mushy peas, are sold by fish and chip shops.^[157] Brixham in Devon has the highest value catch in England;^[158] other domestic fisheries include Cornwall and Hastings. Dover sole is so named because it could historically be sourced from the fishing port of Dover. Potted shrimps, prawn cocktail, whitebait, scallops and slices of smoked salmon, such as London Cure,^[159] are starters served with a squeeze of lemon and brown bread. Oysters are cultivated along the east coast of England, for example at Whitstable. Crabs are particularly associated with the Norfolk town of Cromer. Samphire is collected in coastal areas and served with fish.^[160]
Light meals and snacks include green salads served with salad cream,^[161] cauliflower cheese, macaroni cheese, Welsh rarebit,^[162] fishcakes, baked potatoes, cheese on toast, beans on toast, mushrooms on toast, spare ribs, Cornish pasties,^[163] Scotch eggs,^[164] sausage rolls, pork pies,^[165] gala pie and bacon sandwiches. The sandwich was named after the Earl of Sandwich^[166] and is very common as a lunchtime and picnic item with a wide range of fillings.^[167] Stotties, filled with ham and pease pudding, are eaten particularly in the north-east of England. Asparagus is served with butter alone or with other ingredients such as eggs and ham; the English asparagus season runs from late April to the end of June.
A poll in 2011 found that the most popular soups in England were tomato, leek and potato, chicken, carrot and coriander, mushroom, pea and ham^[168] (sometimes known as London Particular), and broccoli and stilton.^[169] Other traditional soups^[170] include vegetable, oxtail, cauliflower, artichoke, asparagus, spinach, parsnip, chestnut, watercress and chilled cucumber. Broth^[171] consists of meat and vegetables cooked in stock, sometimes thickened with barley or other cereals.^[172] Brown Windsor soup appeared in the 1953 Ealing film comedy The Captain's Paradise and, although opinion is divided as to whether and for how long it actually existed in real life,^[173] recipes for it can now be found. Worcestershire sauce^[174] and brown sauce, along with ketchup, are distinctive English condiments.^[175] Bovril and Marmite are food pastes with a distinctive flavour.
English desserts include (bramley) apple pie, cherry pie, bread and butter pudding, bread pudding, fruit crumble, fruit cobbler, Eve's pudding, Dorset apple cake, baked apple, gooseberry fool, sticky toffee pudding, treacle tart, treacle sponge pudding (made with golden syrup),^[176] jam roly-poly, spotted dick, bakewell tart, trifle, rice pudding, eton mess, cheesecake^[177] Sussex pond pudding, summer pudding, Cabinet pudding, English custard tart and, since the 1970s, lemon meringue pie and banoffee pie.^[178] Hot puddings are often served with custard.^[179] Some puddings, such as jelly, blancmange and chocolate sponge with chocolate custard, are associated with school dinners. Fruit salad is a mixture of fresh fruit and canned fruits such as peaches and apricots served in syrup. Fruits grown in England include apples, pears, plums, cherries, damsons, blackberries, black currants, gooseberries, raspberries, strawberries (often served with cream) and rhubarb.^[180] Ice creams are sometimes sold from ice cream vans which use distinctive chimes to attract customers^[181]
The Full English breakfast,^[182] also referred to as 'bacon and eggs' or a 'fry up', typically comprises a choice from rashers of back bacon,^[183] fried or scrambled eggs, pork sausages, black pudding, grilled tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans, fried bread, hash browns (which largely displaced bubble and squeak^[184] in the 1970s), and sometimes white pudding;^[185] usually served with toast and jam, marmalade or honey,^[186] and a cup of coffee or tea^[187] Alternative breakfast dishes include boiled eggs^[188] with toast soldiers, smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, poached eggs on toast, and Craster kippers.^[189] Porridge has long been eaten^[190] in England as a breakfast cereal. Fruit juice and yogurt are more recent additions.