An Introduction to Tea Time and British Cooking

What could be more British than the concept of tea time – pots of hot tea, little scones, finger sandwiches and cakes, and all the fun that goes hand in hand with that? Although it is true the British love their tea, there is a whole lot more to British cooking than that. There are famous British dishes like fish and chips, the full fried breakfast, steak pies, and bangers and mash, but there is a whole other side to British cuisine, one which is fascinating to anyone who is curious about cooking in the UK.

What People Think about British Cooking

The main misconception about British food is that it is bland and uninspiring, but the reason for that is when they had rationing during wartime you just could not buy meat, eggs, fruit, sugar, tea and other staples, and just had to make do with meat (occasionally), vegetables and other simple things. Meals during that time (and this lasted up to 1954, remember) were bland and dull, but the war was on and people just had to make do.

Because rationing lasted so long, a whole generation went without previously much-used ingredients, and the rationing policies are largely blamed for the decline of British cuisine in this period. Modern British cuisine really began after the end of rationing, although some ingredients were still hard to find. Olive oil in the 1950s, for example, was only available from the pharmacy, not from a shop! Continue reading →