Differences in eating habits and eating out between US & UK!

Brits drink beer at a considerably warmer temperature than Americans do. Same with regular drinks....no ice.

Mint jelly with lamb. I know alot of Americans and Brits eat lamb that way....but I'm an Italian-American and we serve lamb larded with garlic and fresh herbs.

I've seen Brits put a huge amount of sugar in coffee....much more than I think we are accustomed to.

We don't have a formal tea or high tea as a meal in the US. It's a specialty of some hotel restaurants.
 
The one thing that I could not get use to was the lack of "ice" in my drinks. I just couldn't get it across that I wanted a "glass full" of ice with my drink. Oh well.

The pancakes/waffles, bacon/sausage, syrup, eggs, and hash browns all on one plate works for me!!

Now BBQ, especially Texas style, that's an aquired taste. There's no greater place to have great BBQ than in Texas!!! Great short ribs, BBQ chicken or BBQ beef, with sweet corn on the cob dripping with butter, BBQ beans, either mustard or mayo style potato salad, and a tall glass of strong Iced Tea-sweetened or not.....Oh boy am I getting hungry right now!

Now I'm not a UT grad, their the "tea sippers you know", but I do like my hot tea with sugar in winter only though.
 
The Brits really don't get this iced tea thing at all! Most people I know like their tea with milk and it tends to be workmen with a physical job who like loads of sugar in their tea or coffee. Most people I have had round my house servicing the boiler or workmen building the extension on my house liked loads of sugar in their hot tea or coffee (with milk).

2BoysMum&Dad
:hyper: :hyper: :earsgirl: :earsboy:
 
2BoysMum&Dad

Can you answer a question? I read quite a few British authors, and they often mention having "beans on toast," which sounds disgusting to me!!:earseek: Can you describe this meal, what kind of beans exactly? I always imagine something like our canned "pork 'n beans," but it is probably totally different?!
 


I like syrup on my sausage....

I also cut up all my meat at once. I do only do this at home though. I do use my manners in public. It is just sooo much easier to cut it at once, then eat.

I grew up with pork chops and applesauce. I prefer my applesauce warm though.....

I feel better after my confession.
 
This is a funny thread. I don't cut up my meat all at once. Actually I am ambedextruos (sp?) and many people think I am wierd because I can eat with any utensil in either hand. I have to admit that I have noticed plenty of people in America cutting up all there meat at once then eating it. The one thing I have noticed with the Brits is that they for the most part eat with their forks in the down position (with points of fork facing chin instead of nose). I can recall someone once telling me it was an old wivestale as to why people use to eat that way.

Ice Tea. We have horrible summers here in the South. There is no way in the world that I am going to have hot tea on a day where it is 96 degrees outside, with humidity at 75 percent and a sidewalk that will literally cook an egg (its bad enough to have bad hair days for 120 days in a row). We are Iced Tea people here for sure and it is because of the very hot summers we manage to live through. The only time I have anything hot is when I am sick.

I don't eat beans at all so I can't imagine them for breakfast. That would make me sick. Today I still can't watch people poor ketchup on their eggs, I literally have to walk away. Now, I am from the south where both brown and white gravy may be eaten on a biscuit instead of jam. I also cook all meat using cayenne pepper and a ton of garlic and herbs. I hate onions on meat.

Also, I was brought up with the understanding that true BBQ meant that it had to be pork not any other type of meat. In my region, the spicer the food the better.
 
don't cut my meat all at once. was taught that was on a par with elbows on the table or talking with your mouth full as far as manners went. actually i think it is considered polite here in the states to put your silverware down when you are chewing or talking rather than holding them ready to shovel in the next bite . do not know how often it is actually done that way, for me it depends on where I am and if I am having"dinner" someplace nice or at pizza hut.

had a friend from England( her dad was from Scotland) and the only time I ate breakfast at their house it included bacon/eggs and pancakes on one plate ( maybe they had been "tainted" having lived here a few years.. ) reason I remember this is as a kid it grossed me out to have egg yolk run into the pancakes and since he was very crabby by nature he made me eat it, me nearly gagging and mortified the whole time

might have misunderstood but the poster who said the meat tasted different...bacon is usually pork ( or poultry) so maybe that is why the "beef" tasted different.... since it wasn't:) ?

northerns call BBq anything on a grill also. as in "let's bbq burgers" but personally I crave NC BBQ... yumyum... in ohio ( as in the pit smoked kind)

"pork chops and apple saussseee" works for me
 


There seem to be several topics on the go here so I will
try to add to all of them, which include the following –

Holding position of knives and forks
Iced tea versus English hot tea
BBQs
Beans on toast
Pancakes with other food


The Brits will hold their fork with prongs pointing down and there are no circumstances in which you should turn the fork the other way up (if you are strictly sticking to the rules). All food should be pierced with the fork in that position and not shovelled. You can get away with shovelling peas, but technically peas and other similar small items should be squashed onto the back of the fork using the knife with the prongs still pointing downwards. If you are going to use the fork like a shovel, this should really be done by disposing of the knife and using the fork in the right hand (but still not really correct). If a meal does not need cutting up at all, it is acceptable to use a fork only (in the right hand) throughout the meal and use the fork whichever way up is easiest for each piece of food.

The big iced tea debate! The Brits are only just getting into this iced tea thing, but still most Brits don’t really “get it”. There is a scientific reason why hot tea (usually with milk) is better for you in hot weather than a cold iced drink, which goes as follows –

If you are hot and sweaty on the outside and have a cold drink inside you, your body is then struggling to equalise temperatures. If you are hot on the outside and hot on the inside then your body doesn’t have to work so hard and you are still getting the vital liquid need to replace liquid lost through sweating. Hope that makes sense!

But I say “to h*** with that” and still go for a nice cold coke with loads of ice on a hot day because it seems so much better!

BBQs. Our family have a big BBQ party every year. The term “BBQ” refers to either a type of meal or the gadget used to cook the meal. BBQed meat is meat cooked on a BBQ, but you can technically put anything on a BBQ grill including fish, chicken, steak, corn-on-the-cob, potatoes (maybe wrapped in foil) etc.

Beans on toast is a popular snack or small meal in the UK. The beans will be the type of beans you get in a tin which have tomato sauce with them, the most popular brand being made by Heinz (other brands are available of course). I think these beans are similar to the type I always envisage being eaten by cowboys in those old American “westerns” around a camp fire.

What are typical American pancakes like? I am beginning to wonder whether they are made with sugar in them and sweet already? British pancakes are made “neutral” so you can make them into a savoury meal or sweet by adding either a savoury or sweet topping. I do not like the idea of having a sweet pancake with a savoury meal like sausages and bacon etc (especially if you add syrup to it, YUK!!).

2BoysMum&Dad

:hyper: :hyper: :earsgirl: :earsboy:
 
Our pancakes are also plain, just like yours. And I for one can't stand having my bacon or sausage on the same plate with the pancakes, the syrup gets on them, yuck!
I'm used to the way the English hold their utensils while eating because my mom is from Denmark and that is how they eat as well. I grew up watching it and it makes so much more sense. I do eat in the American way however most of the time.
England is one of our favorite places in the world and we travel there as often as possible. I can't wait to go back and eat again!
 
Sorry about my last post, it was rather long and rambling!! But, at least it got everything out of my system in one go!

I am getting so excited about visiting WDW now and really looking forward to meeting all you nice Americans. If all WDW visitors are anything like the members if DISBoards, then we are GUARANTEED a PERFECT holiday.

I am now trying to work out how to somehow forget to come home without my family and friends noticing - any suggestions?

2BoysMum&Dad
:hyper: :hyper: :earsgirl: :earsboy:
 
Holding position of knives and forks
Iced tea versus English hot tea
BBQs
Beans on toast
Pancakes with other food

1) I never cut all my food up at once....and Ive never really seen anyone do this (except for children)

2) I could not survive my summers without iced tea....although I cant drink it as sweet as they do in the south

3) BBQ doesnt only mean different things in different countries...it means different things depending on where you are in the US...chicken? pork? shredded or ribs? beef? sweet or vinegar sauces? it changed depending on where you go. My personal favorite is the shredded pork BBQ in NC.

4) beans on toast....my wife would make me leave the room

5) pancakes with other food.....I dont eat much syrup with sausage...I do ahve it with my bacon. Its actually a good combo...dont knock it till you try it.

one final....give me my beer ice cold please
 
By the way, though, we don't just like our drinks cold during hot weather. Iced tea is a year round drink. We even drink it in the dead of winter. And, no matter how temperature it is outside, I still like my coke served COLD with lots of ice. :p
 
Can a Canadian cut in? ;)

It's interesting reading all the things about iced tea vs hot tea. I am taking my own tea (bags, for hot tea) with me on our trip, since every time I've been down to the States, I just can't find a good cup of tea! I don't drink coffee at all, and must have a few cups of tea each morning, with sugar and milk. We also don't generally do the iced tea thing up here, except for powdered iced tea mix. Love Pepsi with ice in the summer though.

We Canadians are an interesting mix of American and British habits generally. By the way, the cheese soup that is mentioned as Le Cellier's big thing? I've never heard of cheese soup being Canadian. But maybe that's an Eastern Canada thing! :p

:earsgirl: :earsboy: princess:
 
Well, this isn't a food question but I think it fits in here. I know in England you drive on the left side of the road--do you walk on the left side of hallways? We walk on the right here in schools, etc., and I got to wondering.....
 
I have never heard of or come across any rules in English schools or workplaces where people have to walk in a certain place or direction in corridors or hallways! That's news to me.

I know Brits have more of a "thing" about queues (I think you call them "lines") and we get very cross with people who queue-jump in front of others who have been waiting far longer.

2BoysMum&Dad
:hyper: :hyper: :earsgirl: :earsboy:
 
I love this thread!

I learned a long time ago that the way the Brits use their knives and forks works way better than how most Americans do it. I have even taught my children to cut their food that way.

I think afternoon tea should become a requirement in the US and Devonshire cream (with a warm scone) belongs in a whole other food category. Yum!

I like to eat bacon or sausage with my French toast (not really into pancakes or waffles) but PLEASE do not let the syrup touch it. I always hated that my mom served applesauce with porkchops and, yes, I do remember that Brady Bunch episode! I have never liked to mix my sweets and "savouries." I can't stand the thoght of Sweet & Sour Chicken/pork/beef but I guess that is a whole other thread.

Oh, and I'll take a cup of English Breakfast tea with a spot of milk -- preferrably skim -- over an iced tea anytime of day! :teeth:

Kristen :earsgirl:
 
You are all such a lovely group of people. Everyone in this thread is invited to a "proper English tea" with me in a posh English hotel in London this weekend. You all coming? I'm paying the bill (check).

2BoysMum&Dad
:hyper: :hyper: :earsgirl: :earsboy:
 
That sounds wonderful!! Count me in!! The only time I have had scones and Devonshire cream was the GF "tea" DD and I had last Dec. They were soooo yummy!!:sunny:
 
I have been to the UK several times but the last time, 2 years ago, I saw something on a kid's menu in London that I had never seen before -- Heinz baked bean pizza!! I also don't understand "mushy peas" -- had them once with fish n' chips. At the time I thought it odd because I like to feel the peas "pop" in my mouth and not have them looking partially digested-- have since learned that mushy peas start from dried peas.

What about teabags vs. loose tea? Many of us Americans have been told that "real" Brits use loose tea in the pot. No matter where I went in the UK, the teapot had a huge teabag inside it and never did I see loose tea served to me. Perhaps only the poshest places?
 
Bangers & Mash :D

Blood Pudding :(

Eel Pie :(

Any British beer drawn at a pub :D :D

Fish & Chips :D

David
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Latest posts

Top