British Food and Multiculturalism

It is very hard to find a simple definition for ‘British’ food. Over the centuries,
the British Isles have been inhabited by an amazing variety of peoples and
cultures. By the time of the Norman Invasion in 1066, the country had been
host to Celts, Romans, Vikings, Saxons, and Angles. Immigration in the 1800s
brought French, Russian, Italian, Polish and Jewish communities, and since the
end of WWII Britain has seen settlers from the West Indies, Pakistan, China, the
Middle East, Nigeria, Somalia, Turkey and Cyprus. Each of these communities
has brought its own food traditions and, over time, these have shaped and
influenced the diets of the British nation. Today, curries, noodles, and bagels are
as much a part of our nation’s food habits as roast beef and Yorkshire pudding.

Living off the land

Up until the 1900s, most British people ate only locally sourced food. Of course,
traders had been bringing ingredients from overseas for centuries, goods such as
spices, citrus fruits and cane sugar. However, until the twentieth century these
were expensive luxuries only enjoyed by the wealthy. The majority of people ate
what could be grown on the land or caught from the sea.

Britain is traditionally a beer-drinking and butter-eating nation. Dairy and pork

products and breads made from locally made grain have long been a feature of
many regions, as have money-saving ways of re-using leftovers (for example
shepherd's pie or rissoles) or preserving fresh produce (pickled onions or jellied
eel). Recipes for offal (animal innards), such as haggis, are also very British.
Almost all regions in Britain produce cheese, each one unique to the local area.
Stilton, Cheddar, Caerphilly and Wensleydale are some of the most famous.

Industrial changes

The Industrial Revolution brought developments in transport, canning and

refrigeration, allowing Britain to import greater quantities of foodstuffs than ever
before. This lowered the cost of goods such as tea, cocoa, spices, citrus fruit,
meat and other products that had previously been very expensive. All of these
goods have since had a huge impact on the British diet.

A love of fish

The British have been in love with fish since the mid 1800s. So many portions of
fish and chips were eaten during WWII that some say it helped us to win the
war! Fish has been central to the Scottish diet and economy for centuries.
Scotland is famous for its Arbroath smokies (a kind of smoked haddock) which
are cured in smoke pits set up in half whiskey barrels. In Wales, the coast
provides not only fish but also a special seaweed that is used to make laver
bread.
The Great British cuppa

You may think of the cuppa as traditionally British, but before the 20th century
only the milk was likely to have been produced in the UK. Tea leaves can only
be grown in hot climates, and tea, grown in Southern Asia, was first introduced
to Britain around 1650. Until Britain started producing sugar from beet, even the
sugar was imported from the Caribbean. So the very British cup of tea tells a
story of Britain’s connections with the rest of the world – of trading, slavery and
colonialism.

Potatoes

The introduction of the potato to Britain from South America in the 1500s had a
dramatic impact on British eating and farming. In Ireland the huge reliance on
potatoes in the mid 1800s was such that when the Irish crop was destroyed by
potato blight, one fifth of the population died. The situation was made worse by
the actions of the English authorities who continued to export other Irish-grown
food crops. For many Irish people, these crops would have been the only
alternative source of sustenance. In post-famine Ireland, the potato remained a
staple product and the Irish today remain the per capita highest consumers of
potatoes in the EU.

Cultural diversity and food

What we eat, and how we eat it, is central to our sense of identity and
belonging. Food and its traditions affirm who we are - and who we are not.
However, curiosity, travel and migration have through centuries ensured that
traditions continuously change. Our local cuisines and national identities are
constantly evolving through the discovery and integration of new ingredients
and flavours.

Identity crisis

Imagine an everyday diet without the South American potato, first introduced to
Europe in the 1500s by Spanish soldiers. Tea was only brought to Europe from
China in the 1600s. The British taste for curry can be traced back to 18th
century English trading ships. Cheese making originated 5000 years ago in the
Middle East. So through centuries of exchange, British food has become a
culinary patchwork of cultural traditions and tastes. We bring food home from
the places we visit, and we take our food to the places we go.

Eating the world

The British attitude towards food from abroad has fundamentally changed over
the last fifty years. In the 1950s and ‘60s, as disposable incomes rose, more and
more people spent their money eating out and travelling abroad. While holidays
overseas introduced the British to new foods and flavours, increasing numbers of
restaurants selling ‘foreign’ foods opened in UK cities. Wimpey bars sold
‘genuine’ American hamburgers, Italian style coffee bars served cups of hot
espresso, and pasta restaurants helped the British to forget their fears of strange
ingredients like garlic and olive oil. As hundreds of thousands of people

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emigrated to Britain, Indian, Chinese, Greek and Turkish restaurants increased in
number and popularity. It is important to remember that while the British were
happy to accept these new foods, many were unwilling to accept the
communities themselves - numerous minority ethnic restaurant owners have
suffered over the years from the racist comments and actions of their customers.
The famous Goodness Gracious Me sketch ‘Going for an English’ cleverly
highlights this tendency.

Global network

Today, as never before, the speed and reach of globalisation, travel and trade,
bring all kinds of diverse foods together - and this unsettles our definitions of
particular national food cultures. We only need to walk down a city street or
glance at a supermarket shelf to witness the influence of travel and migration.
Most high streets in the UK today include a rich mixture of nationalities. Most of
us do not need to look far to find Polish delis, Indian curry houses, Jewish bagel
shops or Thai takeaways to name a few examples. The ‘traditional’ English
breakfast is on the menu at many cafes, yet - and with increasing ease - we
absorb, adopt or adapt the food cultures of others thus changing our own
traditions. Today chicken tikka masala is thought by many to have overtaken
fish and chips as the British national dish.

But, as we continue to exchange tastes, traditions and recipes in an ever

globalised world, how much closer does it actually bring us? How much do we
truly know of someone simply by eating their food? Do our diverse supermarket
shelves show that British society embraces all people from different cultures and
traditions, or do we just like to try new things to eat?