British cuisine

British cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom, including the regional cuisines of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. British cuisine has its roots in the cooking traditions of the indigenous Celts, however it has been significantly influenced and shaped by subsequent waves of conquest, notably that of the Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, and the Normans; waves of migration, notably immigrants from India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, China, Italy, South Africa, and Eastern Europe, primarily Poland; and exposure to increasingly globalised trade and connections to the Anglosphere, particularly the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

Traditional British cuisine has been characterised as coarse, hearty dishes relying on high quality seasonal local ingredients, paired with simple sauces to accentuate their flavour. Highlights and staples of British cuisine include the roast dinner, the full breakfast, Shepherd's pie, Toad in the hole, and fish and chips; a highly diverse variety of both savoury and sweet pies, cakes, tarts, and pastries; foods influenced by immigrant populations such as curry and spaghetti bolognese; traditional desserts such as trifle, scones, apple pie, sticky toffee pudding, and Victoria sponge cake; and a large variety of cheese, beer, ale, and stout, cider, and to a lesser extent, sparkling wine.

Modern British cuisine has tended towards a stronger focus on fast food, processed foods, takeaways, and fried food. However, in the larger cities with multicultural populations, a vibrant culinary scene exists influenced by global cuisine. The modern phenomenon of television celebrity chefs began in the United Kingdom with Philip Harben. Since then, the celebrity chef scene has produced an array of well-known British chefs who have wielded considerable influence on modern British and global cuisine, such as Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, Jamie Oliver, Heston Blumenthal, Rick Stein, Nigella Lawson, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and Fanny Cradock.

History

Celtic origins and Roman conquest

British cuisine has its roots in the cooking practices of the indigenous Celts. Celtic agriculture and animal breeding practices produced a wide variety of foodstuffs, such as grain, fruit, vegetables, and cattle. Archaeological evidence of cheese production can be seen as early as 3,800 BC, while bread from cereal grains was being produced as early as 3,700 BC. Ancient Celts fermented apples to produce cider, as recorded by Julius Caesar during his attempted invasions of Britain in 55-54 BC.

Strabo records that Celtic Britons cultivated millet, herbs, and root vegetables, and practised apiculture to produce honey. Trade with Celtic Gauls in what is now modern-day France and the Low Countries, as well as with the Roman Republic following its conquest of Gaul, introduced grains such as wheat, oats, and rye. Barley was grown to produce porridge and malt for beer, while flax was grown for its oil. Broad beans, wild spinach, herbs, and primitive parsnips were the primary sources of vegetables and greens in Celtic Britain.

According to Julius Caesar, Celtic Britons domesticated cattle, which were symbols of status and wealth, sheep and goats for their meat and milk; and, to a lesser extent, pigs for ham. Caesar notes that Celts also domesticated geese, chickens, and hares, but it is unclear whether they were kept for food or for religious rituals due to the association with Celtic deities. Trade with Romans also led to the import of wine.

In 43 AD, the Roman Empire invaded and began its conquest of Britain, eventually encompassing all of modern-day England, Wales, and parts of southern Scotland. The Roman conquest brought a culinary renaissance to the island, importing many foodstuffs which were hitherto unknown to Celtic Britons, including fruits such as figs, medlars, grapes, pears, cherries, plums, damsons, mulberries, dates, olives, vegetable marrows, and cucumbers; vegetables such as carrots, celery, asparagus, endives, turnips, cabbages, leeks, radishes, onions, shallots, and artichokes; nuts, seeds, and pulses such as sweet chestnuts, lentils, peas, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts, and sesame; and herbs and spices such as garlic, basil, parsley, borage, chervil, thyme, common sage, sweet marjoram, summer savory, black pepper, ginger, cinnamon, rosemary, mint, coriander, chives, dill, and fennel. Produced foods such as sausages were also imported, along with new animals, including rabbits, pheasants, peacocks, guinea fowl, and possibly fallow deer.

Roman colonists were able to grow wine in vineyards as far north as Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire, and the longevity of Roman occupation is credited as creating the wine industry in Britain. The importance of seafood to the Roman diet led to its increasing popularity in Britain, particularly shellfish such as oysters. The quality of oysters from Colchester in particular became prized in Rome as a delicacy. After the end of Roman rule in Britain and the subsequent collapse of the Western Roman Empire, many of the more exotic food items, such as spices, disappeared from British cuisine until its reintroduction centuries later. After the Roman period, British cuisine predominately consisted of vegetables, cereals, and meats such as mutton.

The Middle Ages

Shortly after the end of Roman rule in Britain, the Germanic Anglo-Saxons began conquering and colonising the island. The Anglo-Saxons introduced bacon to Britain during this period; rural families had their own recipes for curing and smoking bacon, while urban residents would purchase bacon from butchers who developed their own curing methods. Residents in London had access to a particularly diverse range of bacon products from across Britain. Anglo-Saxons helped to entrench stews, broths, and soups into British cuisine, along with an early form of the crumpet. Bread and butter became common fare, and the English in particular gained a reputation for their liberal use of melted butter as a sauce with meat and vegetables. Ale was a popular drink of choice among the nobility and peasantry alike, and mead production increased around Christian monasteries. Danish and other Scandinavian invaders during the Viking Age introduced techniques for smoking and drying fish.

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, the Normans reintroduced many spices and continental influences that had been lost after the departure of the Romans. Many of the modern English words for foodstuffs, such as beef, pork, mutton, gravy, jelly, mustard, onion, herb, and spice are derived from Old French words introduced by the Normans. Though eating habits and cooking methods remained largely unchanged, pig farming intensified under the Norman dynasty. The Crusades and trade with Arab Muslim empires introduced foods such as oranges and sugarcane to Britain.

It was during the late 14th century that the first cookbooks began to emerge, notably the English cookbook the Forme of Cury, containing recipes from the court of Richard II. The recipes it describes are diverse and sophisticated, with a wide variety of ingredients such as capon, pheasant, almonds, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, dates, pine nuts, saffron, and sugar. It also describes foods such as gingerbread, and sweet and sour sauces. Elaborate stews such as dillegrout became commonly served at the coronations of English monarchs. It was during the middle ages that many staples of British cuisine began to develop, such as the apple pie, an early cheesecake (called sambocade), custard, mince pies, pasties, and various forms of meat pies.

Tudor & Stuart era

The dawn of the Tudor dynasty following the Wars of the Roses coincided with the European discovery of the New World, the initiation of the Columbian exchange, and globalisation of trade, which opened up Britain to a range of new foodstuffs not seen since the Roman conquest. Foods from the New World included grains such as maize; fruits such as avocados, chili peppers chocolate, cranberries, guavas, papayas, pineapples, squashes, and tomatoes; vegetables such as potatoes, cassavas, and sweet potatoes; legumes such as peanuts and haricot beans, spices such as vanilla; and animals, most notably turkeys. The growth of the global spice trade, now dominated by rapidly expanding European empires, led to the re-proliferation of black pepper, nutmeg, cloves, mace, and cinnamon in British cookery.

The late 15th century saw the development of well-known alcoholic beverage Scotch whisky. It was during the early 16th century that cookbooks printed using the printing press became more widely available, notably The Boke of Cokery printed at the turn of the century in 1500 by Richard Pynson, and The Good Huswifes Jewell towards the end of the century in 1585 by Thomas Dawson. Under the Tudor dynasty in England and Wales, and the Stuart dynasty in Scotland, British cuisine became more refined and grew more sophisticated. Recipes began to emphasise a balance of sweet and sour flavours, butter became a key ingredient in sauces, reflecting a trend seen in France that continued in subsequent centuries, and herbs such as thyme, used only sparingly in the medieval period, began to replace spices as flavourings.

Throughout the Tudor period, fruits such as apples, gooseberries, grapes, oranges, and plums were commonly eaten. The main source of carbohydrates in British diets remained bread, and its composition reflected one's socio-economic class: the peasantry ate bread made from rye or coarse wheat, the emerging middle class of prosperous tenants ate a yeoman's bread made of wholemeal, while the most expensive bread was made of white wheat flour. Meat consumption grew rapidly throughout the 16th century as the price of meat fell, and poorer families who would have rarely enjoyed meat a century before now had wider access to it. Commoners living by rivers or along the coast ate seafood that was plentiful to the waters surrounding Britain, such as haddock, sole, cod, oysters, whitebait, and cockles, while the wealthier classes ate sturgeon, seals, crab, lobster, salmon, trout, and shrimp. Commoners ate whatever meat they could hunt, such as rabbit, blackbirds, chicken, ducks, and pigeons.

The nobility consumed fresh meat in such vast quantities that it constituted approximately 75% of their diet. For example, the quantities of meat procured for the court of Elizabeth I in just one year included 8,200 sheep, 2,330 deer, 1,870 pigs, 1,240 oxen, 760 calves, and 53 wild boar. Pies became an important staple as both food and for court theatrics; the nursery rhyme "Sing a Song of Sixpence", with its lyrics "Four and Twenty blackbirds / Baked in a pie. // When the pie is opened, the birds began to sing", refers to the conceit of placing live birds under a pie crust just before serving at a banquet. Nobles ate costlier or more unusual varities of meat, such as swans, lamb and mutton, veal, beef, heron, pheasant, partridge, quail, peafowl, geese, boar, and venison. Royal banquets during the court of Henry VIII included unusual meats such as conger eel and porpoise.

Desserts and sweet foods grew rapidly as European demand for sugar ballooned during the 16th century. Sweets in British cuisine at this time included pastry-based foods such as tarts, sweet flans, and custards. The 16th century saw the emergence of sweet foods such as the fruit fool, most commonly made with gooseberries, sugar, and clotted cream; syllabubs, a dessert made with milk or cream, sugar, and wine., and trifle, at the time a thick cream flavoured with sugar, ginger, and rosewater. Trifle has remained a staple of British cuisine and is a popular sweet dish today. Scones and shortbread developed in Scotland at this time; though shortbread had been known since the 12th century, it was refined into its modern form during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. As trade with Southeast Asia increased, widespread eating of rice became more common, though it was usually in the form of a dessert, giving rise to rice pudding in Britain.

During the Stuart dynasty into the 17th century, trade with Africa, India, and China increased, largely through private interests, namely the East India Company. Fruits such as bananas became more commonplace, however it was the introduction of tea that would have a much more profound effect on British culinary habits. Tea remained quite expensive until the 18th century, and it was only consumed by wealthier middle class individuals and those in the nobility before that time. Coffee, a drink derived from the beans of a plant native to Yemen, was introduced to Europe through Italy, and became highly successful in the mid-to-late 17th century. Coffee houses sprang up across Britain; one, Oxford's Queen's Lane Coffee House, established in 1654, is still open today as the oldest continually-serving coffee house in Europe. Owing to the growing appreciation of sweet foods in Britain, the sponge cake, which would later become a defining food of the Victorian era and afternoon tea, had its start in the early 17th century, which mixed flour, sugar, and eggs, seasoned with anise and coriander seeds. The alcoholic beverage rum, produced from molasses throughout the Caribbean and North America, came to be associated with the British Royal Navy at this time, when they captured the valuable sugar-producing island of Jamaica in 1655.

Georgian era

In 1707, the kingdoms of England (which included Wales) and Scotland united to form a new country, the Kingdom of Great Britain. For the vast majority of the 18th century, the new British nation was ruled by the House of Hanover under the Georgian dynasty. During this time, the British deepened their influence in India, displacing the Dutch and French as the preeminent European power in southeast Asia. Increasing British domination of global trade, cheapening of ingredients hitherto affordable only to wealthier individuals, and a burgeoning middle class led to many innovations in British cuisine, influenced by foods the British encountered in India.

The 18th century saw a revolution in English cookbooks, notably The Compleat Housewife in 1727 by Eliza Smith and The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy twenty years later by writer Hannah Glasse, which became a best seller for a century. Glasse's book not only heavily influenced British cuisine, but also early American cuisine, with copies owned by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. The book contains the first known recipe in English for curry, which called for chicken to be fried in butter, ground turmeric, ginger, and pepper, then stewed with cream and lemon juice added before serving, resembling the modern dish butter chicken. Dishes that would become staples of British cuisine well into the 21st century were first mentioned in Glasse's book, such as Yorkshire pudding, burgers (called "Hamburgh sausage"), the addition of jelly into trifle, and piccalilli.

Pies and other hearty snack-type foods continued to develop in variety and popularity, favoured by hunters as an easy, portable lunch. Glasse describes a "Cheshire pork pie", a pie filled with layers of pork loin and apples, sweetened with sugar and filled with white wine. The sandwich, now a global staple with countless varieties though originally referring to roast beef between two slices of toasted bread, and named for John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, gained widespread popularity in the 18th century. Montagu reputedly ordered the food during late-night sessions in gambling houses, as it could be eaten without the need for cutlery, allowing him to continue his gambling uninterrupted. With the Industrial Revolution rapidly developing during the 18th century in Britain and the growth of a new, industrial urban-based working class, the demand for fast, portable, and inexpensive meals grew considerably, leading to the ubiquitous adoption of the sandwich. Similar foods previously reserved for the upper class also started gaining popularity with the working class in other parts of the country, such as the Cornish pasty, favoured by miners in Cornish tin mines, working to fuel Britain's growing industry. Tavern-style foods which became culinary classics developed during this time, notably Welsh rarebit, consisting of toasted bread topped with a sauce made of cheese, ale, and mustard.

Roast beef became an entrenched staple of British culinary identity in the 18th century, so much so that a French nickname for the British (more specifically the English) is "les Rosbifs" (the roast beefs). It was during the late 18th century that roast beef gained its association with the Sunday roast dinner, a cornerstone of British cuisine. Families would place a cut of meat into the oven with root vegetables such as potatoes, turnips, and parsnips before attending the Sunday church service. Upon their return, the meal would be cooked, and the juices from the roast was then used to make a gravy to pour on top of the dinner. Though roast beef is most strongly associated with the traditional Sunday roast dinner, other meats are more commonly used today, such as chicken, lamb, pork, and sometimes duck, goose, gammon, turkey, or other game birds. With the Industrial Revolution increasingly mechanising food production and advancing food science, the world's first commercial bacon processing plant was opened in Wiltshire by John Harris in the 1770s. Today, Wiltshire cured bacon is prized in Britain for its quality. Amateur plant breeder Thomas Edward Knight of Downton, near Salisbury, England, developed the world's first sweet-tasting pea.

Poorer households attempting to extend the longevity of their meat stores made them into savoury batter puddings, giving rise to the classic dish Toad in the hole. Originally the dish used beef and pigeon, however it is most commonly associated today with sausages, served with vegetables and onion gravy. Scouse, essentially a beef and root vegetable stew, developed along similar lines of thrift. The name, derived from lobscouse, is the origin of the term "Scouser", a nickname for people from Liverpool, due to the association of the dish with that city, particularly sailors. Sailors engaged in trade in Asia returned with knowledge of savoury sauces used as condiments. Eliza Smith subsequently published the first recipe for ketchup, a mushroom variety which used anchovies and horseradish. British ketchup consequently used mushrooms rather than tomatoes as the primary ingredient, and was prepared extensively by British colonists in the Thirteen Colonies. Chutney, a type of preserved relish developed in India, gained huge popularity in Britain, particularly with the working class who desired ever more exotic flavours in their diet.

The British penchant for sweet foods continued throughout the Georgian era. The staple of bread and butter pudding, a baked custard-based dish made with bread, butter, currants, cream, eggs, and nutmeg, was first described in 1728 by Eliza Smith. Adapting earlier recipes of Portuguese quince paste, the Scots invented the modern form of marmalade; an easily spreadable fruit preserve made from bitter orange. Eccles cakes, a small flaky pastry filled with currants, emerged in the late 18th century, which still retains some popularity today particularly in Manchester and Lancashire. Suet pudding, a boiled, steamed, or baked pudding of wheat flour, suet, dried fruits, and spices developed during this time, and become popular fare.

The British conquest of India led to the acquisition of the large Indian tea industry, resulting in tea becoming cheaper to import than coffee. The ease of tea production compared to coffee led to tea becoming a British staple, spreading through all classes, becoming a prominent feature of modern British culture and identity. Gin, an alcoholic beverage introduced into Britain in the latter half of the 17th century, exploded in popularity throughout the first half of the 18th century, and became extremely popular with the lower classes. Its popularity and heavy consumption was such that the British Parliament passed five major Acts to control the consumption of the drink.

20th century

Further information: English cuisine § Twentieth century

Shepherds's pie, a traditional British dish

During the World Wars of the 20th century difficulties of food supply were countered by measures such as rationing. Rationing continued for nearly ten years after the Second World War, and in some aspects was stricter than during wartime, so that a whole generation was raised without access to many previously common ingredients, possibly contributing to a decline of British cuisine. Writing in the 1960s about British cuisine in the 1950s, the Good Food Guide called the food of the 1950s "intolerable" due to a shortage of natural ingredients such as butter, cream and meat. A hunger for cooking from abroad was satisfied by writers such as Elizabeth David, who from 1950 produced evocative books, starting with A Book of Mediterranean Food, stipulating ingredients which were then often impossible to find in most of Britain.

By the 1960s, foreign holidays, and foreign-style restaurants in Britain, widened the popularity of foreign cuisine. This movement was assisted by celebrity chefs – on television and in their books – such as Fanny Cradock, Clement Freud, Robert Carrier, Keith Floyd, Gary Rhodes, Delia Smith, Gordon Ramsay, Ainsley Harriott, Nigella Lawson, Simon Hopkinson, Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver.

From the 1970s, the availability and range of good quality fresh products increased, and the British population became more willing to vary its diet. Modern British cooking draws on influences from Mediterranean (especially from Italian cuisine), and more recently, Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines. In the 1990s and early 2000s, a form of "virtuous eclecticism" emerged in discourse around British cuisine, arguing that British cuisine can be distinguished by its apparently unique ability to draw from other cultures.

Furthermore, from the 1970s there was an increased push to recognise a distinctly British cuisine. The English Tourist Board campaigned for restaurants to include more British historical and regional dishes on their menus. In the 1980s, in the face of globalisation – which made foreign cuisines and imported produce more widely available in the UK – a style of cooking known as Modern British Cooking emerged in an effort to construct a national cuisine for the tourist industry. This new style of cooking focused on the garden and vegetables.

Anglo-Indian cuisine

Main article: Anglo-Indian cuisine

Kedgeree, an Anglo-Indian dish

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the British Empire began to be influenced by India's elaborate food tradition with strong spices and herbs. Traditional British cuisine was modified with the addition of Indian-style spices and ingredients such as rice, creating dishes such as kedgeree (1790) and mulligatawny soup (1791).

Curry became popular in Britain by the 1970s, when some restaurants that originally catered mainly to Indians found their clientele diversifying. Chicken tikka masala, a mildly spiced dish in a creamy sauce, was acclaimed "a true British national dish" as "a perfect illustration of the way Britain absorbs and adapts external influences".

21st century

Culinary standards and preferences have continued to evolve in the 21st century. Debora Robertson, writing in The Daily Telegraph, has claimed that the 21st century has seen 'a revolution in British dining, fine and otherwise' and now rivals that of France.

A 2021 survey, by Mortar Research, showed many people claim never to have eaten traditional favourites such as toad in the hole, spotted dick, Scotch eggs, black pudding, or bubble and squeak, and a minority did not believe these dishes existed.

Also in 2021, a YouGov survey reported 8% of respondents claimed to be eating a plant-based diet and more than a third of respondents said they were interested in becoming vegan. In 2023, Government statistics on meat and fish consumption showed Britons were eating the least meat at home since record keeping began in 1974.

In recent years, there has been a growing movement to revive traditional British bread-making. Chef Michel Roux Jr highlighted the decline of artisanal baking in the UK and the need to return to traditional methods. In a BBC article, Roux emphasised the importance of making bread with simple, natural ingredients and the benefits of supporting local, independent bakeries. He hopes that public awareness and consumer choices will help preserve this valuable culinary heritage.

Definitions

According to Warde, three definitions of British cuisine in response to globalisation predominate:

• Modern British cooking draws on Britain's culinary history to create a new British traditional cuisine.
• Virtuous eclecticism highlights the melting pot of different national cuisines present in the UK.
• Another approach draws on popular, common products to produce a form of historical continuity between historical and modern cuisines.

British food has tended to be perceived internationally as "terrible": bland, soggy, overcooked and visually unappealing. The reason for this is debated. One popular reason is that British culinary traditions were strong before the mid-20th century, when British cuisine suffered due to wartime rationing. A lot of myths about British food originate from this period.

Popular dishes

A Sunday roast of roast beef, roast potatoes, vegetables and Yorkshire pudding

According to a 2019 survey by YouGov, the most popular British food is the Yorkshire pudding, which over 85% of Brits say they like, closely followed by Sunday roasts and fish and chips. The least popular was jellied eels, which only 6% of those who had tried it liked. Scones and Victoria sponge are the most popular sweet foods, while the Deep-fried Mars bar is the least popular.

Curries are a large part of British cuisine, with cooks in the United Kingdom creating curries distinct to the country. Chicken tikka masala, which comprises 15 per cent of orders in British Indian restaurants, was called "a true British national dish" by the Foreign Secretary Robin Cook in 2001. Generally, British curries are thicker and sweeter than their Indian counterparts. Furthermore, curry sauces in Britain are interchangeable between meats, while in India different meats have non-interchangeable sauces. A key ingredient to a British curry is curry powder, a "British concoction" of spices.

National cuisines

English

Main article: English cuisine

English cuisine has distinctive attributes of its own, but also shares much with wider British cuisine, partly through the importation of ingredients and ideas from North America, China, and India during the time of the British Empire and as a result of post-war immigration. Some traditional meals, such as sausages, bread and cheese, roasted and stewed meats, meat and game pies, boiled vegetables and broths, and freshwater and saltwater fish have ancient origins. The 14th-century English cookbook, the Forme of Cury, contains recipes for these, and dates from the royal court of Richard II.

Northern Irish

Main article: Northern Irish cuisine

Northern Ireland's culinary heritage has its roots in the staple diet of generations of farming families—bread and potatoes. Historically, limited availability of ingredients and low levels of immigration resulted in restricted variety and relative isolation from wider international culinary influences. The 21st century has seen significant changes in local cuisine, characterised by an increase in the variety, quantity and quality of gastropubs and restaurants. There are currently three Michelin star restaurants in Northern Ireland, all of which specialise in traditional dishes made using local ingredients.

Scottish

Main article: Scottish cuisine

Scottish cuisine has closer links to Scandinavia and France than English cuisine has. Traditional Scottish dishes include bannocks, brose, cullen skink, Dundee cake, haggis, marmalade, porridge, and Scotch broth. The cuisines of the northern islands of Orkney and Shetland are distinctively different from that of mainland Scotland. The nation is known for its whiskies.

Welsh

Main article: Welsh cuisine

Welsh cuisine in the Middle Ages was limited in range; Gerald of Wales, chaplain to Henry II, wrote after an 1188 tour that "The whole population lives almost entirely on oats and the produce of their herds, milk, cheese and butter. You must not expect a variety of dishes from a Welsh kitchen, and there are no highly-seasoned titbits to whet your appetite."

In modern times, the cuisine includes recipes for Welsh lamb, and dishes such as cawl, Welsh rarebit, laverbread, Welsh cakes, bara brith and Glamorgan sausage.

• Example dishes of the four nations
• 
  English tea with scones
• 
  Northern Irish soda bread farl
• 
  Scottish haggis, neeps and tatties
• 
  Welsh cawl

International cuisines

The UK has had availability of a large variety of foreign cuisines since the post-war period. In 1970, the Good Food Guide stated: "London now has a richer variety of restaurants than any other city on Earth". In 1995, the Good Food Guide argued that the fusion of national cuisines "could only happen here", as Britain is a melting pot without as distinct of a national cuisine as other such countries.

See also

• Channel Islands cuisine
• Cuisine of the Thirteen Colonies
• Culture of the United Kingdom
• List of British breads
• List of British desserts
• List of United Kingdom food and drink products with protected status
• List of English dishes

Sources

• Davidson, Alan (2014) [1999]. The Oxford Companion to Food (Third ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19967-733-7.
• Dickson Wright, Clarissa (2011). A History of English Food. Random House. ISBN 978-1-905-21185-2.
• John, J (2005), A Christmas Compendium, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 0-8264-8749-1
• Lehmann, Gilly (2003). The British Housewife. Prospect Books.
• Panayi, Panikos (2010) [2008]. Spicing Up Britain. Reaktion Books. ISBN 978-1-86189-658-2.
• Pendergrast, Mark (2001). Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World. London: Texere. ISBN 978-1-58799-088-5. OCLC 48931999.
• Timbs, John (1866), Something for Everybody (and a Garland for the Year), London: Lockwood and Co.

Further reading

• Addyman, Mary; Wood, Laura; Yiannitsaros, Christopher (eds). (2017) Food, Drink, and the Written Word in Britain, 1820–1945, Taylor & Francis.
• Brears, P. (2008) Cooking and Dining in Medieval England
• Burnett, John. "Plenty and Want: The Social History of English Diet", History Today (April 1964) 14.3 pp. 223–233.
• Burnett, John. (1979) Plenty and want: a social history of diet in England from 1815 to the present day, 2nd ed.
• Burnett, John. (2016) England eats out: a social history of eating out in England from 1830 to the present, Routledge.
• Collingham, Lizzy (2018). The Hungry Empire: How Britain's Quest for Food Shaped the Modern World. Vintage. ISBN 978-0099586951.
• Collins, E. J. T. (1975) "Dietary change and cereal consumption in Britain in the nineteenth century." Agricultural History Review 23.2, pp. 97–115.
• Green, Kate & Bryan, Melanie (2020) "Around Britain in 50 Foods"; in: Country Life; 12 February 2020, pp. 36–41.
• Harris, Bernard; Floud, Roderick; Hong, Sok Chul. (2015) "How many calories? Food availability in England and Wales in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries". Research in Economic History.. pp. 111–191.
• Hartley, Dorothy (2009) [1954 (Macdonald)]. Food in England: A complete guide to the food that makes us who we are. Piatkus. ISBN 978-0-74994-215-1.
• Woolgar. C. N. (2016) The Culture of Food in England, 1200–1500 Yale University Press.

Historiography

• Otter, Chris. "The British Nutrition Transition and its Histories", History Compass 10#11 (2012): pp. 812–825, doi:10.1111/hic3.12001

External links

• Media related to Cuisine of the United Kingdom at Wikimedia Commons
• Quotations related to British cuisine at Wikiquote
• Cookbook:Cuisine of the United Kingdom at Wikibooks
• Cuisine of Britain and Ireland travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Food Stories Archived 10 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine – Explore a century of revolutionary change in UK food culture on the British Library's Food Stories website
• George Orwell's essay "In Defence of English Cooking" Archived 1 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine