A British Diet

A British Diet

Blog Post #4

April 19, 2015

Ben Bruskin

With great food sometimes comes great sickliness. This is sometimes true for British Food. Like American food, British food is filled with unhealthy goodness. A woman in the UK, who ate quite a healthy diet switched to the typical diet of a British woman for one week and gained five pounds extra weight during that week. The British diet is filled with hearty comfort foods which might in the long run make you a bit uncomfortable. The point with eating unhealthy foods though is to eat them in moderation, after why over eat them? You'll be too used to all the unhealthy food and won't find it good anymore! Some of the best but most unhealthy British dishes include Fish and Chips, Pigs in blankets, and Toad in the Hole. All of these foods either involve something fried, or something with sausage--or both! They are so good though, especially Fish and Chips which I could eat all day. There is nothing like fried cod and french fries with some malt vinegar to wash them down. The United Kingdom has obviously seen a shift in diet in the past couple of years as I think the rest of the modern world has. People are concerned about their health both around the world and in the UK. Something interesting to touch on that is a very important part of the UK diet is the pub culture in the UK. Beer has been a staple of the British diet for hundreds of years ever since before people knew how to make clean drinking water. Before people knew how to make clean water, beer was the main drink for Britons. Beer was considered clean and healthy to drink. Obviously we know now that water is much more healthy than beer but people in the UK still love their beer. The UK has a very lenient drinking policy compared to the US and even to other European countries. In United Kingdom, you can drink at five years old at home with your parents and a meal, beer or wine. At age 16 you can consume beer, wine or cider on a licensed premise with a meal and then at 18 you have full drinking freedom. Beer has become a important part to British culture thanks in part to this lax drinking law. One day I was walking around London at 10am and saw passed a cafe with people sitting outside drinking their beer-- warm! Having beer at that early hour and warm is totally normal in the UK. Most people in the UK have Pub that they go to every Sunday to have a meal and a pint. These pubs become like second homes for the patrons of them. Everyone knows everyone and everyone has a nice Sunday afternoon. All this beer has obviously lead to a higher tolerance for most people in the UK, but also health problems for some. Beer is high in calorie, so people must watch what they drink and again make sure to do everything in moderation. 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2395430/Amanda-Hamilton-How-eating-average-British-womans-diet-1-week-ruined-figure.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_drinking_age

A typical Briton drinking beer at a pub. 

Toad in the hole-- this is Harry Style's favorite dish. 

My favorite Fish and Chips with mushy peas!

Pigs in a Blanket. 

This pub is in a very cool part of London called Shepard's Corner. It is a hidden corner in London with cobblestone streets. Very 18th century English. When I went, I felt like I had stepped back in time.