Smitten by Britain: Eating Our Way to Britishness

A Nice Cup of Tea
Photo Credit: Magurka

Have you ever thought about the role food plays in a culture? It's huge, it really is. If you ask a foreigner what they associate with Britain more than likely the answer will involve fish and chips, cream tea or simply a 'nice cup of tea'.

If you ask an expat living here in the Netherlands about Dutch food most will report back on haring, pea soup, stamppot and snacks. Food is very closely linked to the culture of a country.

During our last family trip back to Britain over the Christmas period it struck me just how much of the British culture I shared with my children through food. So much of a traditional British Christmas is about food. A trip to the beach turns into a cultural lesson in British food as fish and chips are scoffed overlooking the sea. Cold, wet days are turned around with the comfort of hot tea and a scone or two.

So anyway, I wrote about how I shared my British culture with my children through food for Smitten by Britain.

"Having just spent Christmas in Cornwall, England, it dawned on me how big a role food plays in British culture. I wanted to make the festive period as ‘British’ as I could for my three Dutch children and what we ate turned out to be a big part of achieving this. I think mince pies were the main act as far as my sons were concerned, both shop bought and home made."

You can read the rest over at http://www.smittenbybritain.com/eating-our-way-to-britishness and whilst you are over there take a peek at Six British Foods with Strange Names - you'll never look at British food the same way.....