Meals

In our country daily meals usually start with breakfast, which consist of something to drink – tea (with milk or with lemon) or cocoa, warm or hot milk, black coffee – and something to eat, e.g. one or two slices of bread and butter and cheese or eggs, ham, salami, jam etc. Instead of bread we can eat rolls or buns or we can have something sweet – cakes (or Christmas cake), doughnuts or gingerbread. Quite a lot of people eat cereal for their breakfast – either cornflakes or porridge or muesli – they also sometimes add various ingredients like yogurts, raisins, chocolate, stewed fruit, walnuts, hazelnuts etc. Breakfast usually takes place between 6 and 7 o”clock.
Traditional British breakfast consist of a glass of fruit juice and cornflakes with sugar and milk. Quite a lot of British people now eat muesli for breakfast or some other ready-made cereals. Of course they drink tea in the morning or coffee. Sundays are reserved for their big cooked breakfast ( which is sometimes called “brunch” – breakfast and lunch together) consisting of e.g. boiled or scrambled eggs or fried bacon and eggs with perhaps sausage or tomato or fried bread. Most people like a crisp piece of toast with butter and marmelade or honey.
Around noon (but in our school sometimes at half past two p.m.) we have our lunch which is warm and consists of some soup, a main dish, something to drink and salad or dessert. Most people go to a school, office or factory canteen but some prefer going to a restaurant or having a fast lunch in a buffet or a snackbar or buying something at street stalls.
Soups are either vegetables soups (potato, tomato, pea, bean, carrot, parsley, celery, mushrooms) or meat teas (beef tea, tripe, chicken, hen or goulash soups etc.). Some people cook fruit soups (e.g. strawberry soup).
The main dish can be either sweet - e.g. strawberry or plum dumplings, pancakes with jam and cream, baked yeast dumplings (Czech buchty), doughnuts etc. Or we can have some meat or fish or poultry with some vegetables such as potatoes, chips, rice, Czech dumplings, pasta or bread. We distinguish the following types of meat: beef, pork, veal, mutton, lamb and we can prepare it in various ways – roast it, grill it, boil it, bake it or stew it – we can mince or smoke some kinds of meat. Poultry is things like chicken, hen, duck, turkey, goose. Lot of people in our country eat rabbits. The main fish cooked in our country is carp ( it is a traditional Christmas meal – battered carp and potato salad) and trout.
While cooking we may add various spices so that the meal will have a unique flavour – e.g. garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, curry, pepper, ginger, red pepper, allspice, ketchup, soya sauce, mace, cinnamon, clove, cumin, bay leaf, Worchester, sugar, vinegar, mustard, peanuts, onions, flour, semolina, etc.
After the main dish we can drink tea, lemonade, cider, juice, Coca – Cola, mineral water, syrup and water, while the adults like beer and black coffee after dinner.
An evening meal may be either warm or cold. Cold and quick supper may consist of some pate on bread or rolls, kippers or some spread. We can cook a ready – made dish from a tin or have soup or potato pancakes (Czech bramborak) .
Typical Czech meals include: Tripe sop, potato soup, “kulajda” soup (mushrooms and potatoes boiled in a little bit of sour cream soup), roasted goose and sauerkraut and Czech dumplings, roasted sirloin beef in sour cream sauce and Czech dumplings, Moravian sparrow (roasted beef pork offcuts), and dumplings, Spanish birds (roasted beef steaks filled with salami, pickle, egg and mustard), potato pancakes, fruit dumplings with cream, baked yeast dumplings, potato or “hairy” dumplings, fried cheese (smazeny syr) etc. Traditional Czech cuisine is however a bit unhealthy and people can get fat. Many families prefer to cook more vegetables meals, they become vegetarians or try some kind of foreign (Chinese) food.
The traditional perception of British cuisine is of overcooked vegetables, tasteless meat and a lot of grease, but British eating habits have changed over last thirty years. Many families now prefer to eat out at restaurant or cafes or to buy take – away Chinese or Indian meals to eat at home. The selection of foreign food is larger now and there are lots of hamburger chains.
Between 12 and 1 o”clock it is usually lunch time. People may eat in the office or factory canteen or take a “sandwich “ is interesting. At 18th century aristocrat, the earl of Sandwich, loved playing cards. He used to play all day and night and hated having to stop for his meals. So he thought of a way of putting mea between two slices of bread. In this way he could eat and play at the same time.
The typical British break is 5 o”clock tea. It is usually fairly strong and eaten together with some cakes or biscuits, Here is now to make a real English “cuppa” ? Boil water in a kettle. Warm a teapot. Put tea in the – one teaspoonful of tea for each person plus the traditional “one for the pot”. Pour the water over the tea leaves and leave it for ten minutes. While serving it, first put a little milk in the cup and pour the tea over it trough a tea strainer. Sugar is added according to taste but many English people prefer it without.
About 6 o”clock most families have their evening meal or “dinner”. It may be cooked or cold depending on the time of year. The English are fond of cakes and pies. They are a nation with a very “sweet tooth”.
Fast is typical feature of both British and American life styles. In a restaurant you can eat national dishes, but there are food stalls and places where you can either buy various types of food to eat as you walk along the streets or take it away and eat at home. The Americans call fast food restaurants “cheapies”. There places – McDonald”s, Bunger King, Wendy”s (in America also Kentucky Fried Chicken and Mrs. Winner”s) usually offer beverages (Coca – Cola, Pepsi – Cola, tea, coffee, milkshakes…..), some solid food like roast chicken and chips, hamburgers, sandwiches, pizza, salads or desserts (apple, cherry pie). You can put pickles, mustard, ketchup, onions or tomatoes on your hamburgers too. The oldest type of fast food are sea food stalls or shops – usually fish and chips. Many types of fish are sold (cod, hake, plaice) – the fish is cut to pieces, covered with batter (flour and water) and fried in oil. Another typical feature of British and American lifestyles is popcorn. You can buy it when walking the streets. Various types of popcorn are sold – either sweet with sugar and other flavours, or cooked with salt. Popcorn is made by cooking grains of corn in very hot oil in a sealed pan. Each grain explodes or “pops” to a form of a soft ball.
Czech bramborak:
Peel one kilogram of potatoes.
Grate them on a grate with smaller holes.
Squeeze the water out of the grated potatoes.
Add two eggs.
Sprinkle with salt and marjoram.
Add ground garlic with salt.
You may add salami but some people prefer it without.
Add flour and milk enough to make thin batter.
Mix properly. Fry cakes in hot oil on a pan.