Food ideas for an English stall at school international evening

[whataboutbob]

I’ve nominated myself to run the English stall at DSs school international evening. The standard last year was pretty high. With a large number of families originally from India, Sri Lanka, China, Pakistan there was a lot of very nice Asian food, also stalls from Eastern Europe, Italy, France etc. It’s easy to get a bit overwhelmed and wonder how Britain can stand its gastronomic own in such company. Anyway, I am thinking of buying some nice produce from Kent when I go there to visit my brother the day before. Fresh apple juices, cheeses, crackers. Maybe make “ Cornish” pasties using halal lamb. But I’d love some suggestions to help us put on a good show. Thanks in advance.

[PanemEtCircenses]

Is this in a UK school where people are used to English food, or abroad?

[Ricekrispie22]

Roast beef and horseradish mini Yorkshire puds www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/miniyorkshirepudding_11253
Mini Bakewell tarts
Cheddar and apple pies www.sainsburysmagazine.co.uk/recipes/pies/cheddar-and-apple-hand-pies

[onemouseplace]

Scones with jam and cream went down very well at our international eveningz

[Coughy4u]

English, victoria sponge? Quorn instead of lamb for veggies?
My idea of english food iss roast dinners fish n chips and bakes beans none great cold!

[mamakoukla]

Chelsea buns

[mamakoukla]

Egg and cress sandwiches

[mamakoukla]

Tea?

[mildlymiffed]

Scotch eggs (will pork be a problem?)
Sausage rolls
Little crumble pots

[KittenVsBox]

How many do you need to serve?

We did homemade shortbread and tablet. About 400 bites of each.

Marmite or cucumber sandwiches?

[FusionChefGeoff]

Oh I was going to say scotch eggs! My mum used to make her own and they were LUSH

Local deli / butcher for pork pie

[Neolara]

Beans on toast.

[LIZS]

Scones, cucumber sandwiches, pasties, pork pies, victoria sponge, Cadbury's chocolate

[Mammajay]

Warm bread pudding...the smell wafting out!

[Lordfrontpaw]

There were just the 2 British mums at DS old school - one welsh and one Scot.

What went down well was triffle, scotch eggs, mini steak pies, cheese board and oatcakes, Victoria sponge, marmalade and scones.

It was a bloody arms race - not helped by the face that there were kids from embassies at the school so there would be rows of cooks bringing in silver plates of delicacies! I always like the Russian table best yum yum.

[Lordfrontpaw]

I forgot tablet - mine didn’t quite set so I just said it was supposed to be like that!

[Bubblysqueak]

Yorkshire puddings or toad in the hole. You could do mini ones.

[RockingMyFiftiesNot]

What about setting up afternoon tea on tiered stands which you could borrow from friends. Appreciate that may not be possible if you live abroad. Sandwiches cut into triangles are very English. As already mentioned, egg and cress; cheddar and pickle; salmon and cucumber. Add sausage rolls, scotch eggs, pork pies. Small slices of fruit cake and Victoria Sandwich cake, and scones with jam and whipped cream.

[P1nkHeartLovesCake]

Well you’ve got to have scones with pots of TipTree strawberry jam

Victoria sponge

YES to Cornish pasties

[whataboutbob]

@PanemetCircences it’s a South London state school. Many ( most) of the kids are from 1st generation immigrant families.
Thanks for all the suggestions. As PP have mentioned, British home cooking doesn’t lend itself very well to this, and I don’t have butlers or a catering company on standby . Pork will be a problem for some kids and beef for others. I like the idea of trifle and mini crumble helpings that sounds great. Last year someone did a cream tea and that went down well, as did the G&Ts.

[Sniv]

I don't think Scotch eggs and tablet are great for an English stall....

[TheSpottedZebra]

A load of flapjack. Relatively cheap and easy to make, doesn't need to be fridge, fine for all ethnicities. Doesn't need bowls or spoons, can be cut to whatever size required.

[Lordfrontpaw]

If you are doing triffles just remember to use veggie jelly!

[Lordfrontpaw]

And scotch eggs are from Yorkshire aren’t they?

[ConstantlyCooking]

I usually do the British and Irish stand. It is just me and I need to be able to offer something to everyone at school so I rely on shop bought items. The school is but free and doesn't serve pork. Also i try to ensure i have items suitable for dairy/egg/wheat/gluten allergy sufferers as well as vegetarians and vegans. So far I have done:
Afternoon tea theme so scones with jam, cucumber sandwiches, malt loaf, bread and marmite, bread and marmalade, Irish soda bread, biscuits such as shortbread, custard crèmes, jammy dodgers and cakes eg Victoria sandwich, fruit cake, jam tarts
Traditional English sweets - eg flying saucers, love hearts and swizzle stuff (I refuse to buy Cadbury's now)
Fruit such as strawberries and English apples and pear
Please excuse punctuation- i am on my phone.

[Lordfrontpaw]

I’ve made sausage rolls with veggie sausages and (don’t tell anyone) my scotch eggs were made with veggie ‘pork’ too. In fact I usually used veggie where I could. I also used soya squirty cream for the triffles (as I couldn’t get my hands on the normal stuff and the only place that had anything was a health food shop).