What does your family eat in a day if you are not British?

[Flauralaura]

Just curious. Please tell me where you are from and what a typical day's meals would be in your household.

@brownbeauty80 please could I have some recipes! My fiancé is Gujarati (vegetarian) and eats a mainly western diet now as he’s been in the U.K. for 25 years, his parents are in India. I know he sometimes misses Gujarati food and loves when we visit cities with a Gujarati community. Please could I have the recipe for a dhaal and the chickpea curry?

I am Mexican-American and my husband is English. We live in Texas. It's quite varied but here's a list of what we are having over the next few days this week.

Breakfasts:

Chilaquiles: fried corn tortillas topped with a red or green chile sauce, similar to enchilada sauce, cheese and sometimes a fried egg

Breakfast tacos: usually scrambled egg with potato and cheese in a corn tortilla with a spicy red or green salsa. I prefer cooked courgette with tomatoes, onion, kernels of corn and jalapeño with corn tortillas

Grits: a sort of cornmeal cooked over a stove and topped with butter, cheese, crumbled bacon and green onions. My husband will probably eat toast with marmalade because he doesn't love grits.

Sausage, eggs, cubed potatoes and a side of buttered toast (I'll have flour tortillas) with coffee

Lunch:

Soup of some kind. My husband prefers tomato and basil/mint pesto on top or a Cajun gumbo with an Andouille sausage. I prefer a vegetarian pho, Mexican tortilla soup or a New England-style clam chowder with oyster crackers.

Sandwiches. Husband likes a chip butty or a plain ham/turkey and cheese sandwich with Branston pickle or piccalilli. My favorite sandwich is a bolillo roll (it's a variation of a small baguette) filled with slices of avocado, tomato, onions and raw jalapeño with lime juice squeezed over the top. We both agree that a pork meatball Bahn Mi sandwich is the best. However, I can get a bit lazy so I'll do a simple cheese and mushroom quesadilla with a guacamole topping.

Dinner:

Tostadas are flat, baked corn tortillas that are topped with anything you like. I like refried pinto beans on the base, chopped tomatoes, onions, lettuce and a very spicy green salsa. The side dish is generally Mexican rice (rice with tomato, corn and peas)

Cottage Pie but my husband always has it with Texas barbecue sauce which is very peppery.

Thai-style Green Curry with tofu and rice

Blackened salmon with a blueberry spinach salad. It has goats cheese, candied walnuts, sun-dried tomatoes with a blueberry dressing.

Indian in the US. Breakfast is boring: bread/toast/cereal. Nothing exciting. Sometimes scrambled egg etc.
Lunch is usually some kind of salad/soup- usually with Indian flavour.
Dinner is 3/7 days of the week is Indian vegetarian and pescetarian food. Other days we will have pasta, or grilled fish with veggies or soup and bread, or tacos and Mexican food or stir fry and Chinese food.

My American family will eat sloppy Joe's and French fries for supper tonight.

I’m British but have picked up foods from other cultures along the way. We used to live in Texas and I still make American style pancakes with blueberries, never went back to thin British ones! Also TexMex and sloppy joes which my dc love.

We also lived in Brazil and I miss the food and fresh produce so much, I make feijoada which is a favourite with the dc and bolo de laranja (orange cake) for breakfast.

Mostly I eat a Mediterranean style/anti inflammatory diet as I’m trying to get rid of long covid (boo!).

What is a sloppy Joe??

I am shamed by this thread! Sticking around for the recipes.

Sloppy Joes are ground beef cooked with diced onions and green peppers. When browned I add crushed tomatoes, vinegar, a little brown sugar, a little ketchup and simmer for 30 minutes. Some people use just ketchup but being diabetic there is less carbs in the crushed tomatoes. You serve it on a bun which is why it is sloppy Joes because the meat tends to fall out. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/super-sloppy-joes/

I am southern european and middle eastern ( i love porridge and I started to eat it when I moved to the UK)
Breakfastis very UK style: greek yoghurt with nuts or seeds fresh berries and granola/ porridge ( fav combo is apple cinnamon )
On weekends I have croissants ( I used to have them everyday) which is very continental and I always have a cappuccino in the morning 🥐

Lunch: either pasta with cherry tomatoes fresh basil and cheese or pesto etc plus a side salad/ or I have pan fried paratha bread or a wrap with hummus feta parsley asparagus or some green veg and a boiled egg + drizzle of olive oil and lemon

After lunch a second coffee plus a little biscuit small chocolate or amaretto ( i have italian biscotti)
Dinner: usually fish/ meat plus veg

Snacks : fresh fruit

Since I moved here I am also eating lots of chocolates and cakes on a daily basis
Back home it was only a very small pastry maybe with coffee or a small scoop of ice cream - I am trying to revert back to my continental ways as far as dessert is concerned

I’m gujarati and some of the recipes I grew up with are on the sanjana feasts website.

When I was growing up I would eat paratha for breakfast and always drink masala chai- tea made from a tea bag is so very different!

I would like to do a few a nights of staying with each of you so you can feed me please! All of it sounds delicious!

In the morning, for kids fried eggs or slow cooked eggs in sauce (cooked with lots of spices), steamed baozi (can be savory or sweet, today they had filling of bamboo shoot and mushroom), milk, but sometimes just toast or other qucik western stuff like pastries because it is not always easy to have what I want for them. Hubby has nutella and bread most of the time he is French. Most of the days I dont eat breakfast due to fasting.

Lunch kids eat at school. Hubby works from home, so I cook most of the days. Today we had rice, sweet and sour eggplant mince stew (cooked with sweet chillies), stir fired potato slices in sichuan spices, stir fried green beans with garlic. Sometimes if I dont have time I also make easy meals like chicken wraps, pizza etc.

Dinner, rice, pork ribs, cooked bean sprouts with sasemi oil and soy sauce, tofu stew with mushrooms, shrimps and peas, steamed seabass with sauce, spices and garnish etc

Sometimes there is left over rice, I would do a quick fried rice with some vegies and meat I can find in the fridge.

I cant always get all the ingredients I need so a lot of them are simplified / modified versions. However I know we eat a lot of differents things in one meal than what a lot of people eat in one day or more.

Italian descent -
Breakfast is British (cereal with fruit on weekdays, sometimes porridge, sometimes toast). Italian breakfast are far too sweet for me (cake!)
Lunch - nice bread, cold meats, cheeses or tinned fish. Marinated vegetables (artichokes, pepper etc) and usually a salad of some kind.
Dinner - totally varies, but often a pasta dish (puttanesca, carbonara, scoglio, or tortellini with truffle oil and parmesan etc). Yesterday was a smoked fish and potato 'stew'.

Tunisian:

Breakfast is usually warm flatbreads with extra virgin olive oil, cream cheese and jam. Sometimes boiled eggs, always fresh coffee.

Lunch is typically the main meal of the day. Usually a spicy chicken or lamb stew, with lentils/root vegetables/peppers/green peas. We either eat with baguette, or mix rice or cous cous with the stew, rather than serving separately.

In the evenings there’s typically a lighter meal of chopped salad, grilled vegetables, breads, grilled fish, olive oils and harissa, etc.

@Grumpypotamus are you Scandinavian? I'd love to hear a bit more about the typical foodstuffs you eat and meals that you cook.

This might be a bit redundant as it relates to meals in Days Of Yore but my mother is Australian and was brought up in a rural community. her daily meals were pretty much as follows;

Cooked mince and peas on toast (breakfast)
Lamb chops and mash (lunch)
eggs and bread and butter (dinner).

When i was growing up though (Urban Australia) it was more like this;

toast butter and honey breakfast
salad sandwiches for lunch (A glorious sandwich of bliss usually containing pickled beetroot and pineapple rings as well plus grated carrot, ice berg lettuce and ham or cheese)
whatever for dinner- usually borrowed heavily from Italian dishes; chinese; vietnamese etc. My favourites growing up were my father's minestrone; and his Beef pho.

Western European (non-British):

Breakfast: Bread with cream cheese (philadelphia-style) with fresh cracked black pepper, or with scrambled eggs with dill. In summer, bread (baguette if possible) topped with butter and halved strawberries, with a tiny bit of sugar over it if they need it, or a touch of black pepper if sufficiently sweet. Always a latte to start the day.

Lunch: soup with bread. I am getting cheap asparagus at the moment, which I boil in a little milk and water, with a chopped shallot in there as well (and sometimes some leek or potato, if hanging around the fridge). I then blend it, season, and serve with a halved hard boiled egg (or chopped up), and some chopped and fried slivers of parma ham on top.

Dinner: stews if possible. Beef stews, chicken tajines, curry, etc. I love a stew, and am happy to experiment. I have been making this chicken stew recipe loads over winter (https://mykoreankitchen.com/spicy-korean-chicken-stew/). It uses very available and affordable ingredients (potatoes, carrots, onions, chicken), but they get a different twist with the Korean sauce. (I never have the parilla leaves, as I live rurally and could not find them, and it still tastes amazing without it.)

British favs are scones, and the hot puds. Britain does fabulous hot puddings.

I’m part Dutch. I don’t think mine is as interesting as many here but I will admit to sometimes having bread with chocolate sprinkles on for breakfast. Or a krentenbol, which is a soft bun made with currants and lemon peel — similar to a teacake or hot cross bun. It’s quite Dutch to have a slice of cheese in it.

With that recipe I posted, I should have added that I bung the whole lot in the oven, instead of cooking it on the stove. Just all together, long enough until the chicken is done and the potatoes are cooked (I parboil these first).

Loving reading this thread. Got some great ideas.

Agree!

Right - Eastern European Jewish, raised in England, living in America. I like to cook and try new recipes so we eat a big variety of things.

Breakfast - I am not a breakfast person as a rule. Breakfast treat for Sunday is bagels with cream cheese and lox (smoked salmon) or sometimes French toast or pancakes and syrup. When we used to visit my New York grandparents as a child, my Bubby would get all sorts of smoked and pickled fish and cheese. To this day I have no problem eating pickled herring first thing, but can't manage anything with meat! On weekdays, my children eat cereal or toast or one of them sometimes makes eggs.

Lunch - usually your typical sandwich or leftovers, except Saturday when we have a bigger lunch after coming home from synagogue. I am not a person who can handle cholent (stew of beef, beans, barley, and potatoes cooked overnight) every Saturday, so it varies, but always either cold or easily reheated. In summer especially, it's cold, because I can't face hot food after walking home in 30-35C heat! Poached salmon or cold chicken and salads, typically.

Dinner - could be from anywhere as I love to cook. We have some things that are still very English like a roast dinner or steak and ale pie, but also Italian, Mexican, Indian, Middle Eastern and of course just American. Always a full meal with main course, starch, and veg. Tonight was a chicken I marinated overnight with mustard and citrus, then roasted it with carrots & onions and served it with a rice pilaf. I am breaking American "rules" and serving tacos tomorrow, but they are Mexican style soft tacos with birria (spicy shredded beef in a broth with lots of chiles -- I made a double batch last time and froze half!).

Some things that I grew up with: braised brisket in onion gravy (holiday favourite), egg noodles with cabbage and onions, stuffed cabbage rolls in sweet and sour tomato sauce, potato kugel (pudding), several kinds of noodle kugel either sweet or savoury, chicken schnitzel, hot (winter) borscht with beetroot, cabbage, beef, and potato, latkes (potato pancakes), blintzes (crepes stuffed with sweetened cheese and fried in butter), chicken paprikas served with little dumplings called nokedli, Romanian style skirt steak with garlic. Soups - chicken, vegetable, krupnik (vegetarian mushroom & barley), cold summer borscht (vegetarian), schav (cold sorrel soup), and in summer also fruit soup (sour cherry is the best one).

Friday night means soup, fish, salads, and a fancier main course plus a pudding, and fresh baked challah.

This sounds amazing, I'm going to try this 😊

No Khoresh-e Ghormeh Sabzi?

One of the pizza places near me does some Persian food, I think they batch cook and freeze it but I don't care it is really nice food.

I actually went and bought a Persian cook book.

Oh and the bread, the bread is amazing.

I have this one https://www.amazon.co.uk/Persian-Kitchen-Home-Cooking-Middle/dp/1845332237

As well as recipes there are photos of Iran and a couple of traditional stories and beautiful illustrations.

I taught a class of ESOL students, the unit they were studying was to raise money for a charity.

We were not allowed to sell food so we made a cookery book to sell with a traditional recipe from everyone.

I don't know what happened to my copy.