to think that Britain hasn't got a national cuisine any more?

[TheFourthLobster]

My parents were telling the DCs about the stable British diet of meat and two veg. The DCs were saying they never had meat and two veg for their meals so what was the stable British diet now? We couldn't agree on what it was, so what meals do you regularly eat in your house? Does Mumsnet have a staple cuisine and is that more reflective of British food today than meat and two veg?

This last week we have had fusilli bolognese, fajitas, achari curry, roast turkey (the only roast we've had all year), thai green chicken curry and pizza.

What have you eaten in your house?

And in the Midlands we have battered chips along with curry sauce and gravy (though the gravy is really Northern).

"If I have an organic lamb steak with a minted crust, with buttered jersey royals, asparagus, and (fails to think of another exotic veg) baby carrots, does that count as meat and 2 veg?"

Yes it does. It's a modernised version but it's that construct of a meal with four parts - 1. meat/fish/veggie substitute, 2. potatoes, 3. some kind of vegetable, 4. second kind of vegetable. They're all separate and not mixed together.

Yep that's definitely meat and veg.

I personally think that "meat and two veg" actually means "meat and potatoes and one non-potato veg" - extra veg is optional.

I actually think we have a lot of regional foods, where I live I can go to 'hot pork shops' and get a bap containing pork, stuffing, gravy and crackling.

I can't go anywhere and get pie and peas, but those of you in Lancashire can.

As other posters have said we are magpies, we pick up food from around the world and make it our own, where else would you get chicken tikka pizza?

And I agree fish and chips is originally Jewish food, you will never find spag bol in Italy etc.

A lot of staple meals may not be meat potatoes and two veg, but a lot are protein + carb + 2 veg.

And very few people in the 1950s-1970s ate meat every day, I can remember people saying, "oh X eats meat every day" indicating they were OK for money.

YORKSHIRE PUDDINGS.

The UK wins food for that reason alone

Egg and chips.

All sorts of things on toast.

I would imagine the traditional 'staple' diet is only followed by those of the older generation and as they die out, so will the staple. This is true in all nationalities.

At my mothers house it's roti and curry every night. At mine it's a rotating variation of global cuisines. The selection in M&S's food hall is probably reflective of most people staple diet now.

Globalisation is changing and melding food habits around the world, which is actually a good thing as it makes us all much more open and receptive to foreign cultures and people and breaks down barriers.

Thanks people in that case I have meat and 2 veg quite a lot (fnar)!

I'm not that keen on stews / hotpots for some reason. But I do like a pie with mash on the top.

Any advances on morris dancing outfits for English national dress??

Is it a man in a bowler hat?

if you google english national dress you get pictures of morris dancers, pearly kings and queens, some people who look like extras in Robin Hood, and some semi-naked women.

Other than they look daft, why did Men stop wearing a bowler hat? Was it down to WW1/2?

The 'male' English National Dress alludes to the colours of St George. The ‘female’ English National Dress design employs the light Blue of St Edmund the Old English King. Both orders of dress are practical, stylish, yet modest and easy to make. They use wool, leather, steel, linen and simple dyes. Solid silver jewellery is worn. For those who wish, man-made materials can be used. Simple hand making with square and rectangular cloth cutting is core to this to cut down cost. The knife in the custom made leather sheath hanging on the front is called a Seax. It was worn by the Old English as a sign of being free born English.

www.englandandenglishhistory.com/traditional-english-national-dress

I haven't seen it sold on the high street recently.....

My view is that for any given British dish an overseas equivalent is likely to be found. For example, cottage pie and shepherd's pie. The Greeks use aubergines instead of potatoes and call it moussaka. The Italians use sheets of pasta and call the dish lasagne. Similarly, a vegetable stew in this country might turn up as a ratatouille in the Mediterranean or as a tagine in the Arab world.

Because the country's gone to the dogs since the good old days, thedays

Honestly? People stopped wearing hats so much.

There was a small fashion for them in the city again last year, I saw a few men around with bowler hats on which was pretty cool

YY vienna all countries are going to have a "stew" of some sort for example. Because it's just obvious basic and something to do with some food to make it go a bit further etc.

FourthLobster I saw that in my googling as well but other results said we have no national dress.

That was the people who look like extras in Robin Hood that I mentioned

Maybe English National Costume should be a combination of lots of other people's, to show and celebrate our cultural passion for adopting adapting and incorporating things that we like

Trying to remember!
Fajitas
Steak, homemade chips, veg, mushroom sauce
Roast turkey at ILs
Baked ham, dauphinoise, veg
Pizza
Curries tonight, lasagne tomorrow.

We tend to have a roast dinner every couple of weeks. I think it's still one of the main traditional british meals along with fish and chips!

Apart from roast lamb on Christmas Day, it's been bangers and mash here all week!

Omnipotent that could be interesting - at the risk of causing offence, a Welsh hat, a kilt and a sari style top perhaps with a bit of red, yellow and green thrown in for good measure?

I don't think there'd be any way of doing it without causing offence would there!

Cup cakes were invented in England (named because they were originally baked in tea cups whose handles had fallen off!

Oh! I thought cup cakes were an american thing, cos we always called them fairy cakes

Sure there has been a thread about it!

Omni no, almost certainly not!

wiki says cup cakes are american too?

Is this going to be like the fish and chips thing again

Oh here wiki en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cupcake not that it's infallible though obviously!

I have only heard of cup cakes in the last 5 or 10 years or so?

Ooh. Yorkshire pudding. Difficult to explain to foreigners, as is haggis.

I think that British cuisine has changed over time more than other cuisines - maybe because of early trade and later colonialism, then immigration. A great big mix of cultures, ingredients and techniques. We don't eat much kelp these days do we?

British didn't invent canning but did invent the tin opener..