FOOD, MEALS, REFRESHMENT, COOKING

FOOD, MEALS, REFRESHMENT, COOKING
In our country daily meals usually start with breakfast, which consists 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 have something sweet - cakes (or Christmas cake), doughnuts or gingerbread. Quite a lot of people eat cereal for their breakfast - either cornflakes or porridge with muesli - they also sometimes add various ingredients like yogurt, raisins, chocolate, stewed fruit, walnuts, hazelnuts etc. At work days breakfast usually takes place between 6 and 7 o clock. I do not have breakfast at work days because I cannot eat so early.

Traditional British breakfast consists of a glass of fruit juice and cornflakes with sugar and milk. Quite a lot of British people now eat muesli for breakfast of 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 crisp piece of toast with butter and marmalade or honey.

Our school doesn t have a school canteen but some of other students visit a basic school canteen near our school. I have my lunch around three o clock when I return from school. It is usually something quick e. g. sausages or some soup or I just have one or two slices of bread with something. Many people eat in the office or factory canteen, go to the restaurant or take a sandwich to work.

Weekends we our lunch around noon. The lunch is warm and it consists of some soup, a main dish, something to drink and salad or desert.

Soups are either vegetable soups (potato, tomato, pea, bean, carrot, parsley, celery, mushrooms) or meat teas (beef tea, tripe, chicken, hen or goulash soup). 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, doughnuts etc. Or we can have some meat of fish or poultry with potatoes, rice, French fries, 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. Lots of people in our country eat rabbits. The main fish cooked in our country is carp (it is 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, clove, cumin, bay leaf, allspice, ketchup, soya sauce, worchester, vinegar, mustard, onions, flour and so on.

After the main dish we may drink tea, lemonade, juice, mineral water, beer or coffee.

The typical British break is 5 o clock tea. It is usually fairly strong and eaten together with some cakes or biscuits. The English are fond of cakes and pies. They are nation with a very "sweet tooth".

An evening meal may be either warm of cold. Cold and quick supper may consist of some pate on bread or rolls, kippers or some spread. We can cook ready-made dish from a tin or have soup or potato pancakes.

Typical Czech meat include: Tripe soup, potato soup, "kulajda" soup (mushrooms and potato 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 sparrows (roasted fat pork offcuts) and dumplings, Spanish birds (rolled beef steaks with salami, pickle, egg and mustard), potato pancakes, fruit dumplings with cream, baked yeast dumplings, potato or "hairy" dumplings, fried cheese etc. Traditional Czech cuisine is however a bit unhealthy and people can get fat. Many families prefer to cook more vegetable meals, the become vegetarians or try some kind of foreign 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 restaurants of 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.