# British dopers, tell me about your meals **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 10, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976 "2008-02-10T00:25:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/41 "2008-02-11T02:08:04Z")
Hell, no, we go the cafe around the corner to get it. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/42 "2008-02-11T02:10:30Z")
[QUOTE=RedRosesForMe] 'Merkin here who’s had several full english’s while visiting, and it’s pretty much what I know as baked beans. Not pork n beans, with bits of hot dogs, but regular baked beans. [/QUOTE] I disagree with your characterization. The beans used in an English Fry Up are indeed Pork n Beans straight out of a can, usually Heinz but also similar to [Campbell’s Pork & Beans](http://www.adclassix.com/ads/55campbellspb1.htm). In America, “Baked Beans” are usually doctored up Pork n Beans or true Boston Baked Beans. “Baked Beans” usually infer a brown sugar and molasses addition, whilst the distinction of Pork n beans is that they are tomato based with little pieces of salt pork/pork fat and are usually the base for baked beans. Pork n Beans doesn’t mean that there are hot dogs in them… ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/43 "2008-02-11T08:04:41Z")
[QUOTE=Peter Morris] Hell, no, we go the cafe around the corner to get it. [/QUOTE] Or to a Transport Cafe which BTW are no longer the “greasy spoons” of yesteryear. Not a bit of it, these days a good fry up in a transport cafe is a thing of beauty ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/44 "2008-02-11T08:42:39Z")
[QUOTE=Jennshark] That the term “lunch” is thought of as rather posh in England is funny to me. My family is redneck and it’s what the noon-time meal is called. [/QUOTE] It’s not posh anymore, I think: just the standard word for the midday meal. [QUOTE=Usram] Oh, I thought they were the same thing. Am I wrong? [/QUOTE] No, you’re not wrong, we just don’t ever _call_ it blood pudding. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/45 "2008-02-11T08:55:47Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] And you guys cook all that with a hangover? Jeez! :eek: [/QUOTE] It’s best done while in a pre-hangover still-unfit-to-drive fug. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/46 "2008-02-11T10:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=devilsknew] I disagree with your characterization. The beans used in an English Fry Up are indeed Pork n Beans straight out of a can [/QUOTE] The British version don’t have pork fat in them - it’s not unusual for beans on toast/jacket potato to be the only vegan option on a menu. Getting back to the OP, I think the terms for the various meals can not just regional and class based but depend on where the meal is eaten. My ex (public school educated) had dinner and tea at school, but lunch and dinner at home. As for myself, my evening meal at home is usually tea (eaten around 6pm), but I never go out for my tea. An evening meal out would be eaten later, and might be dinner although I don’t think I or my friends would use the term unless it was an “occaision”. Clear as mud, huh? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/47 "2008-02-11T10:43:26Z")
I applaud you, **Sir Doris** , for bringing ‘public school’ into a thread intended to clarify aspects of British vocabulary 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/48 "2008-02-11T10:47:46Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] I applaud you, **Sir Doris** , for bringing ‘public school’ into a thread intended to clarify aspects of British vocabulary 🙂 [/QUOTE] Heh, I assumed we’d got that one sorted, but given the reference to blood pudding above, perhaps not. I await a query about kidney pudding. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/49 "2008-02-11T10:58:53Z")
In my experience (YMMV): **Breakfast:** Needs no definition, but the notion that the Full English Breakfast (or other equivalent fry-fest) is the everyday default is probably incorrect. Cereals, toast or other baked products are probably the common breakfast for those who take it. \*\*Elevenses: \*\*Some kind of snack - often a cake or a stack of biscuits (that’s _cookies_) - taken around eleven in the morning, with coffee or tea. \*\*Lunch: \*\* The main midday meal, called _dinner_ by some, especially if it is the biggest meal of the day, or the only cooked one. \*\*Tea: \*\*Either an afternoon (4pm) version of _Elevenses_, but with more cake and no coffee, or the name of the evening meal. (when the evening meal is called _‘tea’_, it often (but probably not always) consists of cold foods such as sandwiches, or a sort of buffet selection of sausage rolls, sandwiches, cakes, etc, rather than a meat-and-two-veg type of cooked meal). \*\*Dinner: \*\*Where this is not a synonm for _Lunch_, it means an evening meal, usually a cooked/plated meal and usually the most substantial of the day. Or it may mean a ‘meal out’ at a restaurant in the evening. \*\*Supper: \*\*Either another term for the main evening meal, or a snack meal taken late in the evening. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/50 "2008-02-11T11:04:33Z")
Just to really mess things up, this thread has made me hungry and I’m now preparing a Full English for lunch. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/51 "2008-02-11T11:29:41Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Just to really mess things up, this thread has made me hungry and I’m now preparing a Full English for lunch. [/QUOTE] That’s a mixed grill then, isn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/52 "2008-02-11T12:28:38Z")
For a mixed grill, I’d expect lamb chops and perhaps a steak. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/53 "2008-02-11T13:02:30Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] For a mixed grill, I’d expect lamb chops and perhaps a steak. [/QUOTE] No kidneys? I’ve had cooked breakfasts that included a thin steak, I think. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/54 "2008-02-11T13:25:32Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] For a mixed grill, I’d expect lamb chops and perhaps a steak. [/QUOTE] Me too, though perhaps gammon rather than beef steak. And kidneys (not too much). ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/55 "2008-02-11T13:52:31Z")
[QUOTE=Hostile Dialect] Doesn’t a full English include blood pudding and some other weird things, too? [/QUOTE] Now you are entering the North / South divide. Here in the sophisitcated South we might nibble on a croissant or a bagel (or have a fry-up). It’s only up in t’rugged North that they eat Black Pudding. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/56 "2008-02-11T13:54:26Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] No, no, and thrice no. Baked beans serve one purpose only, which is as a sugary disguse for cheap and/or poorly-cooked meat. [/QUOTE] I avoided baked beans entirely once I reached adulthood here in Australia because they were so sugary. When I lived in England for a few years I found that your baked beans didn’t have nearly so much sugar and were pretty good. Luckily when we got back we discovered that you can (if you look hard enough) find cans of what are called “English Recipe” baked beans here with very much reduced sugar. We never get anything else now. So if you find your baked beans sugary, well, they could be worse. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/57 "2008-02-11T14:39:36Z")
[QUOTE=glee] Now you are entering the North / South divide. Here in the sophisitcated South we might nibble on a croissant or a bagel (or have a fry-up). It’s only up in t’rugged North that they eat Black Pudding. [/QUOTE] It puts hair on’th chest. Where I’m from calling your dinner your lunch pegs you as being a bit pretentious. You probably wear double breasted suits, drive a semi-expensive retirees car like a Rover and have a house full of carriage clocks. Think of a cross between Alan Partridge and Hyacinth Bucket 😛 Oh, and nobody ever says “elevenses”. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/58 "2008-02-11T14:53:45Z")
[QUOTE=Dominic Mulligan] Oh, and nobody ever says “elevenses”. Ever. [/QUOTE] We move in different circles, Dominic, different circles. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/59 "2008-02-11T15:25:33Z")
Definitely. The first time I heard that word was whilst watching the Lord of the Rings. I recognised it immediately as some degenerate southern concept. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2008, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976/60 "2008-02-11T15:29:09Z")
[QUOTE=An Gadaí] Irish breakfast might include black pudding (not blood pudding), white pudding, bacon, sausages, beans, toast, fried egg, maybe scrambled egg, fried tomato and if you’re talking ulster fry you might also have soda bread, potato farls etc. [/QUOTE] I didn’t realise potato bread was a food peculiar to Northern Ireland, I suppose we’re not such a cultural empire that we can push things on the rest of the country. My sister and her b/f boogled a waitress in a Liverpool cafe who was stunned to hear of “bread made from potatoes” 🙂 Breakfast - Morning meal. Lunch - Light midday meal. Tea - Heavier meal than lunch, taken in the evening. Dinner - Main meal of the day, taken at midday to replace lunch or evening to replace tea. Supper - Light meal, taken late in the evening. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-dopers-tell-me-about-your-meals/436976.md?page=4)