Look at this picture below. What is the famous British tradition? It is in fact a roast dinner (more about that below). This is just one of the many traditions that we still have today in Britain. Do you know any other British traditions? Check your ideas by reading our top 10 below.
- Eating a full English breakfast
You may have noticed that most British people eat things like cereal and toast for breakfast during the week and often with a cup of tea. At weekends however, lots of people choose to have something larger which we call a full English breakfast. This meal includes eggs, bacon, sausages, mushrooms, baked beans, hash browns and some toast. We usually eat it with sauces such as tomato ketchup or brown sauce. It is the perfect way to start the day or sometimes cure your hangover (stop the headache you get when you have drunk too much alcohol the night before!) The best thing about an English breakfast is that it is so big, you won’t need any lunch.
Best English breakfasts in London
- Eating a Sunday Roast
This is a meal which features roasted meat cooked in the oven – usually beef, chicken, pork or lamb. We eat the meat with roasted potatoes and vegetables. The ‘sauce’ that you can see in the picture above is called gravy, which is essential to a roast dinner! The yellow ‘pancake’ is known as Yorkshire puddings and are traditionally eaten with roast beef. They are made from the same ingredients as pancakes but again, cooked in the oven. We usually eat a roast dinner on a Sunday for lunch, so it also known as a Sunday roast.
Find a place to eat a roast in London
- Putting the kettle on in a crisis
When ‘the chips are down’ (a time when something has gone wrong or there is a crisis) the British are very good at drinking tea to make things better. We ‘put the kettle on,’ which is another way of saying ‘prepare a cup or pot of tea’, and then complain about what has happened. For British people, a cup of tea can be very comforting; it is hot, so warms you up, contains caffeine, so wakes you up and is available everywhere from offices to hospitals! Try having a cup next time you feel sad and see if it cheers you up.
- We like to queue nicely
If you have been to a supermarket, waited at a bus stop or gone to busy coffee shop, you will have seen that British people love to wait in a queue. This is where we make a line and wait until we get to the front. We learn to queue from an early age when we are in school and most Brits never break the habit. If people try to ‘push in’ and not join the queue, British people can get very angry and tell the person to get back in line. You have been warned.
- Cheering on the underdog
Hmmm? What is the underdog I hear you ask? Well, this is a person in a competition who is unlikely to win. It could be the slowest person in a race or the least popular person in a vote. British people are modest and do not like to shout about their talents, therefore we often have sympathy for someone who is not very good at something. We take this one step further by supporting this person and hoping they win. You may notice this next time you are at a live sport event or when watching a game show on TV.
- Guy Fawkes Night
Who is this person and why do we celebrate him? Well, it’s quite complicated actually. Guy Fawkes was around in the 1600s and had a plan to blow up (burn down using gunpowder) the Houses of Parliament. He was caught however and famously hung, drawn and quartered – the worst way to die at that time. No one really knows why we continue to celebrate this event as it is quite controversial and people have different opinions about it. On November 5th aka Guy Fawkes Night, many people set off fireworks, eat toffee apples and have a bonfire. Some even recreate a model ‘Guy’ and put him on the fire to burn. We really are a strange nation!
- Eating turkey on Christmas Day
For many people, Christmas = turkey! On 25th December, usually after church (if you go) and before the Queen’s speech (if you watch it), Brits sit down at the dinner table to enjoy a large roast dinner, but this time with a turkey not a chicken or piece of beef. Like a roast dinner, the meat is accompanied by vegetables, roasted potatoes, sausages, bacon and stuffing (balls of meat and herbs). Other traditions at Christmas dinner (called dinner but eaten at lunchtime!) include having crackers, wearing silly hats and telling jokes.
- Being interested in the weather at all times
Perhaps the weather in the UK is quite different from your country. We often describe it as changeable as it changes all the time. You can begin the day with sunshine, then have rain at lunch and finish the day with thick grey cloud. Due to this fact, we love to chat about it all day long. It is the perfect topic of conversation to have with anyone; someone you know well or a complete stranger. The subject never gets boring for British people. Try asking your teacher about it today.
- Saying sorry when you have not done anything wrong
How often do you say sorry in your language? Perhaps not as many times as the British do. The typical example is when on the tube. If someone treads on your toe, they will probably say sorry for hurting you and you will also probably say sorry for being in the way! We say sorry to mean excuse me or sorry if we want to complain about something, for example ‘Sorry, my coffee is cold’ when it wasn’t our fault at all! In other words, sorry is very common so don’t be surprised if you hear it a lot. I’m sorry!
- Doing numbers 1-9 but pretending we don’t
Nowadays, the UK is a very diverse and multicultural nation, and we pride ourselves on being openminded and accepting of all cultural boundaries without being judgemental. As such, we don’t like to think that certain cultural assumptions are true but that we are individuals instead. The truth is, we can’t help but do some or all of items 1-9, although we may try to hide it.
Which of the ten do you think is the strangest? Which traditions are the same in your country? What would be in the top ten traditions in your country?