Summer is here and the Great British traditions are being rolled out as we speak. Some of them may be centuries old, others more recent but they all have one thing in common; they are all part of British culture.
Let’s take a look at some of our favourites:
Picnics – unbelievably, the British starting doing this way back in the Middle Ages. Hunters would take time out for a slap-up meal, served outdoors. Likely not a sandwich and a bottle of pop – this would be more like a formal dining occasion with all the trimmings but eaten under the sky. Picnics are now very much in vogue again, whether you go out and buy a ready-prepared hamper or quickly
tuck some crisps, bananas and fruit juices into a wicker basket. With no wild animals around to hamper our style and maybe just a few ants and bees to put up with, picnics are amazingly popular in Britain, even when the sun isn’t shining!
Barbecues or Bar-B-Q – however, you spell it, wander around anywhere people live when the sun is out and you should smell the wonderful aroma of charcoal and meat gently sizzling. We English love a barbecue, even if we do have to shelter from the rain. As long as it will sit on the griddle, it can be counted as barbecue food. And it’s not just burgers and chicken. Us veggies can get our vegetables and cheese on skewers, brush them with some oil and lemon and cook up a feast. Or you can go down the tofu route and cook away to your heart’s content with ‘fake’ sausages to create your own hot dogs.
Strawberries and cream – whether you pick-your-own at the local fruit farm or are lucky enough to have fresh ones growing in the garden, strawberries and cream (or ice cream) are all about summer. From Easter onwards, we tend to see these luscious red berries appearing in shops. Maybe not British, they are very tempting. Once May hits we really have the genuine thing with amazing quantities of this much-loved fruit coming from the British Isles. Whether you eat them alone with
cream, add to a Pimm’s, stir into a trifle or layer into a gateaux, strawberries provide a real feel of summer decadence, not matched by any other fruit.
Day trips to the beach – we all love to be beside the seaside. It is no wonder that once the days are warm enough, most of us want to flock to the coast to familiarise ourselves with the sea and sand. Even if it is not sufficiently sunny to get a tan, sitting on the sand eating fish and chips is a great British tradition. Add in donkey rides, ice cream vans, funfairs and you have enough for the whole family. Children of all ages love building sand castles and who doesn’t want to bring home a stick of rock for their BFF?
Wherever you live in the British Isles, summer is a grand time for frolicking, having fun and getting out into the countryside. Make the most of it while you can, before the season moves on.
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