*Please see Part 1 for the definition of quirky.
Flapjacks are not pancakes. They are kinda like a rice crispy treat but with oats and golden syrup instead of marshmallows and they are baked, but the consistency is similar. You can add fruit or chocolate chips or other things to it as a snack or breakfast bar. They are yummy! And the oats make it feel heathy anyway.
Just like there’s no “Canadian Bacon” in Canada, in England there are no “English Muffins”. Only muffins. Sometimes called breakfast muffins or toast muffins. There are also crumpets and they are a little bit different but function the same. And although in the US we may use the phrase ‘tea and crumpets’ to mean British stereotypes, I’ve not seen crumpets served at tea time.
Having tea (see below) almost always means there will also be cake of some sort. I’m not at all mad about this one.
Pies are savoury with various meats and veg and tarts are sweet with fruit and/or custard. Both are yummy. You can legitimately say “I’m having pie for supper” except here folks would probably say “I’m having pie for my tea” as “tea” is often used to mean supper. Except when you are invited for tea and cake or simply for a ‘cuppa’ which can be either tea or coffee.
Snacks and appetisers are called nibbles and candy is known collectively as sweets. On Hallowe’en you hand out sweeties, which refers to the candy not the cute little children dressed in adorable costumes.
Nutrition labels are provided per 100g or 100ml, not serving size. Which means, for example, my bottle of Cholula (YES I did find it here!) gives the values for 2/3 of the whole 150ml bottle. Can you imagine consuming 2/3 of a bottle of Cholula in one meal? The caloric intake would be the least of your worries. My maths (yep, always with an ’s’) skills are being challenged every day.
Eggs are not pasteurised or refrigerated in the shops. People don’t get sick. Let go of your fears.
And while we are on the subject of foods here, there is a myth that English food is bland. I disagree. My theory is that as Americans our taste buds have been conditioned to a high amount of salt in all of our foods, so when you first experience food in the UK is can taste bland because it isn’t salty. Give it time and your taste buds will learn to recognise the actual taste of the foods you are eating.
