Eating for England: The Delights and Eccentricities of the British at Table

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The curious thing is that there are so few of them, and what is more, that most of them were invented in the space of just seven years. When Billy can’t find the informant, he wonders if Kate is secretly harboring her, since the two grew close during Kate's weeks undercover.

His beautifully written prose, warm personality and unpretentious, easy-to-follow recipes have won him a huge following. This English dessert is a roughly mixed combination of strawberries, broken meringue, and whipped cream. More common are restaurants serving Indian (more properly Bangladeshi or Pakistani, in most cases) and Chinese (mostly Cantonese) cuisine: in many ways, the “curry house” now offers the quintessential English dining experience.The taverna is the only place that Kostas and Defne can meet in secret, hidden beneath the blackened beams from which hang garlands of garlic and chilli peppers, creeping honeysuckle, and in the centre, growing through a cavity in the roof, a fig tree. Believed to have begun life at Eton College, a private boarding school for boys, it was first mentioned in 1893 when served at Eton’s cricket match.

I actually chanced upon him not long ago and it was a wonderful"Eureka" moment, if I have got the right turn of phrase! The Mars bar, Black Magic, Aero, Maltesers, Quality Street, KitKat, Rolo, Crunchie, Cadbury’s Wholenut and my beloved Smarties were all invented between 1930 and 1937. Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive.Sometimes, particularly in the more inward-looking parts of post-industrial England, you might have to dig deeper for a welcome: in such places, the public bar is where working men bond over a pint while the plusher saloon bar is the preferred haunt of couples and women. The term “ gastropub” – implying a pub that serves restaurant-quality food – is an urban affectation, but nonetheless reflects the fact you can often find great, affordable, high-quality “pub grub” in unlikely-looking rural hostelries and city drinking dens alike.