My One Week Experience in Britain from a Kenyan Perspective

Food and Culture

Traditional Food

In Britain, it is not easy to find traditional food since a part from being of high demand; they are unique and rarely found. Moreover, they happen to be quite expensive and hence, could only be found in luxurious hotels. Common foods, which also happen to be the stable ones in this region, include fish, meat, potatoes, floor, eggs, and butter. The most typical and popular foods are however fried fish, chips, the sandwich, pies such as Cornish pasty, roasts dinners and trifle. This owes to the fact that these foods are easy to prepare and serve. Other equally common food types include lamb, beef, pork, and chicken, which is normally served with either vegetables or potatoes. In this region, we can also find food names that may not be found anywhere else including toad- in -the-hole, squeak and bubble. These foods are among the most pleasant if cooked with the right recipe and with an experienced person.

The “British food is not good” has long been a butt of jokes due to the presumption of poor food in Britain, stodgy pundings, lack of, or poor imagination, and weak tea found in this country. However, through exploration of all the myths surrounding it, one can discover that British food is unique among many.

Availability

In essence, British food can now be found in several restaurants both those that offer only British food, and those which offer a variety. With a wartime rationing history, and now the giant supermarkets hegemony, the impression about this food and its availability in restaurants can be established. In short, British food, both good and bad can now be found in many restaurants.

Cooking

In Britain, food is cooked in many ways and with many varied recipes depending on the type of food being prepared. The other determinant on how the food is prepared is the type of people that the food is intended for. A good example is the preparation and cooking of mushy peas with chips and peas. In the preparation of Mushy peas, peas are boiled then smashed with peppermint salt. In this recipe, butter and lemon zest are the most popular accompaniment to chips and fish. The fish is then swished between two battering rounds to make sure that the fish fillets get a bloated, golden-brown coating. In the past, British women were taught how to cook by their mothers and grandmothers. Further, Britain is better known for international fast foods such as Burger King, MacDonalds, Pizzas and Kebabs.

The Place of Tea

The best place that one can enjoy a sumptuous morning, afternoon or evening tea is at the Goring hotel in central London, Belgravia. Goring hotel received the tea guild celebrated awards for the Top London Afternoon Tea after earning a near perfect score from the tea guilds. In this place, guests enjoy a graceful afternoon tea by a roaring fire in the hotel’s lounge. When the weather is more mild, the hotel boasts an enchanting garden, which offers one of the very few al fresco afternoon teas around the country. The tea menu varies according to time; a perfect example being the afternoon tea, which comprises of homemade buttery scones, dainty finger sandwiches, and several hand-crafted patisseries. All these are served with an exceptional selection of perfectly brewed and vigilantly selected teas from different parts of the country and the world.

Obesity

The pervasiveness of clinical obesity in Britain continues to double as it has done in past two decades. The Health of the Nation program has tried setting ambitious targets to reverse the trend in the recognition of the fatal health burden that will accrue. However, efforts for developing treatments and prevention strategies are still handicapped by the vagueness of the problems etiology. Generally, it is assumed that ready access to highly edible foods provokes excess eating and that obesity is brought about by plain gluttony. Evidence is available regarding a high fat diet overriding normal satiety mechanisms.

The cause for obesity has also been attributed to industrial revolution, which has made people so busy to the extent that they no longer have time for proper cooking back at home. In particular, fast foods such as fried fish, sandwitch and bread have become common for many people in Britain because of their busy lifestyle and working life. Another reason for the preference of these foods is that they offer convenience considering that they are only unpacked, warmed and then eaten after being bought.

The Media

In Britain, Newspapers are drastically losing their interest on the society since people are getting smarter and discovering the corporate Media’s downside, particularly newspapers. There is an assumption among many people that newspapers terrify their readers especially when they run scary stories such as those relating to sexual attacks, killer diseases, illegal immigrants, and crimes. Further, these assumption goes on that newspapers and other media platform do not inform properly but rather, they abbreviate every story to absurdity and make people to be alarmed needlessly. Different from the past when newspapers were straighter to the point, they have greatly changed and this has caused their declined influence on the society. This implies that many people have prejudice on the media.

Older People Reading Newspapers

The considerably large number of older people who read newspapers than the other age groups is due to various reasons. Some of these reasons are attributed to the fact that older people do not usually have anything much to do. Furthermore, the older generation is also used to the older times when Newspapers were believed to be the best way to get accurate information. On the other hand, younger people do not read newspapers often since much of their concern is on what other young people are doing than what the older generation is doing. Additionally, with the advanced technology and its wide use by most of the young generation, it is pretty hard o find a young person “wasting time” reading a newspaper rather than finding information and interacting on face book, twitter, you tube, and other interactive sites.

Freedom of Expression in Britain

Freedom of the media involves the freedom of both expression and communication through such mediums as published materials and electronic media. This freedom implies the absence of any interference from an overreaching state. In Britain, this freedom is fully protected and the media is free to exercise its freedom. However, in some instances, the freedom becomes limited due to sensitivity of information or for reasons related to national cohesion. This phenomena however occurs rarely as almost everything than happens in Britain, and which needs to be availed to the public is made so within the shortest time possible.