Read about what our students think about British food, their national food and what their idea of healthy food is!
“One of the most popular British dish for foreigners is ‘fish n’ chips’. I like this dish very much, but it’s difficult to find the best one, because the products aren’t always fresh. Every dish is almost healthy except when you always eat the same dish. In India, [where my family is from], the most popular dish is rice. The speciality is the ‘Biriyani’= a mix of rice, spices and vegetables. We always eat this dish with chicken tandoori, yogurt, and a sauce. So it’s not much healthier than British food! I think in general, each dish is good, and people have to be reasonable and to eat in a balanced way.”
-Souba, France
“I haven’t a favourite dish in the UK, but last time I had dinner with my host family, I ate chicken wings with rice. This dish we have in Slovakia too but we serve it with potatoes or bread only. I like that dishes are served with some kind of vegetable- with broccoli, carrots and beans. A favourite national dish in Slovakia is noodles with a special kind of sheep’s cheese and bacon. This dish you can get in pubs and in more expensive restaurants. It is served usually with some milk.”
-Silvia, Slovakia
“In France, there lots of variety of food dishes such as vegetables, onions, salad, potatoes. The ingredients are generally fresh. French people don’t use to eat in a fast food restaurant. A dish is composed every time of meat or fish with bread and wine. Before the dessert, we eat some cheeses with salads. It’s a little bit fatty and salty. About the price- it depends! The French gastronomy is very important, you can find many different prices according to where you are in France. The government campaigns to the children to eat five fruits and five vegetables each day.”
-Constance, France
“Maybe I still don’t know British food completely and I should taste countryside recipes, but what I think about it, generally speaking, is that it does not fit with my idea of healthy food. I really like fresh vegetables and hate fried food and usually dedicate time in choosing natural ingredients at the supermarket and in cooking home-made dishes. I usually avoid industrial ‘ready to cook’ things, which are added in industrial flavourings that make me feeling unwell.”
- Ema, Italy
“I think British food is not healthy. There are so many fried things! It is said that Japanese food is healthy, but we have fast food too. And most of young people likes fast food. Sushi is one of Japanese favourite national dish! We eat them with soy sauce or salt. I think healthy food is to not eat too much and to eat nutritional food!”
- Asuka, Japan
“I think the British food is generally more unhealthy than Italian food- not because British people don’t know how to cook, but because normally the dislike cooking so they frequently buy ready-to-eat food that is more processed. In Italy, we have a long tradition of cooking so we usually spend more time to prepare meals. This, I think is the main reason why Italian food is healthier than English food.”
-Gabriele, Italy
“Unfortunately, food here, in London, is not to my taste. Most of the products are processed, artificial and fatty. Despite fruit or vegetables, I see not a big amount of healthy food, maybe only fish and meat (which you can cook at home). But there are a lot of muffins, cakes and so on that you can try! A big variety! In my country, there are a lot of meat or fish which are lower in price, and more fresh. You even can buy live fish! I’m used to eating soup everyday, with a boiled chicken for example. Or stewed vegetables with boiled potatoes or rice. But in some cases, just meat with vegetables; it’s very healthy.”
-Alina, Belarus
“I didn’t try any traditional food here in London…Usually my diet is not really healthy, all based around coca-cola and pasta! Here my favourite dish is the burger, but not from fast food places. This kind of dish is quite healthy, but off course not in excess! But the typical burger or other fast food is easy to find in London and this isn’t very healthy. Also the food in the markets, I’m not sure if it is really healthy like in my country!”
-Antonio, Italy
