When you are learning English you will probably be watching a lot of movies with American actors and listening to a lot of American music. It is very common for people learning English to actually learn American English rather than the more traditional BBC style British English. English people certainly have a lot in common with Americans and share many of the same traditions, music, books, movies and more. But one thing that is often very different is the food. While everyone loves a Pizza or a Burger there are some very British foods that American people don’t like or even understand.
While Americans certainly like eating beans of all varieties the traditional British canned baked beans are not as popular. Americans do eat what the British would call baked beans, but they do not have them served on toast and find the concept very strange. Beans on toast is a very traditional, simple and low-cost meal in the UK, it is eaten right across the social classes from low-income families to wealthy people. it is often thought of as a childhood meal and something people think of with happy comforting memories. The idea is simple; heat up some baked beans in a saucepan or in the microwave, toast one or two slices of bread and then pour the beans over the toast. Some people like some cheese on top of this and putting butter on the toast first is optional. In the USA this meal is never eaten and is considered quite unusual if not totally strange.
Marmite is a yeast extract used for spreading on toast or to make sandwiches. Even in the UK, it is something that some people love and others hate. It has a very strong taste but in terms of British foods, Marmite is something no other country seems to like. Australia has its own version called Vegemite which is very similar in flavour. In America Marmite is very hard to buy and most people have never even heard of it. You can find YouTube videos of people from America tasting it which can be very funny!
While the name suggests the Scotch Egg is Scottish it is eaten right across the UK. If you have not heard of this snack it is a cooked egg wrapped in minced sausage meat, covered in bread crumbs and then fried in oil. The result is a round ball that can be eaten as a snack, part of a light meal or part of a picnic. Once again, the Scotch egg is not something anyone in America understands. While people in the US like sausage and eggs and they certainly like deep frying food, they don’t seem to understand why British people would create this snack as a ball.
If you are learning English and planning to live, work or study in Britain or America you may find it useful to understand some of the big differences in language and lifestyle.