Tea, be it the drink or the meal, is an integral part of British culture. When I was a child our evening meal was tea, in the proper traditional sense - bread and butter with jam, cheese, meat paste (what really goes into those little jars?!), a glass of squash and biscuits or cake. I haven't had a 'tea' like that in years.
A couple of years ago my sister bought me The Best of Mrs Beeton's British Cookery, based on a selection of recipes from the aforementioned Mrs B's Book of Household Management, a comprehensive guide to running a Victorian household. The introduction includes a brief guide to what to serve at breakfast, picnics, the Sunday roast and most importantly - for our purposes - afternoon tea. She gives instructions on laying the table (with linen, fine bone china and small arrangements of flowers) and what to serve to those who don't - heaven forbid - like tea (fresh, iced lemonade or coffee), before moving onto the menu itself.
A whole paragraph is given over to directions for making cucumber sandwiches - butter is essential as it stops the cucumber making the bread soggy and the sandwich should be well seasoned with salt and pepper. All sandwiches should, of course, be made just before consumption to 'avoid limpness'.
Savoury additions to the menu could include cheese straws and scones, smoked salmon on Irish soda bread, Gentleman's Relish and scotch eggs, while toasted crumpets or muffins, pastries, cakes and scones make up the sweet recommendations.
When you consider how much has changed about British culture in the 152 years since Mrs Beeton's masterpiece was published, it's amazing that afternoon tea has seen the revial it's experienced over the last few years. Maybe the advent of all that technology has made us crave a simpler time, or perhaps as a society we've just remembered how much we like cake.
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