📻 It's said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But what's in a traditional British breakfast? Find out while you improve your English vocabulary knowledge AND practise your English listening with this archive episode of the BBC Learning English programme London Life. What do you usually have for breakfast? Tell us in the comments 👇👇👇
Useful vocabulary:
✔️ a greasy-spoon café - an ordinary, perhaps down-market, café
✔️ a vague vision - an unclear picture in your mind, or idea
✔️ bacon - meat from a pig that has been salted and dried; it is fried for a traditional British breakfast
✔️ chips - fried potatoes
✔️ sustenance - nourishing, healthy food
✔️ caff - informal for café
Image: Getty
English Rewind is a collection of programmes from the BBC Learning English archive. This episode of London Life was first published on the BBC Learning English website in March 2007.
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#learnenglish #londonlife #britishbreakfast
Hello, Catherine here
from BBC Learning English. Just so you know, this programme
is from the BBC Learning English archive. It was originally broadcast
in March 2007 on our website. Enjoy! Hello, I'm Amber and you're listening
to BBC Learning English dot com. In London Life today, we sit down
to a traditional British breakfast, in a smart London restaurant and a greasy spoon café. A 'greasy spoon café' or 'caff'
is the opposite of a smart restaurant. We find out what the traditional
British brea
kfast is made of and why it is becoming more and more
popular, especially in London, to eat breakfast in a café, before arriving at the office
for a hard day's work. Our first guest
is an American anthropologist. An anthropologist studies all aspects
of human culture and development. Kaori O'Connor says that strangers
to England have a 'vague vision' — an unclear picture in their minds — of
what the traditional British breakfast is. Perhaps it's served from silver dishes
on a grand 'sideboard'.
As you listen,
try to catch what Kaori lists as the three main ingredients
of the great British breakfast. It's a meal that everyone outside of
England has heard of, and dreams about, and we don't know what it is,
but when we come here, we want to eat it. And we have some vague vision of,
you know, a sideboard with silver dishes and it's just going to be
the most wonderful thing on earth and I got here, and I went to a café
and there was the bacon, eggs, and chips, and I thought gosh, is this al
l there is?! Did you catch it? Kaori says she went into a London café
for breakfast and there it was —
bacon, eggs, and chips! 'Bacon' is meat from a pig
that has been salted and dried, and it is fried
for a traditional English breakfast! The eggs are usually fried too, and there
is also usually some kind of bread — perhaps fried bread or even, as Kaori saw,
chips — fried potatoes! So, now let's go
to a smart London restaurant where chef Lawrence Keogh
is frying a traditional breakfast. You can
hear the sizzling
in the background! He explains why he eats breakfast — the egg and bacon are 'protein',
for example — protein is healthy. He says, "it keeps you going all day". It's 'sustenance' — nourishment,
healthy food. As you listen, try to catch
what he says is a new trend, or fashion, in London's top restaurants. I think it's fundamental
to the start of the day. If I've got a long day at work, I try
and eat egg and bacon in the morning, cos it's protein —
it keeps you going all day. Wel
l, it's sustenance, isn't it,
you know, really? We do a lot of business meetings as well
now at Roast in the morning — the place is very busy — and I think you
see it across London now, there's lots more people having business
meetings in top restaurants and it's getting very fashionable
to have breakfast. Did you catch it? Lawrence says that more and more people are having business meetings
in top restaurants and it's getting very fashionable
to have breakfast. Well, our last stop today
is a gr
easy spoon café. Russell Davies is an expert on these! He's written a book called Egg, Bacon, Chips And Beans: 50 Great
Cafes And The Stuff That Makes Them Great. He explains what makes a great breakfast
in a downmarket London café, or 'caff'. Try to catch two or three of the things
he talks about. I would say the café experience, you know,
it's less than 50% the food, as it were, there's also the atmosphere,
there's the fact, in a decent caff, they're not going to hurry you out. There's the sme
lls, there's the sounds,
you know — the badly-tuned radio,
the eccentric art on the wall, the kind of odd condiment choice.
So, it's kind of... And most cafes are so small,
it's the best place for eavesdropping and just kind of listening
to the world go by. So, Russell Davies
says the key ingredients of a great breakfast in a downmarket
London café — a greasy spoon café — are the atmosphere, they won't hurry you
out, the smells, the sounds, for example, the 'badly-tuned radio', the
unusual or 'e
ccentric' art on the wall, the odd condiments,
for example, tomato sauce, and the fact that you can listen
to other people's conversations. Now, here again is some of the language
from today's programme. A greasy-spoon café. A vague vision. Bacon, eggs and chips. Protein. Sustenance. The badly-tuned radio. The eccentric art. The odd condiments. More news stories and language
explanations next time at BBC Learning English dot com.
Comments
What do you usually have for breakfast? 🍳🥞 Tell us in the comments! 👇 If you're up for a challenge, watch our 'food and drink' mega-class and learn one hour of new vocabulary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEdPVA-6rVs 🧇😋
For breakfast I usually have a cup of coffee, cottage cheese with jam and a video from BBC Learning English 😊
I usually eat oats, nuts and an apple, and then scrambled eggs with oignon, garlic and broccoli/mushrooms.
I usually eat two slices of bread with sunflower and cottage cheese, often add a salat (contains lettuce, tomato, raddish, cucumber etc). Instant coffee with milk is a must! 😊 Quite common in Poland ;)
I usually eat chocolate with nuts for breakfast. I love chocolate 🤷 and nuts - healthy food 😋
I usually have bread and a cup of milk for breakfast. Sometimes, I have a baozi (steamed bun) with a cup of soy milk.
I usually eat bread and butter,nuts and apricot jam for breakfast 😋
Thx for video❤
Thanks.
I' m brazilian and here we usually eat bread, eggs or pancakes, cakes, cuzcuz ( a typical brazilian meal made with corn flour) for the breakfast.
❤❤❤ woooow stunning ever had been ❤❤❤
I usually eat scrambled eggs and drink banana/Apple/kiwi smuthie.
usually i have for breakfast a cup of cofee chese pancakes and scrambled eggs with salad and avocado
Do you enjoy your London life BBC?
I usually eat a egg, butter with bread and a cup of coffe in breakfast. In my view eating this kind food helpful for health. 🏴🏴🏴
I usually have two pieces of bread with omelet and fried vegetables
Important vocabulary from this VDO 1. A greasy-spoon cafe - An ordinary, perhaps down-market cafe. 2.A vague vision - an unclear picture in your mind, or idea. 3.Bacon - meat from a pig that has been salted and dried ; it is Fried or a traditional british breakfast. 4.chips - fried potatoes. 5.caff - informal for cafe. 6.sustenance - nourishing, healty food.
I have for breakfast matte tea, bananas with cereal, bread and eggs.
There are many hard words in this episod which I don't understand them, but I understand abit
I would choose Turkish breakfast as it is very rich