English Rewind - London Life: British breakfasts

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 breakfast 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 all 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.

Well, 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 greasy 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 smells, 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 'eccentric' 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.