UK vs US Food - Dinner Traditions, Meals, and Etiquette

Hello, everyone, and welcome to English like a  native with me, Anna, and a very special guest,  

you might recognize Lindsey on the famous award  winning “All Ears English Podcast”, which has had  

over 200 million downloads, which is insane.  Hello, Lindsey. Thank you for joining us today.

Hey, Anna, thanks for having me on  the show. I'm excited to be here. 

Well, we've just had a really interesting  conversation over on your channel about  

breakfast and how Breakfast has changed and  some of the differences between breakfast in  

the UK and breakfast in America. So now we're going to talk about dinner. 

So, I want to start off by talking  about dinner etiquette. Now,  

there's quite a few rules that stick in my  head about things you should and shouldn't do.  

What the first thing that springs to mind  when you think about dinner etiquette,

The first thing that comes to my mind is elbows,  so ‘no elbows on the table’, right. That was for  

some reason, that was a really common thing that  we were saying around the house, ‘no elbows on  

the table’. And even now today, when I'm chatting  at the end of a dinner, I try not to do it. After  

dinner has been cleared even. It's tempting, but  I try not to do it. So ‘no elbows on the table’.

It’s so funny, isn't it? That's the first  thing that was on my list as well. So, I'm  

quite surprised you brought that one up first. Interesting. 

But I can understand if as  children, you're kind of sat there,  

looking at your board, it could look rude, right? Right? Because I feel the same. I always think oh,  

I shouldn't do it. Because I always  have my mom's voice in the back of  

my head saying don't do that. But I  don't know why I don't really get it.

Same. Because I personally, especially when the  meal is clear. And maybe you've had dessert,  

there's a little dessert plate on the table.  I feel like I can engage more in conversation  

like this, right? And so, I've always got  that narrative going in my head too Anna  

just like you. ‘Get your elbows off.’ But then I feel like I sit back  

too much. Do you feel that way?  I'm disengaged at that point.

Yeah. Yeah. And but I guess that's also brings me on to  

another one which is ‘not to slouch’ at the table.  Yes. Able, especially if it's a, you know, a  

really posh restaurant or you’re dining with your  grandparents or someone special in the family.  

Thing was an absolute no, no. And I think it's  the same thing isn't it's the idea of disengaging.  

You want to seem engaged and like you're  enjoying the meal and the company was yes.

Yes, I love it. And another one that, of  course is really important to remember,  

especially as we get involved in the conversation,  this is more involved with food on the table is  

‘don't double dip’. Oh, yes! 

When you have a chip or you're going for  the dip, or guacamole is really common  

in the US if you're having Mexican food,  ‘don't dip twice’, right? Obviously very  

rude. But it's easy to kind of forget if  we get involved with the conversation. So

Yeah, especially since the whole COVID  pandemic, I felt more uncomfortable  

now. Even with buffets anything that's  kind of left out or where there's food  

where there was you would all put your hands  into pick. And I think this heightened sense of  

hygiene. Yeah, has definitely started to impact  my enjoyment of that kind of dining experience.

Sadly, yeah, I think hopefully, you know,  

things will come back and we'll start to enjoy  things again. But things have changed a lot.

Absolutely. But ‘never double dip’. Never. Okay,  okay, so another one that I remember from being a  

child, but I can't remember the exact phrase  I was always told not to sing at the table.  

I've always been a musical person. I love singing.  And as a youngster and a young adult, even I'd  

sing all the time, a sign of happiness I imagined.  But I would be told off if I sang at the table.  

They'd say something along the lines of ‘singing  at your meals, trouble at your heels’. Something  

like that. In the north, we have all these  sayings to remind people of behavior. And,  

and yeah, something along those  lines was ‘not to sing at the table’.

Wow, that one I've never heard before. I guess  it goes to the idea of you know, they don't want  

kids to be distracted and maybe like finding a  friend at the next table and just distracting  

the adults. Right? That makes sense. Yeah, I love  it. Another thing I would say is ‘never comment  

on someone else's food in a negative way’. This  is interesting. So, this is beyond just physical  

table manners. But you know, people who do this  and it drives me nuts. I'm a kind of vegetarian  

leaning. And sometimes I order things that  your typical meat eater might think looks  

weird. And I've had people Look, I get my take  my foot on the table, and someone might say, Oh,  

no one wants to hear that about  what they're about to eat.

So yeah. One that I find quite interesting. And I'm  

keen to know if this is the same in the States,  if there's a selection on a plate of something,  

whether it's little spring rolls or olives or  something. There's a number of them, ‘you should  

never take the last one without checking that  everyone's happy for you to take the last one’.  

And the reason I find this interesting is because  if someone speaks up and is brave enough to say,  

“Does anyone mind if Have the last one”. You're  never going to say, “No, sorry, I want to eat it.”  

So, I don't know why we asked the question. But we  do. And everyone of course, as of course, have it,  

take it. But you if you take it without  asking, then it could be deemed as rude.

This is always a thing. Anytime I'm  dining in a group, there's always one  

last piece of something there. And there's always  a dialogue going on in everyone's mind guaranteed,  

you know, should I take it? What should I do?  Should I ask? I think it doesn't make sense to ask  

because it's, you know, we're social beings,  we evolved to socialize, to stay alive,  

protect ourselves. So that's still very hardwired  in our mind, we have to have harmony in the group.  

And I think that's what's going through  our mind when we think about that. Yeah,  

of course, you could take it no one's gonna  say ‘No’, but I think we still want to ask,  

it's sort of something we have to do. Yeah, showing respect, isn't it? Actually. 

Yeah, sure. You're right. You're right.

What about ‘hats’? What about hats? 

Is it ok not to wear a hat at the table?

You know that's a good question. I don't wear  a lot of hats. So, I don't pay attention to  

that too much. But I would assume it's polite to  take your hat off. If you go into a restaurant,  

I think that would be good manners. Especially  for a man if it's a woman wearing kind of a  

more fashionable hat that goes with the hair,  goes with the look, that's probably okay. I  

think it was just if you're thinking about like a  typical baseball cap, which I think guys probably  

were more in the US than in the UK is my guess.  Maybe think they should probably take that off.

Yeah, it's tricky, isn't it? My partner has  very curly hair. That's like crazy. And if he  

doesn't wash it and style it, it's a, you know,  it's a mess. And he feels he feels embarrassed  

about it. So, he wears a cap all the time,  unless he started his hair specifically,  

I haven't really asked him about it.  But for him, it must be quite a dilemma.  

If he's going anywhere to eat, because  you know, he'll have to take it off. And  

once you've put your hat on, you're  going to have hat hair when they do.

Right, right, right. That's a good point. That  could be a dilemma for sure. So interesting.

In terms of sitting typical  house, if we're going to  

someone else's home, then it's expected. ‘The  host will tell you where you should sit’.

Yes, I think it just depends on whose home you're  going to. And how formal that dinner party is,  

right? If we're talking about a formal dinner  party, sometimes the guest will have taken the  

time to think through like a wedding. Where are  people sitting? Who are they sitting next to?  

And what do we want in terms of connection  and conversation? But honestly, I'd say most  

of the time, if it's just a backyard barbecue,  or just kind of at a normal dinner party, most  

hosts probably don't think about it. But you could  wait like I would wait to sit down and observe.

If you’re not sure always asking I think is fine.  I tend to say it doesn't. Can we sit anywhere?  

Does it matter where I sit? Yeah! 

I know for me as a mum with a  one-year-old and a three-year-old,  

it's really important that I separate  them, but I sit close to both of them so  

that I can, you know, manage the  chaos. That is our meal time.

So let me move us on to a little quiz. There are  

dishes I'm sure in every country that have names  that don't clearly indicate what the dish is. So,  

I thought it would be fun for us to exchange  some typical dishes with unusual names and  

see if the other person can guess what that dish  actually is. I'm going to kick things off with...

Okay. A ‘Yorkshire pudding’.  

Any idea of what a Yorkshire pudding is?

I have a feeling this is some kind of a like a more of a meat-based pie.

This is a side to a meat-based dish for sure you'd  have it with meats. You'd never have it alone. 

Got it. Got it. But it's You're right. It's not sweet. 

It's not it's the same thing A Yorkshire pudding is made from.. 

It's kind of like a pastry it's  made from egg and flour and milk,  

and often is like a deep dish and you'll pour  gravy into it. So, you'd have it with like beef,  

for example, like a beef dinner on a Sunday  you'd have Yorkshire pudding on the side  

with gravy and it holds the gravy and then get  softer and softer and it's really, really yummy.

Wow, sounds savory, for sure. Okay, something that's quite  

like closely related. ‘Toad in the hole’. 

I've never heard of that before.  Like, what is that, Anna?

Okay, so ‘a toad in the hole’ is sausages that  are cooked within a huge Yorkshire pudding. You  

put the sausages in a big casserole dish  and you pour in the Yorkshire pudding mix  

so that the sausages are literally cooked into  the Yorkshire pudding, and they look like they're  

like swimming in a sea of Yorkshire pudding when  it's cooked. And I guess that's why it's called  

toad in the hole because they're in a hole and it  looks like little toads popping up out of water. 

Interesting. Yeah. 

So, a lot of meat-based dish. It sounds like  meat is very traditional. In the past. It was a 

It was a treat. It was something that you'd  have, you know, a couple of days a week,  

definitely the weekends whereas now,  unfortunately, we've gone kind of too far with  

it. And I think it's the same in many countries.  Meat can feature in almost every meal of every day  

and we’re eating too much. Right. Yes. 

And it's not good for our health. It's not good  for the environment. So, it's not good for the  

animals of course. So, Yeah. Absolutely. 

Okay. Do you want to throw some meals at me? Sure.

This is something I ate a lot as a kid. 

Ambrosia. Do you know what that is?

Ambrosia. Yes. So, this is, 

this is something like a custard kind of pudding. 

Yeah, it is kind of a Yeah, I would say pudding is  

the best way to describe it. Do you know  what's in it? Any idea or the flavours?

I’m guessing like a vanilla or  milk, creamy milk or something? 

It's canned sweet fruit mini marshmallows,  shredded coconut and sour cream or Cool Whip. 

This is something that I used to  have a lot as a kid during barbecue. 

So it's commonly as a side on a plate with  a burger or a hot dog and then coleslaw. And  

then it might be a dessert that goes along with  a barbecue at least that's how I ate it as a kid.

Yeah, I'm really interested  now to give that a try. It's  

not quite like I imagined. I was thinking  more like a We had like a tapi.. tapioca or

Yeah. It's not quite that liquidy. Okay. 

And it's a little thicker than that. Like you can  actually scoop it out and put it on that plate. 

Okay. I haven't had it in years.  

And honestly, the thing about the about the US dining culture is that  

things are so regional. Right? So now I'm in  Denver, no one would eat ambrosia in Colorado. 

Right! But in the Northeast and the Midwest,  

they use a lot of sour cream or kind of white  foods. Okay, so it's very regional indifference.  

I think anyone out here almost wouldn't even  know what it is. That's the interesting part.

We have something similar in this  country. And considering how small  

we are. It always fascinates me. As a kid growing up. I loved  

meat and potato pasties and  the pasties, you know, like a  

savory pastry and it's just this pocket and they'd  have stuff it with meat and potatoes and onion and  

it was delicious. And this was a really nice  snack or lunch. You might have it for lunch. 

Yeah. In the South, they  

don't have meat and potato anything so there's not  meat and potato pies or meat and potato pasties. 

You asked for one even in like a store  that like a chain like Greg's were in  

the North of Greg's store would serve meat  and pasties. Down here they don't do it. 

Like No 

Surely Yeah 

Surely you should introduce it to the  southerners because it's one of the best things.

If people eat a little bit less meat  because it is so heavy right potatoes  

meat so heavy and is it's I guess  it's a little bit warmer there or?

Well, yeah. When the weather's warmer, and we  certainly have warmer weather in the summers  

these days, but I think I  think there's still a lot 

a lot of people who are happy to  eat meat and heavy meals over here. 

Yeah, sure! I think it's actually  

something that needs addressing in our country.  We're dealing with more and more obesity  

in our children trying to address this at kind  of like school level with, you know, educating  

people about food and how to cook and I think the  biggest problem is the price of food, healthy food  

costs a fortune and unhealthy food and sugary  processed food is really cheap. Absolutely.

In the US. We talk a lot about  the concept of a ‘food desert’. 

Unfortunately, low-income neighbourhoods that  don't have access even to a grocery store where  

you could get fresh produce. So, they end  up having to just eat at fast food places  

or bodegas and it just perpetuates the problem of  bad health and it's so sad. We have a lot of food  

like in a place like I'm thinking of like parts of  Manhattan, Upper Manhattan, more low-income areas,  

just total food deserts. Crazy. 

So from food desert, I'm going  to bring you another one. 

Okay, I'm ready! A Ploughman's Lunch. 

Oh, I Well, I mean, this feels I  

can imagine who ate it, right? Someone out in the  fields working the fields and therefore I would 

I would also guess it might have meat  in it again, but not much some meat  

to keep going. I don't know Anna what is it? The Ploughman's Lunch is a cheese based meal 

Cheese? Yeah, it would normally come out on a board  

and there'd be a big chunk of cheese and then  it's pickle you have to have pickle on there some  

form of pickle and bread a big wedge of bread. So,  you're right it's something that the workers could  

just grab. It's lots of protein, fats and carbs to  keep them going and then some of them will have an  

option to add an egg in there. So a boiled egg,  hard-boiled egg and maybe some ham and maybe a  

couple of grapes or something else on the side but  yeah, typically a cheese bread and pickle dish. 

Okay, so it keeps people going in the middle of  the day and the heat right out in the fields.  

I love it. I love it. Nice. What about a Welsh Rarebit? 

Welsh Rabbit? Did you say... or? 

‘Rarebit’ not ‘rabbit’ sounds  a bit like ‘rabbit’. Rarebit. 

No idea. 

It's basically like a runny cheese on toast. So, it's a very, very basic dish. Very yummy. 

Sounds great. So, I mean, we have really  one of the most common dishes here is  

‘grilled cheese’. We love grilled cheese.  So that sounds somewhat similar to that. 

How would you eat grilled cheese? So, I like to eat it with tomato soup. 

All right. Grilled cheese and  

tomato soup and I like to pile like multiple  kinds of cheese on there. Oh, it’s so good.

So, would you do is put the  cheese in the soup on the top? 

No. You could dip your sandwich probably not  in like fancy companies probably that’s not  

the best table manners in public  but at home, you could do it. Yeah,  

just a cup of tomato soup and then a sandwich.  Like a, you know, the grilled cheese sandwich. 

Ah, okay so it’s already sandwich. Like  a ‘cheese toastie’ we would call it. 

Yeah, and just on the side. So, tomato soup  on the side. Very, very common meal in the US. 

Can I ask you one more? Sure, yeah. 

Do we have time for one more? All right. So, I have a feeling  

you're not gonna know this one. Fluffernutter sandwich. 

Fluffernutter sandwich.

Yeah. Or just a fluffernutter?

I'm going to assume that it's maybe peanut butter. 

Oh, yeah. And candy floss or something. 

Candy floss? Oh, so you say cotton candy, don't you over there? 

Oh, cotton candy. Interesting. No,  no, it's no. Oh, gosh, that would be  

weird. But this is this is weird, too. So, this is basically a peanut  

butter and fluff sandwich. Do you know what fluff is? 

No. It's a like kind of  

liquid marshmallow is basically what it is. Right. 

It's a can of liquid marshmallow  fluff. And so kids would have it  

at school. This is something kids would  eat for lunch. So, it's not a fancy dinner. 

A sandwich with peanut butter and then fluff.  And that's and then between two pieces of very  

bad for you white bread. That's kind of that  was a typical lunch that kids would have when  

I was a kid in the 80s. Right. Okay. 

So, fluffernutter. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it sounds similar  

to peanut butter and we say peanut butter and jam  on toast. I think you say peanut butter jelly. 

Yes. I'm gonna throw one at you as the last one on this  

little this little quiz. And it's a.. don't blush. Spotted dick.

Oh, yeah, I know this one because I had a My best friend growing up was actually British.  

Now. This is a kind of a dessert. I know that. Yeah. 

And is it like kind of a  vanilla based cakey type thing? 

Yeah, that's right. Well, it's a sponge  cake. So, it's a white sponge cake. 

Yes. Steamed. 

Okay. And a 

Yes. The spotted part of it  

is little raisins. Little raisins. Yeah. 

Yeah. It’s okay. That one I did know. So.

Okay, so with that, I'm gonna move on to  traditional foods and meals or traditional  

meals you'd find in a typical American  household. So, if I'm coming to America,  

great film “Coming to America”, if I'm  coming to America, and I'm going to hang  

out with some families and have dinner at  their home. What can I expect to be served?

It's tough to answer this question. 

This is very regional. That’s  what I'm trying to say, Anna. 

So, our country is so huge. We have a  lot of international influence coming  

into different regions. So, it's really hard to  

say that there is any traditional one meal  or or two or three meals but I would say 

historically, like the meat and  potatoes, a steak and potatoes,  

with maybe a salad has been historically  a traditional Midwestern meal, I guess. 

And then other things that are on the menu  that are traditional, of course our, you know,  

burgers and you know, Americans have expanded into  all sorts of different burgers the blue burger you  

see in the menu, which is the burger with blue  cheese, you know, all sorts of bacon burger. 

You'll see all sorts of different putting an egg on the top. 

Hotdogs those are very typical. Meatloaf is another thing. I don't  

know do you guys do meatloaf in the UK? It makes me shudder a little bit. My  

mum made a meatloaf when I was a kid. I  used to feed to the dog under the table. 

Yeah. Me too, I can't really remember what it was.

Yeah, this is really this is more something I  would eat as a kid in the 80s too. I don't know  

if this is traditionally served in the  household with kids anymore but it is  

ground beef with eggs, bread  crumbs just kind of shaped into a  

loaf and then right and sometimes it has  ground pork or sausage but it really is so  

hard to say what is typical American other  than your baseball and your barbecue foods.

Yeah. It's kind of the same in the UK really, you know,  

we've got such variety these days but I think if  you came to my house then you possibly be offered  

fajitas is what I usually offer to guests when  they come over. Because they're really easy and  

very tasty. So, fajitas and lasagna is another one  that we love but like you said it's like that meat  

and veg kind of thing with a salad on the side. Stew is another one we'd like to do our stews  

over here and you know stews  can be very tasty especially  

in the colder months are really hearty meal. And then we have our very traditional  

dish which is fish and chips. Okay, yeah that is definitely

And we have fish and chip shops which is  like, like battered fish which is done in  

deep fried in oil and then your thick  chunky chips which are our hot potato chips,  

not the kind of crunchy what we call  crisps so hot potato chips and fish,  

but we have fish and chips in the home as well. We'd buy breaded fish perhaps or fish fingers  

for the kids and we might do sweet potato fries,  but it's still a form of that traditional dish.

I love that. Yeah, the fish and chips.  That's the most typical thing that I  

think a lot of people will go to  try to eat when they visit London.

Also, with fish and chips – mushy peas on  the side which is a really wet, mushy pea. 

Okay. The only other one I've mentioned  

besides a roast dinner which is very, very typical  at weekends is the cottage or shepherd's pie which  

again is a meat and potato concoction and if it's  cottage or shepherd's will depend on the type of  

meat that’s used and the mashed potato on the top  with some carrots and onions and things inside  

the mix. But yeah, those are very traditional  English dishes. And I'm feeling a bit hungry now. 

Yeah. Are you feeling hungry now?  

I know. Talking about food can be challenging. I  guess one. One other thing I'll throw out is pizza  

in the US is obviously really popular. But as I  said, it depends on the region. So, in New York,  

they like the thin crust that you can kind of fold  and take to go through the city and in Chicago,  

it's the more deep-dish style and then there's  a there's a Detroit style California style. So.

Do you call a pizza a pie? So yes, you can. 

My dad used to say like, “Oh, I  got the pizza pie”. So, you can. 

Yeah, you may say that, but not much. We don't  

we don't use that often, right?  Just say ‘a pizza’. Get a pizza.

If I said to you, “Do you want  

pie for dinner”? What do you think? Oh, no. No, I would think apple pie.

So, you would think of a sweet pie. Yeah, you can’t say just pie in the  

American culture that would be confusing.  That would. Yeah, I would think it's dessert.

Okay. That’s interesting. For us, pie  is savory, you'd have a steak pie. 

Interesting. Or chicken pie, a vegetable pie. We do have  

apple pies fruit wise that kind of thing. But  you'd have to say that it was a sweet pie, too. 

I see. I see. Yeah, context, would be key, I guess. 

Yeah, there can be a lot of  misunderstandings for sure. 

Absolutely. Lindsay, it's been a  

pleasure again talking to you. Just want to remind  my viewers that we had a great conversation about  

breakfast over on your channel “All Ears English”.  I'll put a link in the description below for my  

viewers to go and check out your channel. And if  you guys haven't heard “All Ears English Podcast”,  

then please do go and check it out.  Lindsey, where can we find your podcast?

All right, well, guys, we are on  YouTube as well. So, you could start  

where you are on YouTube. You can type in  “All Ears English”. And you will find us. 

If you are a podcast listener. You can also open  up any app that you use, whether it's Spotify  

or Apple podcasts and search for “All Ears  English Podcast” and just look for the yellow  

and you will find us. Fantastic. Fantastic. 

Thank you so much again for being here. And guys, if you've enjoyed this conversation,  

please add to it by telling us in the comments  what your traditional dishes and if you've tried  

any of the things that we've talked about today. Until next time, take care everyone.  

Bye! Bye!