Advertisement
High teas and suppers
Appears in
Published 1978
Most of the dishes in this chapter are movable feasts. Some of them, like macaroni cheese, may feature at lunchtime as well as at supper. Alternatively, they may be the main feature of that most British of meals, high tea. High tea, which forms such an essential part of British life wherever there are children in the house, is something of a puzzle to foreigners.
‘In England little boys don’t have dinner,’ explains Sigi, the small hero of Nancy Mitford’s book The Blessing to a baffled Frenchman. ‘No dinner?’ he enquires. ‘No, supper, and sometimes high tea.’ ‘What is this, high tea?’ ‘Yes, well, it’s tea, you know, with cocoa and scones . . .’ The Blessing then enumerates such savoury dishes as kippers and sausages ‘. . . and you have it rather late for tea, about six.’ ‘How terrible this must be,’ says the Frenchman, aghast at such an alien notion.