European foods are universal and international. Great Britain is the main focus of this history. Cooks in Great Britain prepare food with similar types of foodstuffs that are used today in many parts of Europe and the West. The dishes and recipes they prepared were neither inedible nor dangerous, but extremely delicious and tasty products that were made with the finest of meats, grains, fruits and vegetables.
One of the passions of the English was and still is tea. Consumers of this tea were especially prosperous families. The first public tea sale was held in 1657 and three years later Samuel Pepys, an English satirerist, tries his first cup of tea. It was documented because Pepys kept a diary. People drank tea for any social event, be it a happy occasion or a sad one. Also people drank tea at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon with cakes, buns, sandwiches. One myth the French had was that they believed the English liked their tea cold and beer hot, but that was not true. In 1834 the trading of tea was a great profit for Great Britain. Before tea became popular everyday drinks consisted of water, which was not real safe, milk, wine, ale, beer or cider.
During the industrial revolution, Great Britain farmed lots of wheat and barley. Foods began to be chopped or pulped then pressed into convenient feedcakes that enabled farmers to feed their cattle in the winter (Tannahill, Reay). Even though the farmers were advancing in machinery, women had deficiencies in milk, butter, eggs, green vegetables and fruit. Over 70% of the women during the industrial revolution were anemic. Hundreds of thousands of children died of malnutrition. .
Shortly after this period the most universal food in Europe was raised bread. It was introduced as a meal staple, especially for the poor. Bread became a standard table setting from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance. Another food staple was potato. They were inexpensive, easy to prepare and filling.