Traditional English breakfast – tea, toast, jam, eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, etc. – both delicious and satisfying. Breakfast is the only element of the English diet that is often and enthusiastically praised by foreigners. This tradition is more strictly observed at the very top and bottom of society, but not among the middle classes. Some members of the high society and aristocrats still eat a proper English breakfast in their country mansions, some members of the working class (mostly men) still believe that the day should be started with a “cooked breakfast” of bacon and eggs, sausage, stewed beans, fried bread, toast, etc. Workers eat breakfast more often at diners than at home, and wash down their meals with plenty of strong, sweet, brick-colored tea diluted with milk. The lower and middle middle classes drink a paler, “secular” type of tea. Englishmen of all classes are convinced that tea has miraculous properties. A cup of tea can cure, or at least significantly alleviate, almost any minor ailment, from a headache to a sore knee. Tea is also a good remedy for all ills of a social or psychological nature, from an offended self to mental trauma resulting from divorce or bereavement. This magical drink is effective as both a sedative and a stimulant. Tea calms, pacifies, and excites, increases vitality. Whatever your mental or physical state, all you need is “a good cup of tea.”

And, perhaps most importantly, making tea is a wonderful defense mechanism: when the British feel awkward or uncomfortable in a social situation (and this is almost a permanent state for them), they brew and pour tea. If you don’t know what to do, turn on the kettle. They also love toast. Toast is a breakfast staple, a versatile convenience food for all occasions. That which tea alone does not cure, tea with toast will certainly heal. True, it is useless to judge class affiliation by toasts: everyone loves toasts. Representatives of the upper classes of society had a prejudice against sliced ​​bread in the package, but only those of them who are afraid of being ranked as a lower class pointedly bypass sliced ​​bread for toast in the store. But what you smear on your toast can give an idea of ​​your social status. The middle and upper classes consider margarine the food of the “commoners”. They themselves use butter (unless they are on a diet, that is, they do not suffer from intolerance to dairy products). Marmalade is widely popular, but the upper classes prefer dark, thickly cut Oxford or Dundee marmalade, while the lower classes usually eat light, thinly sliced ​​Golden Shred (Golden Chips) marmalade. Darker and thicker jam is intended for the table of representatives of the high classes. Some class-conscious members of the middle and upper middle classes have a deep preference for lighter, softer varieties of marmalade and jam (perhaps because they come from lower classes and ate Golden Shred as children), but are forced to buy varietiesintended for the upper classes. Only the lower classes – in particular, the lower middle classes – trying to express themselves “in a secular way”, call jam (jam) preserves (“jam”).