You will expect different types of food from different restaurants – pub food, caf food, fast food, and fine dining all fall under the category of meals from food outlets. We all expect there to be a world of difference between a meal from a fast food joint and a dinner from an award winning restaurant, both in quality and price, but what about pub food? Is pub food freshly made or mass-produced? Just how healthy is this kind of food?

Pub food in Britain is fondly known as “pub grub.” In the early days of the twentieth century, you could expect a cold snack such as a salad or shellfish vendor stalls outside the pub-selling mussels, whelks, cockles and more.

In the 1950s, most pubs offered “a pie and a pint” and the landlord’s wife would make steak and ale pies for the workmen who came in for lunch. In the 1960s, dishes such as scampi or chicken in a basket appeared. In Ireland, Irish stew with soda bread was common pub food.

Modern Types of Pub Food

Pub food currently found in British pubs includes fish and chips, bangers and mash, hot pot, pasties, steak and kidney pie, shepherd’s pie, ploughman’s lunch and Sunday roast. International recipes such as chili con carne, curry, and lasagna are often served too. In Australia, the pub food menu will include bangers and mash, steak, chicken schnitzel, pub-style hamburger and fish, often served with mashed potatoes, chips or wedges and a salad.

Since the 1990s, most pubs offer full meals as well as bar snacks. Some pubs, known as “gastro pubs” serve fine food to rival top quality restaurants. This word is a mixture of gastronomy and pub and it was coined in 1991 when The Eagle, a pub in London, began to serve fine food, something that other pubs had never done.

Why Pub Food Takes Second Place to Homemade Food

Not many pubs offer the type of food found in The Eagle and most modern pubs use cheap ingredients, easy cooking methods such as microwaving and they have a cook who might or might not have any culinary skills. Rather than fresh pub food, you can expect something that has been made in a factory, packaged in plastic wrap, boxed and deep frozen for a year.

You might love chicken Marsala recipes but those ordered in a modern pub might be far from freshly made. Most of the flavor in the pub’s chicken Marsala will probably come from artificial flavorings rather than the ingredients. There is one British pub chain we know of which only has two cooked to order dishes on its menu and everything else is deep frozen until required.

It might be fine to enjoy pub food now and then but homemade food is so much better for you. Not only is it tastier and free from additives, colorings and preservatives but you can use the freshest ingredients and homemade food works out much cheaper than pub food. Some recipes are quicker and easier than you might have thought and tasty homemade food is something that all the family will love you for.

Tags: cooking, diet, eating, entertaining, family, food, food and drink, gardening, health, home, home-and-garden, lifestyles, recipe, recipes

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