The British food day is divided into four parts: a hearty, savoury breakfast or 'brekkie', the 'cuppa' (a tea break punctuating morning and afternoon), 'tea' (the evening meal, often simple and comforting), and on Sundays, the 'Sunday roast', a family gathering around a roasted joint. There's no set starter-main-dessert structure: you move from nourishing savoury to comforting sweet, all around a teapot that never goes cold.

A fermented condiment made from anchovies, molasses and tamarind, a distant heir to Roman garum. A few drops give British cooking its characteristic umami depth — in meat, sauces, even on a simple egg. It's the quiet secret linking a film-set sandwich to a Sunday roast.