The British meal rhythm of the 1950s is not divided into starter-main-dessert but into three social moments: the hearty "cooked breakfast" that kick-starts the morning, the quick lunch at the college canteen (or a packed snack taken to the lab), and then the evening "pub supper" — pint in hand — where the real discussions happen. The pub (here, The Eagle, a stone's throw from the Cavendish) is the fourth workplace, the place where great news is announced between sips of bitter.

The common thread of this English table: malted barley, which gives both the brown beer of pubs (the pint of bitter) and the malt vinegar sprinkled on chips. The same fermented cereal structures the evening drink and the seasoning of fish and chips — a typically British bitter-sour flavour.