In today's episode, we are going to talk about a very British tradition
- afternoon tea, and I'm very happy to be joined by my very good friend, Charlie.
Hello! Hello. Thank you very much for having me. You're welcome. I'm really, really pleased that you've decided to join me today.
So, Charlie, how do you feel about afternoon tea?
Well, food in general is probably my favourite topic to talk about, and
afternoon tea, I like it very much. Um, I suppose it's one of those things that I don't have...
it's a treat for me. And it's something that perhaps me and a family friend will do
on a birthday or like I say, is a special treat rather than it being something that I do regularly at home.
Um, but I have to say that life has got rather boring for me because I try not to eat too much refined sugar, trying to be healthy.
So, that does change afternoon tea a little bit for me. Um, but the joy of afternoon tea is that it's not all about the cakes.
Well, that brings me very, um, nicely onto what afternoon tea actually
consists of because some people may never have experienced this tradition. So, afternoon tea, as the name suggests, obviously has tea as a-- a main component,
but it also consists of sandwiches and scones, and pastries or cakes.
So, let's start with the origins of afternoon tea. It actually started back in the 1840s with the Duchess of Bedford,
Anna, I believe her name was. She was hungry between lunch and dinner.
And so, she asked for some sandwiches and some, some cakes, some pastries to be
brought to her and she enjoyed doing this. So, she did it again and again, and eventually Queen Victoria dropped in.
She would obviously working in high circles back then, um, back then as if she still survives now.
Queen Victoria joined her and this then became a tradition because once the Queen does something, at least in the past, everyone took note.
So, sandwiches. Now the sandwiches of an afternoon tea are quite delicate.
Uh, as far as I know, you tend to cut off the crusts and if you are having afternoon
tea in a restaurant or a hotel, they actually serve them as little rectangles.
Is that your experience? That's true. Yeah. Crusts cut off and they're meant to be like finger sandwiches.
So, it's also meant to be very delicate, very dainty and something that you can hold with one hand and eat in a very ladylike fashion without necessarily
spilling the contents down your lap or getting your face or fingers all mucky.
Absolutely. Because one thing we haven't mentioned is the afternoon tea really now is a social thing, isn't it?
It's about spending time with your friends and family, or maybe even, uh, a business event.
So, you might take your clients out for afternoon tea to discuss business. So, you don't want to be there with a mouthful, two hands on your
sandwich, having a mouthful of food and then trying to discuss things. So, all very dainty, very light.
Um, savoury part to the afternoon tea. And also because you're gonna have dinner afterwards as well, right?
So not eating crust. I mean, that just makes me think of what my mum always used to say is that you have to eat your crust because crust make your hair curly.
Have you heard that? I've heard that, or that you'll get hair on your chest. Oh... If you eat the crust.
If you do or you don't? If you do! If you do, you'll get hairs on your chest?
Yeah. I'm sure I've heard that before. I obviously recognise that that was a load of rubbish. So, I enjoyed the crust.
I think I'd prefer the crust more than any other part of the bread, to be honest.
Really? Yeah. Especially if it's, um, like I love the end of the bread as well.
I know that's quite controversial. Usually people, you know, fight for not having that, the end of the bread,
but I, I like the end of the bread and yeah, a really crusty crust.
Do you know what the end of the bread is called? It has a name? I only found this out recently.