Abstract
It is true that England is not reputed for its cuisine. Perhaps it is significant that there is no real equivalent for the expression bon appétit in English (waiters only say “enjoy your meal”). However, there are different specialties in England such as the famous English breakfast (with baked beans, sausages and bacon), the puddings (served with custard) and cheese cake.
I have been an au pair for 8 months, and I had to cook every day either with cookbooks or recipes that my mother made up herself. Most of the time, I had to use Jamie Oliver's cookbooks or Annabel Karmel's new Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, since there was 6 month old baby and a 2 year old girl in the family, I noticed that most the English families own several cookbooks written by famous chefs like Deliah Smith and cooking was really important to them.
The reason why I have chosen this subject is mainly based on the fact that when I cooked dessert with the family, using my own French cookbooks, I could not always find the exact English translation for the ingredients or the verbs used in recipes. What's more, I could not understand what “oz” meant. I thought it could be interesting for me to discover English recipes since British cooking has a dreadful reputation in France, some dishes are quite good and you finally get used to the typical lunchtime sandwich.
