Our story Goldilocks and the Three Bears takes place deep in the woods of England.
Maybe you remember learning about England from The Selfish Giant or The Three Little Pigs Deep Dives? But let’s refresh our memories anyway!
England is way across the Atlantic Ocean, in Europe. It is on the island of Great Britain, and it belongs to a group of countries called the United Kingdom of Great Britain (or the UK for short). All the countries (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland and Wales) work together to make important decisions! Remember our Pie of the UK? Here it is again!
The UK is where Kings and Queens live and rule, it’s where double decker buses and Harry Potter are from, and there are lots of castles! Below is a map for you to look at, and you can go back to The Selfish Giant deep dive about seasons in England here or the Three Little Pigs deep dive about architecture in England here to learn more about the English land. This time, for our story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, we want to explore the FOODS of England.
“Too hot! Too cold! Just right.” Do you know where that saying is from? That’s right! Our Story! Goldilocks & The Three Bears is a classic British fairy tale, about a young girl named Goldilocks who ate some tasty porridge and learned a valuable lesson about respecting other people’s belongings.
So who exactly was Goldilocks? That’s a great question! The amazing thing about fairy tales and old stories is that often they started one way, written by one person, (that’s called the original story) and then another person comes along and changes the story and that new version becomes popular and people forget the original story. A lot of fairy tales in their original version are very, very scary! Have you ever heard of Grimm’s Fairy tales? Some of those are downright spooky! You can listen to a cool kids podcast called “Grim, Grimmer, Grimmest” if you like scary stories! Here is the link!
The very first version of the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears was written by a mysterious lady named Eleanor Mure. She wrote it for her four year old nephew, and made a little book for him with lovely drawings. It was called “ The Story of the Three Bears” and there wasn’t even a Goldilocks in it! Instead, the Goldilocks character was a rude, pushy old woman! And the bears weren’t a family of bears, they were just three big bear male friends! This little book was a personal treasure and no one knew about it except the family. It was a little bit scary too – at the end of it the bears took the old lady and tossed her on top of a church steeple to punish her for breaking in!
Later, a man named Joseph Cundall turned the old lady character into a charming curious little girl named “Silver-locks” (Locks means hair, so the first little girl had shiny silver hair. In time, writers gave the girl Golden hair, and her name was Goldi-locks. Get it? What color locks do you have? What would your name be?) He also turned the bears into a family, and they became baby bear, mama bear, and papa bear.
When the story was written, bears were extinct in the UK, but the bears in the story were likely based off of the European Brown Bear. Bears are wonderful creatures and have strong family ties, and they are symbols of strength.
Can you see how much both the Goldilocks character and the bears changed in the different versions of the story?
How would you change the story if you were to rewrite it?
Okay! Back to food! If we’re going to explore the food of England, we had better start with porridge! In the story Goldilocks and the Three Bears, the bears make their morning porridge and then go on a walk through the woods to let it cool down.
But what is porridge exactly? Porridge is simply oatmeal!! Yum! What do you like in your oatmeal? Cinnamon? Raisins? Apples? Here is a recipe to make your very own “Goldilocks & The Three Bears’ Porridge!”
When it comes to England and food, one of the most important – and sometimes fancy – of traditions is high tea! For about 400 years, the UK has been one of the largest consumers of tea in the world. Some say they drink about 4 pounds of tea per year! Originally, tea was only for the kings and queens. but over time all of the British population participated in this tradition, specifically the “Afternoon Tea” tradition. But how did it start?
In the year 1840, Anna, the 7th Duchess of Bedford, would often complain of being hungry in the late afternoon, because they did not eat dinner until around 8 PM.
So around 4 PM, Anna would request not only tea to be brought to her every afternoon, but also a little afternoon snack which would include bread and butter and little cakes. Because she asked for this every day, the tradition of “high tea”, or afternoon tea time started to become a tradition. Everyone wanted to be like the Duchess, and so people would have it from 3 to 5 in the afternoon. In truth, it was a good idea. A lot of people were a bit hungry in the late afternoon and the tea time satisfied them until dinner. 3 to 5 o’clock is the time when you get out of school… and aren’t you ready for a snack too? Have you ever had a tea party?
BEAR FOOD: Only about 13% of England is covered in forests, and bears live in forests. But the bears went extinct in the UK over 1000 years ago, although many still live in other countries in Europe. So the Three Bears from “Goldilocks” would have been an imaginary family of European Brown Bears that the author Robert Southey wrote to be living in a place like Paradise Bottom Forest, a wooded area near Bristol, England where he grew up.
Here’s a picture of Paradise Bottom Forest. That’s a funny name isn’t it!
We want to teach you all about food in this deep dive, so we’ll start by sharing what bears really eat, because we’ve never seen a bear make porridge in a kitchen! A European brown bear’s diet is made up mostly of a mixture of grasses, berries, plants, fungi (that’s a mushroom! There is a good mushroom joke in the PLAY AND LEARN section), mosses, nuts, fruit, honey, insects, birds and fish, and small mammals. They aren’t exactly vegetarian… but they do eat lots and lots of vegetation!
The European Brown Bear and the Grizzly Bear are related, but we only call them Grizzly Bear’s if they live in North America. Did you know that their claws are different shapes because they eat different things! The Brown Bear has sharp and long claws for digging into the ground to find nuts, or tearing apart a log to find insects. The Black Bear has shorter, more curved claws, to help in climbing trees. The Grizzly and the Brown Bear also use their claws to catch fish.
Other popular English foods eaten during breakfast besides porridge, includes their famous “traditional English Breakfast” with eggs, bacon, sausage, tomatoes, mushrooms, toast with
butter, baked beans (the sweet kind), and black pudding.
British people also love to eat traditional English pancakes which are different from American pancakes. The English pancakes are much thinner like a crepe and have the topping of lemon juice and sugar. YUM! That sounds like a lemonade pancake!
Sweet treats and Pastries in England are loved all over the world! Some of the most famous desserts from England are:
WOW – These look delicious! Which one’s do you want to try?
SUNDAY FAMILY MEAL:
In England, there are some special foods that families love to eat together. One of them is called Sunday Roast or Yorkshire Pudding, which started a long time ago in a place called Yorkshire during the Medieval times, back when knights and kingdoms were around. Back then, after going to church on Sundays, people would gather to cook and eat a big meal together. They usually roasted meat from animals like cows or oxen.
Although beef is the favorite meat to roast, you can also roast lamb, chicken, or pork, along with potatoes and veggies like carrots, peas, and brussels sprouts. The special addition they made was called Yorkshire pudding, which is a kind of hollow biscuit made from eggs, flour, and milk or water. Yum! These Yorkshire puddings used to be cooked under the meat and were served before the roast to help fill up people’s tummies before the meal because meat was expensive. The pudding soaked up the meat juices, making it very filling and extra tasty.
Another fun tradition in England is eating different kinds of savory pies. All over England, different areas are known for their special pies, and they are very similar to American Pot Pies! One popular pie is called Steak and Kidney Pie, which is filled with yummy meat.
Liverpool is known for a tasty stew called Scouse and another dish called Toad in the Hole, which is sausages cooked in Yorkshire Pudding batter. .
In Essex, they have something called Pork Plugga, which is a delicious pork dish.
So, in England, people have been enjoying tasty food traditions for a long time, and they still love eating these delicious dishes with their families today! What’s your favorite food to eat with your family?
Here is a fun fact. People call the same food BY DIFFERENT names, depending on the country you are in! For instance, did you know that English people often call desserts, pudding?
They call our American type pudding, custard!
Here are some fun differences in food language – If you want to pretend like you are English, make sure you ask for the right thing!
CHIPS in the USA are called CRISPS in the UK.
BUT, FRENCH FRIES in the USA are called CHIPS in the UK.
Have you ever heard of “Fish and Chips? That means fried fish, and french fries!
EGGPLANT in the USA is called AUBERGINE in the UK.
COOKIE in the USA is called BISCUIT in the UK
ARUGULA in the USA is called ROCKET in the UK.
SAUSAGE in the USA is called BANGER in the UK.
SHRIMP in the USA is called PRAWN in the UK.
CANDY in the USA is called LOLLY in the UK.
And POPSICLE in the USA is called ICE LOLLY in the UK.
How about at breakfast tomorrow you say “MUMMY, can I have BANGERS for breakfast, and an ICE LOLLY for my PUDDING!” 😂
In the world of English food, there are some famous chefs who have become big stars because of their cooking skills and their cookbooks. Some of them are Nigella Lawson, Gordon Ramsay, and Delia Smith. They have made careers out of cooking and writing about food. That sounds like a delicious job!
There are also TV programs that show off British cooking traditions. One of the most popular ones is called the Great British Baking Show. It’s a fun and wholesome program that the whole family will enjoy.
Windsor Castle
Queen Victoria also spent part of her time at Windsor Castle in England. And here she grew to love a dish called “Brown Windsor Soup”. This is a hearty lamb and beef soup served with bread and butter. And a perfect dish to warm you up on a cold and rainy British day at WIndsor Castle.
https://www.food.com/recipe/queen-victorias-brown-windsor-soup-391231