British cuisine — 1860s, Fish and chips

Weekly roast meal with gravy and puddings. London, Manchester and Glasgow do not cook the same dinner. Regional stubbornness is the cuisine, not a footnote. The home pantry around Sunday roast and the labour behind Sunday roast rarely fit a takeaway box. Are restaurant versions "authentic"?

Restaurant British cuisine is one register. Home pots and market stalls are others. Authenticity is a marketing word; technique is not. British food is the local name used in this atlas beside British cuisine. British cuisine is organised around cheese / beer / pickle and potato / bread. Fish and chips and Sunday roast are the plates most diners meet first.

Street and home forms differ. The export icon is real; the pantry behind cheese / beer / pickle is what makes it a system. British cuisine is organised by cheese / beer / pickle and potato / bread. London concentrates restaurants; the provinces keep the older pots. A single national menu abroad is a greatest-hits list.