| What is Englishness
Following up on recent discussions about Portuguese pubs, it made me wonder what is truely identifiable as English ?
Other countries have national costume - I can't think of anything that could be considered 'English costume' except for possibly Morris Dancers, Pearly Kings/Queens, Beefeaters - but these don't really fit into the *national* category (IMO).
And what about food, Spanish have paella, Italy has pizza or pasta, Germany has sausages - what food is immediately identifiable as English? I discount roast beef, since the Romans introduced that into the country, so it's really Italian! Could it be our English dish is fish and chips? Or possible steak and kidney pie?
England is such a mixed group now (and I'm not implying there's anything wrong with that!) and it seems difficult to define 'Englishness'.
Any suggestions? |