Some stereotypes I had of the British before I studied abroad in the UK turned out to be true. They do love tea, tend to have less than perfect teeth, and no matter what they say it comes out sounding beautiful with their accents. However, there are some stereotypes that were quickly dismissed: no, they do not all know or even like the Queen, and the cuisine is not dull or boring in the slightest. While walking down the aisles of the Giant on Wilkens Avenue I was shocked when I saw the British food section. Seeing this left me wondering how many English live on Wilkens Avenue who buy these products, and left me missing my pub lunch diet of the past year.

One of the rituals I miss in England is not just afternoon tea, but tea all day everyday. Giant sells imported Lyons tea for $9.49 for only eighty tea bags. Honestly any black tea, such as Twinings black tea will work. Something the English do is dunk biscuits (our cookies) into the tea, often with milk added to it. My favorite options are McVitie's biscuits, which are multi grain biscuits (also called "digestives") covered in caramel and milk chocolate (costing $5.89) and Cadbury fingers (costing $3.59) which are cookies covered in either milk or dark chocolate. Going along with desserts in England is one of the most oddly named foods, spotted dick. Far from what the title is thought to be, this is a sponge pudding, almost like a bread pudding, served with hot custard sauce, and are both sold at Giant. If you want a simple and cheap way to enjoy a British desert, then a candy bar is your best bet. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection Giant carries, consisting of Toffee Crisp bars, Aero, Malteasers (their version of Whoppers), and Milky Bars (all costing $1.09).

Some of the British food found on aisle 12 can be confusing to understand even if it is the same language. On the top left corner of the aisle for example is something labeled only by the word 'sauce'. Next to that is something called HP Sauce, referred to commonly as brown sauce (descriptive, right?) this is used on basically everything, it is like their ketchup. At only $3.69 a bottle it is definitely worth a try and the label boasts it can be put on "sausages, bacon sandwiches, and chips" and my friends also put it on chicken and fish sticks.

This bringing me to a British classic, fish and chips. For the best recipe, I turned to Food Network's token Englishman, Jamie Oliver. His recipe is for both the fish and the chips, but to save time and money I recommend buying frozen fries and cooking them according to the directions on the back of the package. However, for the fish you will need: 1 cup flour, 1 cup beer, 2 egg whites whipped to soft peaks, salt and four 9-ounce fillets of a white fish such as haddock or cod with the skin still on. Then to make the fish:

Pour all the vegetable oil into a deep pan or deep fat fryer, and heat to 300 degrees F.

Mix together the flour and the beer, then fold in the egg whites. Turn up the heat of the oil to 350 degrees F. Dip the fish in the batter and then fry for a few minutes with the chips until golden brown.

Drain on kitchen paper (paper towels) and serve with bread and butter.

In order to make the dish authentically British, make sure to serve it with mushy peas. These processed peas are a lot better than they sound and at $1.89 for a can there is no reason not to add them to your meal. Also, for those of you 21 or older get a nice beer to go along with the meal (extra credit if it is served room temperature as they serve it in England).

When it comes to food there is no reason not to be adventurous and try things from all over the world. However, I want to share the foods that I wasn't too keen on in order to save you from having a bad taste in your mouth. The first food that comes to mind is yeast extract, better known as Marmite. One of my friends from England decided to play a joke on me, because when you are really supposed to spread a dime sized amount on a piece of bread, he happily handed me a whole spoonful. Immediately my eyes watered and I had to run to the nearest trashcan, it is the bitterest food I have ever had. Another food on which to save your money is something called salad cream. This is basically mayonnaise and used in England as a salad dressing, needless to say it does nothing that a jar of Hellmann's can't. Besides these few products, the British food section of aisle 12 at Giant is worth a visit to get a taste of what our neighbors from across the pond eat.