So this thread is for myself and others unfamiliar with English culture to ask questions and get an inside view of life in England.
First up: Wtf is this!?!? 
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Jellied eels
Old school English pie shops have nearly died out.
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Is that sweet? And is it considered a delicacy or just a traditional English thing?
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Also, is it common or a dish of a bygone era?
More savory than sweet
It’s seen as a working class, working man’s dish primarily rather than a delicacy.
@KITN largely a Bygone era. Alot of blue-collar industries and the fisheries declined or have moved out of London and the working class gents with them.
You only really get old dudes eating that if any. You rarely seen any traditional pie shops around any more
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My mum loved jellied eel, she’s actually specifically asked me to take her to that famous shop in the east end that is like one of the last still to do proper jellied eels.
Can’t remember what it’s called but it’s in east London.
Just to add some citation here. These things are not eaten by the majority of English people. Most people here have probably never had this dish 
They’re mainly sold in pie and mash shops in East London. Though there aren’t many remaining.
@Cristo is it G Kelly’s?
That or F Cooke, can’t remember now haha
I could google this but I’d like to get a nuanced view on this as well as other things…
Boxing Day…what is it, why is it, is it an England thing exclusively?
What’s your English opinion on it?
Its the day we all box fuck out of each other after Christmas Day 
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Fits my mental picture of England as a drunken fist fight inside of a medieval tavern.
I can understand thanksgiving being bigger over in the states seeing as its you celebrating your independence from England. 
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English people love discussing the weather. By discussing, I mean moaning about it.
Boxing Day is a very sacred day in English tradition. It’s the first day that merchants reduce the price of their wares, and some dedicated pilgrims will pay homage through the night to ensure they get theirs.
For my family it’s basically just a second Christmas day. We spend Christmas day with my wife’s family and then Boxing Day with mine. My sister spends Christmas Day with her real mum and then Boxing Day with us.
I assumed all Christmas loving countries had it, do they not?
I don’t know where it comes from, I think it was something like giving boxes to the poor 1000 years ago, but obviously we don’t do that.
I don’t think it is just an English thing. For a lot of countries it’s basically the second day of Christmas. For the religious it’s St Stephens Day. For the English it is shopping day
It is most definitely an English thing, although ultimately it is just the 2nd Day of Christmas.
It stems from the good old days of the Victorian/Georgian era where basically the aristocracy’s servants had to work on the 25th to take care of the nobles and so were unable to really celebrate Christmas themselves.
To keep the peasants sweet and unrevolty, the nobility would give their servants the 26th off as well as presents (hence Boxing Day - the presents would come in boxes).
Ultimately as with basically everything in the UK, it’s a class thing lol @KITN
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Other Commonwealth countries have it too. And then many others have it as the second day of Christmas, which ultimately is the same thing.
I wonder whether the English had any influence on that lol
We specifically don’t call it Boxing day here.
Yeah it’s definitely a British/British Empire thing.
“Boxing day” is not a thing in the rest of Europe, it’s just one of the days you get off due to Christmas.
In Denmark it’s called Anden Juledag which just means Second Day of Christmas.
The Wiki for Boxing day only refers to Britain and other former colonies.
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