High Tea

Thirty odd years ago I had a part time waitressing job in NW England and we served high tea. A hot meal accompanied by a pot of tea and bread and butter, followed by something from the dessert trolley!

Georgesgran

Sorry, I seem to have misread the beginning of OP’s post. TBH at 70, I’ve never had or heard of what she describes as High Tea - it sounds like an awful lot of food at once? Of course afternoon tea is very different and a big money spinner now, especially with tourists.

It really is not much different to having a main course and a pudding. We all had one half slice of toast and the cakes were quite modest in size .

It all really depends on what you call your meals of the day and at what time you eat them. Words have changed since I married 40 +years ago.
I was brought up with breakfast,dinner at 12 o'clock and then tea at about 5 o'clock and supper 8/9 p.m. Where I live the farmers still stick to those terms and times with an early breakfast.
Now most of us call what would have been tea, supper and have it later at 5.30 or later.
When I married and moved we were invited for Dinner at people's houses, not black tie but a formal 3-course meal at about 8 pm. Now unless you were being pretentious you would invite people for supper not Dinner, we would still make a Dinner reservation in an hotel.
In Northern counties and Scotland, high tea was a mix of what we would now call supper and afternoon tea. A hot meal followed not by a pudding but a selection of cakes and scones. Afternoon tea is what it says it is a meal in the afternoon with sandwiches and cakes and I would love to have a Bettys one but we live too far away now.
What were school dinners at 12 midday are now called lunches

Happy memories of the huge treat that was High Tea in the Playhouse Cinema Inverness’s restaurant, before watching the latest Walt Disney cartoon ‘fillum’. We always chose the fish and chips with bread and butter before tucking into the tea and cakes. Sadly, the place was burned down in the early 70’s by the projectionist, who turned out to have been a serial arsonist…

I understand that supper is the term for the main evening meal in the south of England, but from the Midlands up to the North of England the evening meal is Tea. Whatever you eat, it is tea. Afternoon tea is posh sandwiches and little cakes and is served in cafes etc as a treat, though far too calorific! High tea is Scottish, as described earlier, with main course, then pot of tea, scones, cakes. Tea in Yorkshire is the main cooked meal, with or without a pudding. Supper in Yorkshire will be just a biscuit, or maybe crackers and cheese, or fruit cake and cheese. That is my experience, anyway.

When we were new to Yorkshire we were invited for supper in someone’s house. We did not eat beforehand, and were really hungry by the time the food was served, but there was plenty of it, especially the fruit cake, which I love. Always best to clarify!

Dinner is what we have for our evening meal in the South with Supper being a lighter meal/snack later on. Our High Tea at school was a lighter meal followed by cake.

Agree. I think the Aussies refer to afternoon as high tea…

Not as far as I know. High tea here is a "posh" afternoon tea - guess it could also be morning tea. It usually consists of both savoury and sweet offerings and the only one I have had was delicious.

It's interesting that 'high tea' in Australia has morphed from it's earlier humbler origins to now mean an afternoon tea with tea/coffee/champagne or prosecco and delicious cakes and other treats.

Afternoon tea in Australia is called high tea(sandwiches, scones and cakes)
I thought high tea here in the UK was late afternoon early evening bacon sausages beans and toast etc

I've heard of it many times, or should I say, I've READ it many times over the years in novels but, as a Londoner, I've never experienced it. Sounds delicious, my sort of food ?

You are making me absolutely starving!

And yes, high tea is, or was, well known in Scotland, Northumberland, Yorkshire, and probably Derbyshire as well, but not in the south of England.

In my Scottish childhood (1950s-1960s) my grandparents' generation ate breakfast, usually porridge, followed by toast and marmelade, accompanied by tea before work, whenever that started.

Dinner, two courses, usually soup followed by a meat or fish dish with potatoes and a vegetable at noon. On high days and holidays, pudding of the boiled variety instead of soup.

Afternoon tea, if served at all, consisted of tea with scones and biscuits or a sliced cake, and only on special occasions sandwiches.

High tea as described above, at the end of the working day.

My parents' generation moved dinner to the place of high tea and ate a cooked lunch at midday, incorporating in it a good deal of what their parents had served at high tea, but usually in lesser quantities. And many of them drank afternoon coffee in preference to afternoon tea.

Oh I love a high tea though not had one for years. I too get really annoyed when folk say high tea when it's actually afternoon tea

I'm Scottish and obviously I've heard of "high tea". I suppose the closest to it, here in England is "afternoon tea".
Too early for dinner, too late for lunch.

We had high tea when touring the Lake District 40 odd years ago when the children were young. We had ordered gammon ham, chips and peas and so were delighted when this was followed by scones and cakes. It was a highlight of the holiday for the kiddies!

High tea. Isn’t this just an early dinner. When my children were young they had their tea(high?) at about 5pm because they were usually starving and in bed by 7.30pm. and the parents ate their dinner later. Sometimes it was the same meal depending on whether they were having chicken nuggets/chips or a meal cooked from scratch. They usually had a dessert of some kind.

I’ve only ever had High Tea in Scotland. I wish it was available down south. I’d definitely be a regular.

supper was what you ate before bedtime,a big plate of sandwiches or scrambled egg and toast or toasted cheese or cheese pudding ..sometimes with home made skinny chips or potato fritters .
We always had a supper and my Dad would make the fritters .
Another thing people I know who moved from England hadn't heard of was a Playpiece ..a sandwich for eating at playtime in school to keep us going until lunch.I loved cold toast for mine,my friend used to swap with me .her mum gave her jan pieces

jam pieces

Here in the south many hotels and eateries offer 'Afternoon Tea' which is a savoury and a hot drink and cake collation.

I don't like it as I couldn't go without my frugal lunch or I'd be too hungry and then I wouldn't want twice the calories (and bulk) for afternoon tea which is meant to be a light and delicious refreshment.

I sometimes think that, for the cafes, bunging a couple of sarnies in is a way of having the cheek to ask £30 or £40 for a cuppa and a slice. Cliveden, nearby, rushes you £62 for the addition of a glass of Champagne.

When I was small my auntie used to take me to a very posh restaurant in Ilfracombe and we used to have toasted tea cakes and a plate of fancy cakes. Lovely memories….

Always assumed high tea was another name for afternoon tea but now I know!

I think Aussies and Americans think 'high' means posh when it comes to afternoon tea.

We love high tea. My husband is a Kiwi and he thinks it was the greatest tradition ever.

Some of these high teas mentioned sound very substantial, so I wonder what sort of lunch you would have had before. At boarding school our main meal was always lunch, followed by high tea which would be something on toast with bread and jam, and a cake on Sundays. Supper was a drink and a biscuit. No overweight children out of the 500 pupils.

Spice101

*Agree. I think the Aussies refer to afternoon as high tea…*

Not as far as I know. High tea here is a "posh" afternoon tea - guess it could also be morning tea. It usually consists of both savoury and sweet offerings and the only one I have had was delicious.

That’s what I said !