Summary

The poem “The British (serves 60 million)” by Benjamin Zephaniah presents the creation of British society over time as if it was a recipe and lists the peoples that have formed the British society both in the past and in the present as ingredients. The poem begins by giving indications to first add a number of Celtic and Pictish tribes and then, after some time, to add Roman conquerors, which will be removed after a few centuries. Then, the poem recommends adding Norman French to Anglo-Saxon and Viking people and stirring them vigorously.

The poem continues by mentioning the other peoples that currently form modern British society, such as Chileans, Jamaicans, Vietnamese, Afghani, Spanish, and Turkish. The speaker recommends mixing them together, but allowing them to keep their own language as well as English. At the end of the recipe, the speaker also indicates that one should also add other ingredients, such as justice and respect. Finally, the speaker says, one can enjoy the recipe.

The speaker then adds a note to the recipe. In the note, the speaker strongly insists that all ingredients have to be considered of equal importance. People cannot favor one ingredient over all the othe...