Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Welsh Specialities
Traditionally, Welsh food was based on what could be grown locally and cheaply. This
meant that oats, root vegetables, dairy products, honey and meat featured highly in most re-
cipes. Food was functional and needed to satisfy the needs of labourers on the farm or
workers down the mine. It was hearty and wholesome but not exactly haute cuisine. The
food revolution in Wales has changed that, but traditional staples, such as Welsh lamb,
Welsh Black beef, sewin (wild sea trout), Penclawdd cockles, Conwy mussels, laver bread
and farmhouse cheeses, still have their place in the kitchens of any decent eating place in
Wales - albeit the recipes have a contemporary twist.
Most menus will feature Welsh lamb or Welsh Black beef and you rarely go wrong with
these. On the coast try some sewin or cockles. The most traditional Welsh dish remains
cawl,
the hearty, one-pot meal of bacon, lamb, cabbage, swede and potato. It's one of those
warm, cosy dishes that you long for when you're walking in the hills. Another traditional
favourite is Welsh rarebit, a kind of sophisticated cheese on toast, generously drizzled with
a secret ingredient tasting suspiciously like beer. For breakfast, try laver bread, not bread at
all, but boiled seaweed mixed with oatmeal and served with bacon or cockles.
Local Treats
Bara brith
Cawl
Faggots
Laver bread
Perl Las
Sewin
Welsh cakes
A top tip is to finish your meal with some great Welsh cheese, notably Caws Cenarth,
Celtic Blue or Perl Las. The real cheese cognoscenti head to the award-winning Blaenavon
Cheddar Co, located in the industrial town of Blaenavon, where handmade cheeses are ma-
tured down the mineshaft of the Big Pit: National Coal Museum.
