I Love Welsh Cuisine!

**manker** · 11-01-2005, 03:45 PM

Originally Posted by Proper Bo

are you using 'should' and 'my' in italics to show irony there manker?

Indeed not!

I prefer not to telegraph my own irony, that way only people who can appeciate it will benefit.

**Proper Bo** · 11-01-2005, 03:46 PM

Ohh, I get it.

**manker** · 11-01-2005, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by Proper Bo

Ohh, I get it.

Well, yeah.

Afterall, you're clearly endowed with a, seemingly rare, talent for reading English.

**Proper Bo** · 11-01-2005, 03:52 PM

Huzzah, I'm clever.

**JPaul** · 11-01-2005, 08:09 PM

THE HISTORY OF WELSH FOOD

* Welsh food owes much to its ancient, Celtic traditions in that it has developed to satisfy the needs of hardworking men and women. Hearty and filling dishes were necessary to appease the appetites of farm labourers, coal miners, quarry workers and fishermen.

* English culinary traditions developed from the upper echelons of its society. The well-stocked larders housed in the aristocratic country mansions reflected a plentiful and varied supply of food. The true tastes of Wales, however, are derived from the harsh Celtic country, which yielded not a lot but enough to satisfy.

* Wales’ bleak uplands ensured that, apart from oats, very few cereal crops could flourish. Consequently, and in common with other Celtic countries, oats became part of the staple diet when incorporated with soups, porridge and cakes.

* According to the 10th Century Laws of Hywel Dda, the only two vegetables cultivated in Wales were cabbages and leeks.

* Up until the development of coal mines in the south and slate quarries in the north, Wales was essentially an agricultural country consisting of numerous smallholdings and tenant farms.

* The foods that are considered to be most traditional throughout Wales include bacon, cheese, Bara Lawr (laverbread), crempog (pancakes), Bara Brith (tea bread) and Cawl (basically an amalgamation of broth, stew and soup)

* Contemporary agriculture has seen Welsh lamb being exported globally but, in the past, the people of Wales considered it a rare treat. Lamb was strictly reserved for holidays and special occasions.

* The mainstay of Welsh meat consumption was pork. Homes situated in rural areas and in semi-urban parts of Wales, such as mining villages, housed a pig-sty (twlc) at the bottom of the garden and is an enduring Welsh cultural feature. The annual pig-slaughter was a highly regarded occasion and perceived as an exciting ritual when performed by the butcher.

* Bacon in particular was an essential element in Welsh cuisine due to it forming the basis to the traditional dish known as Cawl. This classic one-pot meal varies from region to region and even from house to house. Some people differ, not only in the method of cooking, but often in the consumption of cawl. One might prefer to serve it all in one bowl whilst another would prefer to serve the broth first before following with the meat and vegetables.

* Welsh Black Beef is today very nearly as popular as Welsh lamb due to marked increased in international exports and British purchases.

* The fishing industry along the West Coast of Wales was (and to some extent still is) highly important with herring and mackerel proving the most popular of catches. The Gower once enjoyed an abundance of oysters, caught in great quantities at Port Einon but, sadly, over-fishing has caused this delicacy to virtually disappear from our shores.

* The tradition of fishing in Wales witnessed the creation of a manoeuvrable and efficient fishing boat called the ‘coracle’. The rivers of Wales were once dotted with these tiny, circular vessels and they changed little in design over the years since its Neolithic inception. You might see a few in use today but over-fishing again has ensured their scarcity.

* For hundreds of years, the cocklemen and women have harvested cockles across the Gower peninsula. This shellfish is an inexpensive source of protein that remains popular today.

* Additionally, the Gower peninsula was one of the only known places where the edible form of seaweed, known as ‘laver’, could be found. This was cooked and prepared to make laverbread or bara lawr and was usually sprinkled with oatmeal and cooked in bacon fat.

* A traditional Welsh breakfast consists of laverbread (rolled with fine Welsh oatmeal into little cakes and fried into crisp patties), eggs, bacon and cockles. This was a marriage of the basic tastes that Wales is now renowned for.

* In the past, the Welsh enjoyed a traditional ‘tea’ as a daily indulgence. Once a week, baking sessions of mammoth proportions would occur in most households to ensure that larders were constantly stocked. Bara Brith, also referred to as ‘speckled bread’, and Welsh Cakes were the most popular.

* At around eight or nine in the evening Welsh households would indulge in a supper that, as opposed to the main midday meal, consisted of a light snack such as salmon, sea trout or wild mushrooms. These seasonal delicacies were a small taste to be savoured rather than a repast.

* In the past, mealtimes in Wales usually revolved around the main householder’s occupation. For example, coal miners took their meals whenever their shift pattern would allow and farmers’ mealtimes would vary according to the time of year, which usually determined the jobs at hand.

* The only nationally known cheese that originates from Wales is Caerphilly, though it is now produced in the West Country and not in the Principality. Welsh cheese making was carried out in the low-lying and fertile dairy lands where sheep and goats flourished.

* The ‘bakestone’ is a traditional and quaintly primitive cooking implement that was used to make a variety of scones, pancakes, cakes, breads, turnovers and oatcakes. The Welsh developed cooking on a bakestone to a fine art mainly due to the majority of households being unable to afford the luxury of an oven. Indeed, inverting an iron pot over the bakestone’s hot, flat surface created a makeshift oven.

* It seems that we in Wales aren’t over-enthusiastic about our food traditions probably due to the reason that the invention of such recipes arose out of the necessity to make do with the available ingredients and, more importantly, to make them last. Historically, the Welsh tolerated less prosperous times and, more than likely, had to eat the same dishes far too regularly in order to make a little seem like a lot. However, the resulting cuisine is delicious for the most part and provides a welcome addition to our food tastes.

* The variation in contemporary international cuisine means that Wales offers much in the way of unique cheeses, wines, fresh meat and seafood to satisfy most palates. The rich history of agriculture and fishing in Wales has ensured that Wales exports some of the finest produce in the World.