UK: Regional delicacies 'are at risk of disappearing'

The Telegraph ^ | 4/17/2008 | Graham Tibbetts

[bruinbirdman]

Young Britons are out of touch with their culinary heritage, a survey claims.

They are so ignorant about traditional foods that some regional delicacies risk being lost for ever.

Many thought that the Lincolnshire dish of haslet was a morris dancer's waistcoat.

A traditional haslet: definitely not a waistcoat

About 2,000 people were given a list of 10 dishes from around the country and asked to choose a definition for each.

However, although the poll posed few problems for those over 45, more than half of the younger generation were baffled.

Haslet - a salted pork and offal dish - proved particularly tricky, with a quarter of those aged 18-24 identifying it as part of a morris dancer's attire.

They had similar difficulty identifying the Welsh delicacy of laverbread, with only 29 per cent aware that it was seaweed puree served with fried bacon.

A quarter assumed it was a loaf baked on volcanic rocks.

A third of young adults questioned were under the impression that champ was part of a horse's bridle, rather than a creamy mash and spring onion dish.

Other sources of puzzlement included Cullen skink, stotty cake and bara brith. Haggis was the only regional speciality recognised by both young and old, with 99 per cent correctly identifying it.

The survey was commissioned by Country Living magazine as part of the Made in Britain campaign, which highlights concerns that consumers who opt for mass-produced foods are allowing a rich variety of regional dishes to disappear.

Susy Smith, the editor, said: "While we had a giggle at some of the answers chosen by young British people in this survey, it is a real cause for alarm.

"Traditional foods are in danger of disappearing from the British dining table and if the next generation is not even aware of them then they certainly won't be buying and eating them."

[bruinbirdman]

Army guys might know offal as tripe.

[PAR35]

As the saying goes, ‘Hell is where the police are German, the Chefs are British, the lovers Swiss, the mechanics are French, and it’s run by the Italians’.

[Fiji Hill]

And in heaven, you’ll have a Swiss mechanic, a French cook, an Italian lover, and the English will run everything.

[familyop]

"Haslet - a salted pork and offal dish..."

It's no wonder that they don't want to know about the intestines.

[familyop]

"Army guys might know offal as tripe."

The Army didn't serve that to me. ...could be Army chow from the distant past, though.

[PAR35]

No, British police, French chefs, Italian lovers, German mechanics, run by the Swiss.

[SAJ]

Uhm, with respect gents, tripe is the lining of a cow’s stomach. Offal is, well, shall we say, the less tasty bits lower down.

[SpaceBar]

Curried lamb kebabs with hummus might actually be an improvement.

[ThomasPaine2000]

My Grandmother, from Liverpool, made classic “Tripe and Onions”, and I loved it. I still make it occasionally, no one else in the family will touch it... LOL

[Mr Ramsbotham]

I think that offal signifies any of the internal organs. The dish they’re talking about puts me in mind of scrapple.

[goldfinch]

Other sources of puzzlement included Cullen skink, stotty cake and bara brith.

Ok. I give up. What are Cullen skink, stotty cake, and bara brith?

From the descriptions of the other delicacies, I can understand why they are vanishing from the modern day Englishman's table.

[BBell]

fish, chips, cup 'o tea, bad food, worse weather

[kb2614]

I was stationed over in the UK in the early 90’s. I didn’t think the food was terrible at all. I did drink alot though.

[SatinDoll]

Some traditional foods are better left forgotten.

I have yet to meet a European who didn’t enjoy a properly produced Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner, though they almost always went for the apple pie over pumpkin/sweet potato pie every time!

[Clemenza]

Mary Poppins, Big Ben!

Now I got to look for Frankie Four Fingers...

[bruinbirdman]

Tripe soup was on the menu in '70.

Some might know it as "Pepper Pot Soup".

yitbos

[Slings and Arrows]

[bruinbirdman]

Big seller down south?

yitbos

[Anti-Bubba182]

"a salted pork and offal dish"

Yuk!!

[familyop]

"Tripe soup was on the menu in '70.

Some might know it as 'Pepper Pot Soup'."

Ah! I heard about SOS, too (chipped beef and gravy--might've been during even earlier years), but didn't see any of that so much later (13 weeks initial training at Ft. Leonard Wood in '89 at over 30 years of age). The food's been really good more recently. And today's rations (MREs)? ...huge number of calories in each of those. Most people would be shocked at how many calories soldiers in some specialties take in each day in the field.

[Marie2]

What will the Germans do? :)

[Slings and Arrows]

Nah, but they do great business in San Francisco.

[familyop]

"My Grandmother, from Liverpool, made classic “Tripe and Onions”, and I loved it. I still make it occasionally, no one else in the family will touch it... LOL"

We're truly spoiled now. :-) There were things that my recent ancestors ate that I wouldn't eat today.

[DemforBush]

Cullen Skink is a Scottish soup made with smoked fish (haddock, I think) and potatoes.

IIRC, Bara Brith is a little bit like raisin bread.

No idea what stotty cake is.

[Vanders9]

Was that because the beer was good, or because it helped you forget about the food? :)

[driftless2]

"sweet potato"

Every Thanksgiving my mother would prepare sweet potatoes for me and my sibling's consumption. And there in the middle of the table they sat until my father forced us all to put one our plates. And there they still sat uneaten by everyone except my father. I would take one bite, make a sour-face grimace, and eat the other stuff.

[driftless2]

"offal dish"

sounds awful to me.

[Roy Tucker]

Just don’t lose Spotted Dick. The Brits would be nothing without it.

[Eepsy]

The only thing in the article I recognized is champ, which is actually quite a nice way to eat your neeps :)

[Right Wing Assault]

Haslet

Isn't she an actress. No, wait a minute...

[ktscarlett66]

Every country has their wierd dishes. Around here, it’s scrambled pork brains and eggs, fried muskrat, scrapple, pigs feet, chicken feet, chitlins. People used to not be able to afford to be snobs about food. You ate whatever you could get!

[DugwayDuke]

“I have yet to meet a European who didn’t enjoy a properly produced Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner...”

My wife’s German parents didn’t think much of me as a catch until I prepared BBQ beef ribs for them. After that, I could do no wrong.

[ktscarlett66]

Sounds like scrapple!

[SAJ]

Must respectfully disagree. I have never seen, not once, beef liver considered to be offal, while it certainly is an 'organ'. The old rule used to be that ''any part of the cow that's not named, is offal'' ...heh heh heh.

Of course, this may be a matter of opinion. Sweetbreads, for instance, I consider to be offal no matter who says otherwise.

;^)

FReegards!

[SAJ]

And what would they do without ''Giant Toad + 3 Veg'', eh?

;^)

[Roy Tucker]

Brings back memories. I remember being with a colleague in London in a pub when he ordered Toad-in-a-hole. I was quite interested to see what was served. The English have superb sausages.