With its imaginative ways of preparation, Welsh cuisine is globally popular today
Cockles and cawl, laver bread and Bara Brith — delectable dishes traditionally associated with the nation. In fact, the Welsh are blessed with a fine culinary heritage that finds favour with even the most discerning epicurean anywhere across the globe, says Nerys Howell, a Food and Drink Consultant who was in Dubai recently to participate in ‘Wales in Wafi City’, a one-week cultural fiesta that offered a glimpse into the various aspects of Wales.
“Welsh food owes much to its ancient Celtic traditions,” she says, “and is generally a cuisine based on what is available on its farms. Meat, cheese, pancakes, Bara Brith and cawl are some of our most popularly known foods. Endowed with a splendid coastline, we are blessed with an abundant variety of fresh water and sea fish such as cockles, lobster that frequently appear as chief ingredients in our cuisine.”
Welsh beef and succulent lamb figure largely in meat preparations, and the evergreen nation also boasts a great variety of vegetables — “the most significant being the leek.”
Cheese making is an important industry in Wales, she adds, “and we have more than 100 types of locally-produced cheese. Earlier, Welsh cheese making was carried out in the low-lying and fertile dairy lands where sheep and goats were found in plenty. Today, it is an important part of our flourishing dairy industry.”
The Welsh also have a great baking tradition, says Howell. “Cooking on a ‘ bakestone’ is a Welsh art and is used to make a variety of scones, pancakes and breads. In the past, as most households could not afford the luxury of an oven, inverting an iron pot over the bakestone's hot, flat surfaces created a makeshift oven.”
The traditional or peasant cuisine included dishes as varied as the cawl, which is essentially a country soup made from meat and seasonal vegetables and herbs that are all simmered together in a large pot, she explains. “Equally popular is laver bread or edible seaweed, commonly found on the southwest coast around Swansea. It often appears as a starter or as part of the traditional Welsh breakfast.
Crempog is the Welsh equivalent of pancakes or crêpes — the only difference being that buttermilk is used in its making. These are thicker than ordinary pancakes and served hot and buttered. They can also be spread with meat or fish fillings or as a savoury sandwich,” notes Howell.
Glamorgan sausages, she adds, are made mainly from grated cheese mixed with breadcrumbs, herbs and chopped leeks or onions. “ Bara Brith is a kind of speckled bread, while the famed Welsh Rarebit is a cheese and bread grilled toast that imparts a delicious and unique flavour when made in true Welsh style.”
While earlier Welsh food was limited to the confines of the nation, today, with its emphasis on quality, homegrown ingredients that are prepared in new and imaginative ways, Welsh cuisine is beginning to win attention at the international level.
To the food enthusiasts, Wales offers much in the way of unique cheeses, fresh meats and seafood to satisfy most palates. With some of its finest produce now being exported to various parts of the world, including the UAE, it won’t be long before the secrets of Celtic cooking reaches the farthest corners of the globe.
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