Regional food

By Paul Fulford on Jun 21, 08 11:53 AM

Some years ago Raymond Blanc told me that the UK lacks the same sort of regional cuisine that exists in France because we don't have the climate differences that exist in his country.

He had a point but there there are foods that we associate with particular parts of the country - Lancashire hotpot obviously, Irish stew, Geordieland's pease pudding, Cornish pasties, haggis, faggots in the West Midlands and that legendary dish groarty dick specifically in the Black Country. And there are others.

The exception seems to be Wales where, despite having some fine produce from the land and sea, there isn't a stand-out dish. At least, not one that springs to my mind. But perhaps I'm wrong. No doubt the Welsh won't be shy about expressing their views if that's the case.

One of the encouraging trends of recent years is that we've started to reassess and value the food of our local area.

It's good on all sorts of levels - it suggests we're supporting local producers, cutting down on our food miles and ensuring that a variety of dishes survive to ensure variety and choice in the years ahead, The alternative -a sort of global cuisine made up of burgers, pizzas and ready-made curries - is too horrible to contemplate.

I like exotic food, but sometimes it's good to enjoy the stuff that's on our doorstep.