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Traditional food · the United Kingdom
Pies from London’s East End, the port stew of Liverpool, Scotland’s haggis, Welsh cawl and the Ulster fry breakfast: dishes, sweets and drinks tied to the places that made them famous.
In the photo: Castelo de Edimburgo, Edimburgo
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
The cuisine
United Kingdom cuisine formed in a cold, wet climate, with sheep and cattle on the pastures, fish in the ports, and wheat, oats and potatoes in the fields. Roasts, stews, pies, griddle breads and baked sweets are the basis of many recipes, and tea time gave rise to cakes and sweet breads. Ports and industrial cities added workers’ and immigrants’ dishes to the mix.
In England, fish and chips was born in the 19th century from the joining of fried fish—linked to the tradition of Sephardic Jews—with fried potatoes, and became food across the country. London has the pie and mash of East End houses; Liverpool, the scouse, a stew that gave its name to the locals; Bath, the Bath bun, an 18th-century sweet roll. Inland, Eccles, Kendal, Melton Mowbray and Bakewell lend their names to sweets and pies: the Eccles cake, the Kendal mint cake, the Melton Mowbray pork pie—protected by a geographical indication—and the Bakewell pudding.
In Scotland, haggis is the dish of Burns Night on January 25. On the Moray coast, the village of Cullen gives its name to Cullen skink, a smoked haddock soup.
Wales has cawl, a meat-and-vegetable broth regarded as a national dish, and Welsh cakes, cooked on a cast-iron griddle. In Northern Ireland, the Ulster fry combines fried breakfast items with griddle breads, and in Ballycastle the yellowman is the sweet of the Ould Lammas Fair at the end of August.
Each specialty is presented here linked to a principal place, according to sources. That does not mean it is only eaten there: most are found throughout much of the country, with family, regional and seasonal variations.
15 flavors
Sweet made with puff pastry topped with a layer of jam and filled with egg, butter, sugar and almond, with a texture between a custard and a cake. Associated with the town of Bakewell in the Peak District since the 19th century; it is not the same as the Bakewell tart.
Crispy yellow candy made from sugar, golden syrup and baking soda, broken into pieces with a hammer. It is the candy of the Ould Lammas Fair, the late‑August fair in Ballycastle, sold alongside dulse, the dried seaweed.
Sweet bread made from leavened dough with milk, eggs and butter, topped with crushed sugar and, in many versions, with currants and a sugar lump inside. Associated with the city of Bath since the 18th century, it is served at breakfast and at afternoon tea.
Thick soup of smoked haddock, potato, onion and milk, from the fishing village of Cullen on the Moray coast in northeast Scotland. It began as a beef broth and came to be made with smoked fish, cheaper in the region.
Round pastry bun made of buttery puff pastry filled with Corinth raisins, with cuts on top and crystallized sugar. It is named for the town of Eccles, near Manchester, where it began to be sold in shops at the end of the 18th century.
Sheep offal minced with oats, onion, fat and spices, cooked inside a casing, served with turnip and potato purées. It is Scotland’s national dish and the centrepiece of the Burns Supper on January 25.
Whisky distilled and aged in Scotland for at least three years in oak casks. The name is legally protected: only the beverage produced in the country under the rules set in 2009 may be called Scotch whisky.
White fish battered and fried, served with thick-cut fries, salt and malt vinegar. It originated in England in the 19th century from combining fried fish linked to the tradition of Jewish immigrants with fried potatoes, and became the country's best-known takeaway dish.
Fried breakfast from Northern Ireland, with bacon, sausage, egg and black pudding, distinguished by the fried griddle breads: soda farl and potato bread. It is one of Northern Ireland’s specialties.
Tablet of sugar flavored with peppermint oil, white or brown, sometimes coated in chocolate, made in Kendal since the 19th century. It became famous among mountaineers and was taken on the first ascent to the summit of Everest in 1953.
Stew of beef or lamb with potato, carrot and onion, cooked until thickened, served with pickled beetroot or red cabbage and bread. It is the dish of the port of Liverpool and gave the city’s inhabitants the nickname Scousers.
Minced meat pie in a simple pastry, served with mashed potato and the liquor, a green parsley sauce. It originated in East End homes of London in the 19th century, linked to the eels sold in the streets, and is one of the dishes most associated with London’s working class.
Pie of minced fresh pork, seasoned with pepper, in a golden pastry with arched walls, with a layer of jelly between the filling and the crust. It has protected geographical indication and originated connected to the fox hunts on horseback around Melton Mowbray.
A thick broth of lamb or beef with leek, turnip, carrot and potato, slowly cooked and served with bread. It is regarded as the national dish of Wales and, in parts of the north, is called lobscows.
Round, flattened cakes made from flour, butter, sugar, raisins and spices, cooked on an iron griddle and dusted with sugar. The Welsh name, picau ar y maen, means cakes on the stone, referring to the griddle used to make them.
Suggest a traditional dish, sweet or drink of the United Kingdom that is not here. We check the sources before adding it.
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Your questions
There is no single one. Fish and chips is the best known across the country; Scotland has haggis, Wales has cawl and Northern Ireland the Ulster fry, in addition to city specialties from places like London, Liverpool and Bath.
Haggis with neeps and tatties—mashed turnip (neeps) and potatoes (tatties)—at a dinner honoring the poet Robert Burns on January 25, including a reading of the poem he dedicated to the dish.
Yes. Under British law, only whisky distilled and matured in Scotland for a minimum of three years in oak casks may be called Scotch whisky.
The pudding, associated with the town of Bakewell, has puff pastry, jam and an egg-and-almond filling. The tart, more common elsewhere in England, uses shortcrust pastry and an almond cake-like topping.
In England, in the 19th century. The earliest shops mentioned are in London and Lancashire, and it is not certain which came first.
