Unique British foods

Melton Mowbray pork pie

From Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, the Melton Mowbray pork pie became popular in the late 19th-century as a snack eaten when fox hunting.

This pork pie is made of chopped meat and the pie shape is formed by hand and baked free standing, giving it a bow shape.

Visit Melton Mowbray to sample these golden pies and maybe even try making them yourself.

The Cornish Pasty

A genuine Cornish Pasty is filled with a chunky mixture of sliced beef, potato, swede and onion.

The Cornish Pasty is authentically ‘D’ shaped with its braid or crimped pattern on the side and never on the top. One of the stories about the origin of the pastry was that it was made for local tin and copper miners to eat while in the mines.

Enjoy your pasty during a walk along the coast or from the comfort of one of Cornwall’s cosy tea rooms.

The Arbroath Smokie

Produced in Arbroath on the east coast of Scotland, the smokie is a whole wood-smoked haddock. Not your average smoked fish, the unique process of salting the fish overnight and smoking them in a humid smoky fire causes the outside of the fish to have a golden brown colour while the insides remain deliciously creamy.

Look out for the smokie on the menu of all good Scottish restaurants along with national delicacies such as Aberdeen Angus beef, Loch Fyne kippers and Orkney cheeses.

Stilton

Although having links to Stilton in Cambridgeshire, according to the protected designation of origin status granted to Stilton by the EU, the name ‘Stilton’ can only be used if it is produced in Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

Either way, Stilton, the King of English cheese is a true British delicacy famous around the world, with its blue-green veins and velvety texture.

Cumberland sausages

A local speciality for the last 500 years, Cumberland sausage is readily available throughout the country. A true Cumberland sausage has a high meat content made up of coarsely chopped pork giving it a chunky texture.

The white and black pepper sausage is then structured into a long coil rather than linked. The sausages are one of the Lakelands most popular dishes, be sure to sample them when you visit.