| What
on earth is a faggot, and what is it doing on the menu? Remember:
you’re in a land where cheese on toast is the national
dish, where boys pin large onions to their chests once a year,
and where sheep jokes are as regular as lamb is on the table.
When in Wales, don’t be surprised to find yourself ordering
the mysterious faggot in a ‘chipper’ near your
holiday cottage.
Faggots probably vie with laverbread as one
of the great unknown and probably undertried foods of Wales.
Made from offal, usually liver and perhaps a touch of heart,
with herbs, suet and breadcrumbs, these savoury ducks, as
they are sometimes called, are not a snack for the gourmand
of faint heart or for carrot-chomping vegetarians. Formerly
a miner’s lunch, the balls of offally delight were served
with mushy peas and either chips or mash, dosed with a good
squirt of vinegar.
And let’s skip the sheep jokes. In the
Welsh kitchen, it is not just lamb, lamb and more lamb. Opinion
may still be split on whether what’s more stereotypically
Welsh – the rarebit or the roast lamb, but who cares
when there is such a huge variety of dishes on offer throughout
the small country.
Whether traditional fare or award-winning
modern cuisine, Wales’ reputation for producing and
using fine local ingredients is growing. Though long subject
to ridicule where cooking is discussed – it should be
remembered that there are hundreds of small and large Welsh
farms and companies producing meat, vegetables, cheeses, even
wine. Besides, Welsh rarebit, when prepared with care, is
more complicated than glorified cheese on toast. With crumbly
Caerphilly cheese, and Brains bitter, it can be the perfect
appetiser.
The Japanese call it Nori and use it in sushi,
and in Wales they call it laverbread, and this sea-speciality
is often joined by cockles, in pies and quiches. Seaweed in
good for you – it contains the vital minerals potassium,
iron and calcium in abundance. Laverbread, or sea lettuce,
is one of the edible sea vegetables to have been harvested
in South Wales for centuries. Many species of seaweed grow
in low water, and shiny black laver is no different, its long
locks flowing underwater whilst it lies flat on rocks.
Glamorganshire sausages are an old-fashioned
vegetarian version of their porky relative, with leeks and
potatoes. Welsh cawl is the filling soup-stew perfect for
those rainy Autumn afternoons, originally made from bacon
and lamb off cuts, with the national vegetable – the
leek, also used to make another popular soup in Wales –
leek and potato.
As for desserts – make sure you try
some tea bread, or bara brith, and of course a Welsh cake
- like a squashed and condensed version of a rock cake, with
sugar sprinkled on top. Sometimes eaten with jam or butter
on top. Or if you’re lucky – both.
There are many regional ice creams to look
out for. In Aberystwyth there is honey ice cream, and in Swansea
there is the famed Joe’s ice cream in Mumbles. In the
valleys look out for Mr Creemy, and Thayer’s serve soft
scoop to the luxury end of the market. Rachel’s yoghurts,
in West Wales, can lay claim to being one of the first to
start on the organic dairy trend, with her range of products
featuring cheese, yoghurt and ice cream – in all major
supermarkets.
Essential
Tips for Holidays in Wales | Holidays
in Cardiff | Welsh
Food and Drink | Neath
|
The
City by The Sea - Swansea |
