Cuisine on the island of Britain was fairly advanced even during the time of the Romans, as they brought new agricultural styles and animals to the island, adding to the knowhow needed to build what would become one of the world's most pervasive cuisines. Before the Norman invasion of Britain, stews featuring meat and herbs were already staples in the local diet, and more herbs and spices were brought into wide use first by the Normans and then when Britain became a world leader in the spice trade.

Changing societal attitudes following the Reformation, plus the advent of cookbooks where cooking styles promoted boiling of vegetables and fewer seasonings used during the cooking process, started Britain's descent into the oft-repeated stereotypes that Britain is known for "bad food" -- or at the least bland, or tasteless. Despite this reputation, British beef (and particularly Hereford cows) was world-renowned for its quality, and most of the cows in the United States descend from bloodlines that were brought here by the first settlers and colonists.

This "bad food" stereotype persisted well into the 20th century, this time due to a lack of many basic ingredients during and after World War II. Britain rationed the most basic of ingredients for many years -- so much so that tea was rationed to three ounces of tea leaves per adult per month, and many children grew up having never tasted ice cream or oranges -- and it took the culinary scene a long time to recover. Even after the rationing had ended, it took Britain a good decade to catch up with its Western European peers in terms of item availability in stores and disposable income needed to purchase those items. Even after all that, the government still had wide influence over the food and agriculture sectors, for example limiting cheese productions except for varieties of cheddar until the Thatcher era (1979-90).

By the end of the 1960s, Britain's culinary scene began to blossom in ways that seemed impossible just a decade before. Not only did basic and luxury ingredients become more widely available (especially after joining the European Economic Union in 1973), Britain's tastes became more cosmopolitan. This was first seen with the rise of Italian restaurants, the first international cuisine to catch on with British diners. Also, the collapse of the British Empire meant that migrants to Britain brought their cuisines with them, and many of them opened restaurants. In the 1970s Caribbean, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, and African restaurants began to open up across the country, and by the end of the millennium, it became just as popular to order chicken tikka masala from the Indian takeaway as it was to order fish and chips from the "chippy".

In addition to traditional British cuisine (things such as steak and kidney pie, or the Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding), each part of the United Kingdom has its own regional cuisine, with its own famous dishes, like pasties (a stuffed baked pastry) in Cornwall, hotpot in Lancashire, haggis in Scotland, Welsh rarebit (cheese sauce on toast) in Cardiff, and boxty (griddle pancakes) in Belfast.

Must-Savor Specialties: English stew, Hereford beef, English breakfast tea, cheddar cheese (various regional types), chicken tikka masala, steak and kidney pie, Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding, Cornish pasties, Lancashire hotpot, haggis, Welsh rarebit, boxty

London

London has arguably the most polished, innovative, eclectic, and inspired food scene in the world. As of 2021, there are 66 restaurants in London which hold Michelin stars, one of the highest proportions seen in the world. With London being such a large melting pot, nearly every cuisine in the world is represented here, in addition to the traditional English dishes you might think of when imagining the UK's vibrant capital city.

A large number of traditional English dishes can trace their roots back to London. Many of these dishes are enjoyed in the U.S. as well, but to have the best of the best, you'll have to make plans to try the following dishes while you are in London:

Traditional British Favorites

-English breakfast: Typically features fried eggs, pork sausage, bacon, tomatoes, toast, baked beans, and sometimes mushrooms and black pudding. Always served with hot tea, typically English breakfast blend tea. The Wolseley (160 Piccadilly) and Hawksmoor Guildhall (10 Basinghall Street) serve the best English breakfasts in the world.
-Black pudding: A sausage made from pig blood, oatmeal, and fat, and cased. Typically served sliced with an English breakfast.
-Eggy bread: Similar to French toast, often featuring the additions of sherry and confectioner's sugar in the egg batter, and served with jam on top (most popularly strawberry). Eggbreak (30 Uxbridge Street) serves the most scrumptious eggy bread.
-Toad in the Hole: Sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding and served with potatoes, gravy, and vegetables. The best toad in the hole in London is served up at Bistro Union (40 Abbeville Road).
-Pie and mash: Beef pies cooked in gravy and filled into a pastry crust, then baked and served with "two veg", one always being mashed potatoes. The world's top chefs recommend Goddards at Greenwich (22 King William Walk) and Manze M (87 Tower Bridge Road) as the places with the best pie and mash in the city and the world!
-Steak pie: Pieces of stew steak are cooked and filled inside a pastry crust and baked. The addition of ale during the braising process makes this a steak and ale pie. Both are served with chips (similar to what we know as steak fries). The Windmill (6-8 Mill Street) has won three national culinary awards for their steak pies.
-Shepherd's pie: Minced meat cooked with onions, carrots, a gravy flavored with Worcestershire sauce, and topped with mashed potatoes and baked as a casserole. Typically paired with a stout or an ale in many pubs. The Ivy (1-5 West Street) has long been famous for its shepherd's pie.
-Sausage rolls: Sausage wrapped in puff pastry and baked, these snacks are a British institution, and the sausage rolls at The Ginger Pig at Borough Market are legendary.
-Fish and chips: Fried white fish fillets are served with chips (steak fries) and are one of the hallmarks of British cuisine, although the pairing only dates from 1860, making it a fairly "new" arrival to British cuisine all things considered! Rock and Sole Plaice (47 Endell Street), opened in 1871, is the oldest "chippy" still frying and serving the teatime favorite in London.
-Mushy peas: Usually served warm with fish and chips, marrowfat peas are boiled with baking soda and cooked until they reach a thick texture.
-Scotch eggs: Hard-boiled eggs are wrapped in sausage meat which is then coated in breadcrumbs and fried. The Fortnum & Mason department store (181 Piccadilly) claims to have invented the appetizer in the 18th century; you can buy a pack of six Scotch eggs for under £30.
-Bacon butty: A simple bacon sandwich on white bread and another teatime favorite. St John Bread & Wine (94-96 Commercial Street) serves up their bacon butties with either ketchup or brown sauce.
-Afternoon tea: Also called "low tea", this is a cultural experience you must have while you're in London. A variety of teas, such as Earl Grey and white tea, are served with scones, clotted cream, jam, cucumber sandwiches, and other sweet and savory snacks. Fortnum & Mason in Piccadilly is a great spot to enjoy afternoon tea, as are the Park Room (86-90 Park Lane) and The English Tea Room at Browns Hotel (33 Albemarle Street).
-Crumpets: Yet another teatime favorite, crumpets are bread cakes baked on griddles. They have smooth bottoms and holes on top. In the U.S. these are called "English muffins". Ask for Janice (50-52 Long Lane) took months to perfect her crumpet recipe, and now they are the talk of the city.
-Beef Wellington: A beef filet coated with mushrooms, herbs, shallots, and duck pâté, baked inside a puff pastry. Commonly served with a Madeira wine sauce and a flavorful Bordeaux wine. The best Beef Wellington is made with Aberdeen beef and served at Bob Bob Ricard (1 Upper James Street).
-The Sunday Roast: Roast beef served with vegetables and Yorkshire pudding (a custardy baked pastry treat) under the roast. It is a hallmark of Sunday dinner tables across the country. The highest-quality beef is served with the Sunday roast special at Hawksmoor Seven Dials (11 Langley Street), while The Laughing Gravy (154 Blackfriars Road) is also a delicious high-quality option.
-Spotted dick: A sponge pudding made with suet, raisins, and currants, and served topped with a custard sauce. Hands-down the place to go to try this sweet dish is Sweetings (39 Queen Victoria Street).
-Hot cross buns: Spiced raisin-and-currant rolls topped with a cross of icing, first popularized by London bakeries in the 18th century. Gail's Bakery (33-35 Exmouth Market) is famous for this Easter delight, and at that time you can buy them fresh from the bakery or repurposed into a delightful French toast dish, topped with a butterscotch sauce.
-Trifle: A traditional English trifle alternates layers of fruits, sponge cake, cream, egg custard, and jam in a large serving dish. The raspberry trifle at Rules Restaurant (35 Maiden Lane) comes very highly-recommended.
-Treacle tart: A filling of sugary syrup, lemon juice or flavoring, and breadcrumbs are combined into a small pastry shell, baked, and served with either clotted cream or ice cream. While you're at The Wolseley for English breakfast, leave some room for a treacle tart; you won't regret it!
-Victoria sponge cake: A sponge cake baked with layers of whipped cream and raspberry or strawberry jam, and dusted with confectioner's sugar. The English Tea Room at Browns Hotel serves a delicious Victoria sponge.

Must-Savor Specialties: English breakfast, English breakfast tea, black pudding, eggy bread, toad in the hole, pie and mash, steak pie, steak and ale pie, shepherd's pie, sausage rolls, fish and chips, mushy peas, Scotch eggs, bacon butty, afternoon tea, crumpets, beef Wellington, the Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding, spotted dick, hot cross buns, English trifle, treacle tart, Victoria sponge cake

International Cuisines

The cuisines of the Commonwealth have converged on London to make one delicious and vibrant international scene. Brixton and Clapham are the neighborhoods known for Caribbean cuisine: Highly-acclaimed Caribbean restaurants include Caribe' at Pop Brixton (49 Brixton Station Road), serving such Trinidadian dishes as saltfish accra and pelau (chicken cooked in coconut milk with rice, pumpkin, and other vegetables) and Eat of Eden (4 Brixton Village, Coldharbour Lane) which gets rave reviews for their Jamaican-style callaloo and ackee and saltfish. Indian and Pakistani cuisines are so entrenched in the London food scene that these restaurants are scattered throughout the city. The most popular include Gymkhana (42 Albemarle Street), noted for its tandoor roasted dishes and curries; Tamarind (20 Queen Street), the first Indian restaurant in London to earn a Michelin star; and Salloos (62-64 Kinnerton Street) is the most famous Pakistani restaurant in the city, noted for their lamb chops and their nihari shank stew. The best takeaway curry can be found at Brigadiers (1-5 Bloomberg Arcade), which is also a bar reminiscient of the old military clubs in colonial India. African cuisines are also well-represented, with the best of the best in London including Nigerian haute cuisine offering Ikoyi (1 St James's Market), famed for their paella-esque jollof rice; and South African tapas restaurant Kudu (119 Queen's Road), serving up "braai" (Afrikaans-style barbecue) lamb and mosbolletjies Afrikaans-style brioche bread, just to name a few popular dishes.

Must-Savor Specialties: saltfish accra, Trinidadian-style pelau, callaloo, ackee and salfish, tandoor roasted meats, Indian-style curries, nihari shank stew, jollof rice, braai lamb, mosbolletjies Afrikaans-style brioche bread

East Anglia

East Anglia, in particular the counties of Cambridgeshire and Suffolk, are known for a number of delicious local foodstuffs and variations on popular classics. For example, Cambridge sausage is made with rice and cracker meal, while Newmarket sausage in Suffolk features cuts of pork from the entire pig and a secret blend of herbs and spices, including nutmeg. The best places to enjoy sausage rolls with these delicious sausage types are as follows: Tom's Cakes (32 Mill Road) and Bread & Meat (4 Benet Street) in Cambridge, Edis of Ely (24 High Street) in Ely, and The Woolpack (1 Tuddenham Road) in Ipswich all come well-recommended.

Cambridge is known for its gages, green plums that reach peak ripeness in the month of September. These sweet plums can be featured in seasonal desserts or eaten alone with honey or sugar syrup. Further afield in Cambridgeshire, eels are a delicacy in Ely (so much so that the town was named for them), and you can try some locally-smoked Ely eel as a starter on the lunch and dinner menus at the Old Fire Engine House (25 St Mary's Street). For the world's best celery, head north to Fenland where their celery features into seasonal holiday dishes. As the crop reaches harvest in the final months of the year, it is synonymous with Christmastime and is nicknamed "winter asparagus". Suffolk is well-known for delicious cheeses such as the Baron Bigod, with a texture similar to brie, and St. Jude cheese, a tender cow's milk cheese ripened inside a moldy shell. Cambridgeshire is famous the world over for Stilton cheese, one of England's most popular types of blue cheese.

Must-Savor Specialties: Cambridge sausage, Newmarket sausage, Cambridge gages (plums), eels of the River Great Ouse in Ely, Fenland celery, Baron Bigod cheese, St. Jude cheese, Stilton cheese

South East England and the Thames Valley

The historic county of Sussex is known for such legendary British mainstays as steak and kidney pie, a variation on the steak pie in which diced lamb kidney is added to the filling of the pie and baked, and bangers and mash, cooked sausages served on top of mashed potatoes, typically also served with onion gravy, and sometimes an additional vegetable like peas. The best steak and kidney pie in the country can be found at the award-winning Turner's Pies (13 Eastgate Square) in Chichester, and the best bangers and mash can be found at The Geese (16 Southover Street) in Brighton, where it is the star menu item.

Additional dishes and foodstuffs that are native to Sussex include Brighton blue cheese, mild in taste and made from cow's milk in the High Weald; Banoffee pie, which is a delicious banana-and-toffee-cream pie with a butter cookie crust (try it at Casalingo, 29 Preston Street in Brighton); Sussex pond pudding, a boiled suet pastry with a caramelized sugar filling and oftentimes also a lemon; Duddleswell cheese, an award-winning sheep's milk cheese aged for five months; and Knobby Russet apples, with their unflattering color and appearance, have been deemed "the ugliest apple in the world" but are great for fruit pie recipes.

The Thames Valley, in particular Oxfordshire, is well-known for spiced fruit scones, featuring currants and raisins, as well as a spiced currant cake, the latter named for the town of Banbury where it was created. Oxford blue cheese, made in Burford, Oxfordshire, is a very creamy and tangy variety of blue cheese and should be sampled, especially if you like Stilton cheese.

Must-Savor Specialties: Steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, Brighton blue cheese, banoffee pie, Sussex pond pudding, Knobby Russet apples, fruit scones, Banbury cake, Oxford blue cheese

South West England

South West England is a treasure trove of regional cuisine, and this region is particularly well-regarded for its cheese production. This should be no surprise, considering for a long time cheese production was highly-regulated and cheddar cheese, which comes from Cheddar in Somerset, was the government's choice of cheese to promote. In the 1980s, these regulations were relaxed and other types of cheese began to be produced not just in Somerset but also in Dorset and Cornwall. Cheeses native to Somerset include the aforementioned cheddar, Applewood, Ogleshield, Millstone, Exmoor blue, Bath blue, and Somerset brie. Dorset can boast offerings such as Dorset white cheese, Dorset blue vinny cheese, Coastal cheddar, Tilly Whim, and Little Colonel cheeses; while Cornwall produces Miss Muffet, Keltic Gold, Cornish brie, Cornish blue, and Cornish Yarg cheeses.

Somerset is well-known for their sweets too, with such sweet rolls as the Sally Lunn bun (similar to French brioche) and the Bath bun (a sweet roll topped with sugar, candied zest, raisins and currants) having first been baked in the historic county. The official "home of the Sally Lunn bun" is Sally Lunn's Historic Eating House (4 N. Parade) in Bath. The Bath Bun (2A Abbey Green) is a tea shop where you should go for the most delicious Bath buns. Sally Lunn's is a one-minute walk from Bath Abbey and The Bath Bun is a one-minute walk from the Roman Baths. Dorset is known for their delectable regional snacks such as Dorset knobs (dough balls typically eaten with Dorset blue vinny cheese) and flapjacks (no, not like pancakes -- Dorset flapjacks are baked muesli bars and can be bought at the bakery in Wool, south Dorset).

Cornish regional cuisine might be one of the most delightful culinary experiences you will have while in Britain. You can enjoy fresh-caught Cornish seafood, including hake and lobster, at places like The Shore Restaurant (13-14 Alverton Street, Penzance) and Mackerel Sky Seafood Bar (The Bridge New Road, Newlyn, Penzance). You can enjoy fresh Cornish oysters at The Wheelhouse (Upton Slip) or The Shack (Discovery Quay, 9 Tidemill House) in Falmouth. Be sure to try Stargazy pie when you're sampling Cornish seafood, baked with rather scary-looking (but delicious) sardines (called "pilchards" in England)!

Cornwall is best-known for such dishes as the pasty, a pastry baked with beef, potato, rutabaga, and onion; hevva cake, a cake cooked with lard, sugar, and raisins; saffron buns, flavored with saffron and currants; and fairings, delicious cookies flavored with ginger. Clotted cream is a common sight at teatime, and the extreme southwest of England is its birthplace. In Cornwall, Cornish clotted cream is officially recognized as having 55% butterfat. When the same cream is made in Devon, it is referred to as Devonshire cream.

Must-Savor Cheeses: Cheddar cheese, Applewood cheese, Ogleshield cheese, Millstone cheese, Exmoor blue cheese, Bath blue cheese, Somerset brie cheese, Dorset white cheese, Dorset blue vinny cheese, Coastal cheddar cheese, Tilly Whim cheese, Little Colonel cheese, Miss Muffet cheese, Keltic gold cheese, Cornish brie cheese, Cornish blue cheese, Cornish Yarg cheese

Must-Savor Specialties: Sally Lunn bun, Bath bun, Dorset knobs, Dorset flapjacks, Cornish hake and Cornish lobster, Falmouth (Fal) oysters, Stargazy pie, Cornish pasty, Cornish hevva cake, Cornish saffron buns, Cornish fairings, Cornish clotted cream, Devonshire cream

Birmingham and the English Midlands

For such a large city, Birmingham did not have an enviable food scene for many years. In fact, it was the butt of jokes, and as late as the 2000s Birmingham did not have a single Michelin-starred restaurant. Things are better today; as of 2021, there were five Michelin-starred eateries in England's second city. It may be a far cry from the 66 London has, but at long last, Birmingham had finally achieved something that had eluded the city for decades: accolades and respect from the food world. As far as Michelin-starred recommendations go, Carters of Moseley (2C St. Mary's Row, Wake Green Road) and Purnell's (55 Cornwall Street) are where you should go for modern farm-to-table British cuisine, and Opheem (48 Summer Row) is tops in the modern Indian category. If you'd like to tick off the most quintessential British experiences in Birmingham, you will find that Three Church Road Restaurant (3 Church Road) serves a beautiful afternoon tea service, while Cherry Red's Café Bar (88-92 John Bright Street) is proud to serve a highly-recommended English breakfast and as a fish and chip platter that's a Birmingham favorite as well.

Birmingham is home to a large South Asian community, with nearly one in five Birmingham residents having family that hails from the Indian, Pakistani, or Bangladeshi diaspora. As a result, a few South Asian dishes were not only perfected here, but are widely popular throughout the country. These include phall, a spicy curry using scotch bonnet peppers, and balti, a garlic and onion curry served in a "balti bowl", shaped like a wok. Adil's (148-150 Stoney Lane, Sparkbrook) was the first to bring balti to Birmingham, and it has now become an unofficial dish of the city. For delicious phall, go to Asha's Birmingham (inside Edmund House, 12-22 Newhall Street), owned by legendary Indian singer Asha Bhosle. Even with such a vibrant South Asian community, the "curry capital of the UK" is Leicester, an hour's drive away. You can try Keralan-style curry at Kayal (153 Granby Street) or Gujarati-style at Bobby's (154-156 Belgrave Road) in Leicester, just to name a few delicious offerings.

The east Midlands offer unique foodstuffs such as the legendary Bakewell tart and Bakewell pudding, delectable almond-based desserts originating from bakeries at Bakewell in Derbyshire; the Melton Mowbray pork pie from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, a snack of pork and pork jelly baked into a pastry crust and typically served cold; red Leicester cheese, similar to cheddar but with a crumblier texture. In the west Midlands, Ludlow in Shropshire is considered the quintessential British foodie town, due to the number of high-quality restaurants and top-class chefs who live here. At one time, it was the only small town in England to have three Michelin-starred restaurants, and at one time Ludlow had more Michelin stars than all of Birmingham! Today, five restaurants were mentioned in the Michelin Guide's entry on Ludlow, with Charlton Arms (Ludford Bridge) serving the best traditional English fare, like sticky toffee pudding and lamb Scotch eggs. Ludlow takes pride in sourcing its foodstuffs from local farmers, and was the first town in the UK to adopt the "slow food" ideology. One place where you can try a lot of local foodstuffs is Ludlow Farm Shop in Bromfield, northwest of town, where they serve such regional delicacies as fidget pie, a sweet-and-savory pie with a filling consisting of gammon (ham cured like bacon), onion, potato, and apple. (What a pairing!) Ludlow Castle is the site of one of the most popular food and wine festivals in Britain, held every September.

Must-Savor Specialties: Birmingham-style phall, Birmingham-style balti, curry in Leicester, Bakewell tart, Bakewell pudding, Melton Mowbray pork pie, sticky toffee pudding, fidget pie, red Leicester cheese

Manchester and Northern England

Manchester

Manchester, largely working-class through to the 21st century, didn't have a chance to cultivate a restaurant culture as quickly as London or even Birmingham. For many, ordering a pizza, picking up from the "chippy", eating pub grub, or grabbing an Indian takeaway was the extent of the food scene. This is slowly changing, and now Manchester is known for a budding food scene similar to Birmingham's.

mana (42 Blossom Street, Ancoats) is Michelin's only one-starred restaurant in Manchester, and it serves sea-to-table modern British fare in 12 to 16 courses, such as scallops from the Shetland Islands and mussels from Devon. For more traditional British fare, visit the Richmond Tea Room (46 Sackville Street) for a delightful afternoon tea service, and The Koffee Pot (84-86 Oldham Street) serves a full English breakfast all day long (until 3 p.m. except Friday and Saturday when it is open until 11 p.m.). Kingfisher Fish & Chips (43 Tib Street) in the city center serves up great pub fare like steak pies and fish and chips every day of the week except Sunday.

Manchester's most popular culinary export is the Manchester tart, a baked shortcrust pastry with raspberry jam and custard as the filling, topped with icing sugar, and some variations call for shredded coconut and a cherry on top. The most delicious Northern treats, such as the Manchester tart and the raisin-and-currant filled Eccles cake, can be found at Greenhalgh's Craft Bakery (Crescent Road, Lostock, Bolton).

Lancashire, Wigan, and Liverpool

Lancashire, to the west and including the cities of Lancaster and Blackpool, has a deliciously legendary regional cuisine, famous for such dishes as Lancashire hotpot (lamb and onions baked over scalloped potatoes), Lancashire butter pie (a meatless onion and potato pie), potted shrimps (small shrimp cooked with olive oil, cayenne pepper, and lemon), rag pudding (minced meat and onions cooked in a suet pastry and cheesecloth), and black peas (what we'd call black-eyed peas, a popular treat on Bonfire Night in early November). Nearby Wigan and Liverpool are known for Pie Barm sandwiches (a meat pie sandwiched inside a barm cake, which was baked using beer foam) and Scouse stew (a chunky stew of beef, lamb, potatoes and onion, named as Liverpudlians are nicknamed "Scousers"), respectively.

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is of course well-known for Yorkshire pudding, most popularly served at the Sunday roast. Despite a popular association with Yorkshire, no one town or city can claim rights as the birthplace of Yorkshire pudding. Every day can be Sunday at The York Roast Co. (4 Stonegate) in York, a four-minute walk from York Minster, where the Sunday roast with Yorkshire pudding is served until at least 10 p.m. seven days a week. Yorkshire is also well-known for its Parkin cake, renowned in the North but relatively unheard of in the South, made from gingerbread. Lottie Shaw's Bakery (Thornhills Beck Lane, Brighouse), between Bradford and Huddersfield, has received many accolades for their Parkin cakes. Another sweet treat that Yorkshire, particularly north east Yorkshire, is well-known for is the "Fat Rascal", a scone popularly baked with fruit zest and currants. Bettys Café Tea Rooms (1 Parliament Street) in Harrogate is said to serve the best Fat Rascals in the world, and there are Bettys Tea Rooms located in other Yorkshire cities such as York and Ilkley.

Additional foodstuffs Yorkshire produces include award-winning soft honey-flavored Wensleydale cheese; ginger beer (first brewed here in the 18th century); licorice sweets (sometimes called Pontefract cakes as they were first made in Pontefract, near Wakefield); chocolates, as confectioners such as Rowntree's in York and Mackintosh's in Halifax, now both owned by Nestlé, produce high-quality sweets for domestic and international consumption; and rhubarb, as at one time Yorkshire grew most of the world's rhubarb. You can purchase rhubarb sweet pies and pork pies with rhubarb at The Rhubarb Triangle Farm Shop (Green End Farm, Carlton, Wakefield).

The Lake District

Extreme northern England has one major culinary center, and that is the Lake District in Cumbria. Cumberland sausage, the most popular sausage served on British breakfast tables, is made in Cumbria from the Cumberland pig, and is noted for its high meat content (as high as 98%) and its flavorful seasonings. You may have had duck or venison with a saucy fruit preserve before; this is called Cumberland sauce and you can buy your own that ships directly to your house from Lakeland Artisan in Kendal (www.lakelandartisan.co.uk). Another treat from Kendal is the Kendal mint cake, a nutrient-dense food that was brought with Sir Ernest Shackleton on his expedition to Antarctica, cementing its worldwide popularity. You can buy the original Kendal Mint Cake from George Romney Ltd. (N. Mintsfeet Road, Kendal).

The foodie epicenter of the Lake District, however, is in Cartmel, 13 miles south of Windermere. Cartmel is home to two Michelin-starred restaurants, the two-star L'Enclume (Cavendish Street), which serves locally-sourced lamb, St James cheese, and produce, and Rogan & Co (Devonshire Square), with one Michelin star and creative takes on hearty pork and beef dishes. Cartmel is also renowned for its "summer pudding", a suet pastry baked with fresh berries and a hint of elderflower cordial. Cartmel Village Shop (Parkgate House 1 at The Square) serves the best summer pudding.

Must-Savor Specialties: Manchester tart, Eccles cake, Lancashire hotpot, Lancashire butter pie, potted shrimps, rag pudding, black peas, Pie Barm sandwich, Scouse stew, Yorkshire pudding (with the Sunday roast), Fat Rascals, Parkin cakes, Wensleydale cheese, ginger beer, Pontefract cakes (licorice sweets), rhubarb pie, pork pie with rhubarb, Rowntree's chocolate, Cumberland sausage, Cumberland sauce, Kendal mint cake, Cartmel cheeses (St James, etc.), summer pudding

Wales

The great thing about Welsh cuisine is that you do not need to see the entire country to experience the best dishes from the most critically-acclaimed restaurants. Monmouthshire (between Newport and Brecon) and Cardiff have the most developed food scenes. Of the five Michelin-starred restaurants in Wales, two are in Monmouthshire, The Whitebrook in Monmouth and The Walnut Tree at Llanddewi Skirrid outside Abergavenny. The latter's menu changes daily, but the former serves delicious Wye Valley favorites such as asparagus, eel, and rhubarb (as separate items on the menu).

Cardiff is a great base for you to explore Wales's most popular dishes, such as bara brith (a fruit loaf featuring raisins, currants, and candied fruit peel), cawl (the Welsh national dish, a hearty beef and potato stew sometimes served with dumplings), steamed cockles, faggots (meatballs made from lamb liver and onions), Glamorgan sausage (vegetarian sausage made with cheese, leek, and breadcrumbs), leek soup (the leek is Wales's national food), Welsh cakes (sweet griddle cakes dusted with sugar and made with currants and raisins), Welsh rarebit (cheese sauce made with herbs and spices served on toast), and Tatws Pum Munud ("five-minute potatoes", a stew featuring potatoes and bacon). Make a mini-food tour of Cardiff by trying the following restaurants and bakeries: Madame Fromage (21 Castle Arcade, known for their Welsh rarebit and cawl); Fabulous Welshcakes (44 Castle Arcade, known for their...well, fabulous Welsh cakes!); The Potted Pig (27 High Street), that serves delicious sticky toffee pudding and Welsh rarebit; and Snails Delicatessen (6-8 Beulah Road) for the most delicious Glamorgan sausage.

Must-Savor Specialties: Wye Valley smoked eel, Wye Valley asparagus, Wye Valley rhubarb, bara brith, cawl, cawl cennin (leek soup), steamed cockles, faggots (Welsh meatballs), Glamorgan sausage, Welsh cakes, Welsh rarebit, Tatws Pum Munud

Scotland

Scotland's restaurant scene, while small compared to other regions of the UK, is perhaps its most critically acclaimed outside of London. 11 restaurants hold Michelin stars in Scotland, with four of those located in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow. Scotland believes very much in the farm-to-table ideology at restaurants, and even the French haute cuisine and continental-inspired Michelin-starred restaurants in Edinburgh such as The Kitchin (78 Commercial Quay) and Condita (15 Salisbury Place) source all of their ingredients, when possible, from Scotland.

Edinburgh is a great place to base yourself in Scotland if you want to try the most common Scottish dishes and desserts. Start your day off with a Scottish breakfast; it differs from the English breakfast in that it is served with sausage patties as well as links, plus tattie scones (flat potato griddle scones) and haggis (a suet pudding cooked with sheep offal, onion, oatmeal, and spices) in addition to all the usual suspects on an English breakfast plate. The Scottish breakfast at The Edinburgh Larder (15 Blackfriars Street) receives rave reviews, and are even open late hours on Fridays and Saturdays (until 10 p.m. versus the usual 3 p.m.). The finest afternoon tea, complete with snacks and the famous Scottish shortbread, can be enjoyed at The Colonnades (inside The Signet Library, Parliament Square). Cafe Royal (19 W. Register Street) is a Victorian-era bar that is now also a restaurant, serving the best Scottish lobster, oysters, and cranachan (a cream and raspberry trifle served with oats and whisky) for dessert! (Tip: "Neeps and tatties" are a popular side dish in Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland. Neeps are rutabagas, cooked and mashed, and tatties are potatoes, typically also mashed.)

Dumfries and Galloway is another region of Scotland renowned for its food, in particular the town of Castle Douglas, which was Scotland's first designated "food town", where local and national delicacies can be bought by locals and tourists alike. Dumfries and Galloway is famous for its Galloway beef, considered some of the best quality in the UK, and also for its delicious sour fruit pastry, the Ecclefechan butter tart. It also boasts a thriving dairy industry, producing such cheeses as Seriously Strong cheddar and Cairnsmore cheese, the latter being a hard sheep's milk cheese.

Must-Savor Specialties: Scottish breakfast, tattie scones, neeps and tatties, haggis, Scottish shortbread, cranachan with Scotch whisky, Galloway beef, Ecclefechan butter tart, Seriously Strong cheddar cheese, Cairnsmore cheese

Northern Ireland

Northern Irish cuisine is a mix of British and Irish cuisines. For example, most of the ingredients in an English breakfast make it into the famed "Ulster fry", but the addition of fried soda bread and potato griddle cakes called potato farls make it truly Ulster, setting it apart not just from the English breakfast but also the Irish variety, which typically does not feature potato farls. This is eaten not just for breakfast but for any meal, and the most popular restaurants that serve up the Ulster fry are Brights Restaurant (23-25 High Street) and Maggie May's Belfast Cafe (2 Malone Road) in Belfast. The Ulster fry is served either with a coffee spiked with Irish whisky or with Irish breakfast tea.

Other popular and uniquely Northern Irish snacks include Yellowman, a crunchy honeycomb treat; vegetable roll, which despite its name does include minced beef as well as leeks, onions, and tomatoes; pasties, which are minced meat, onions and potatoes, pressed into a burger patty, fried and served with chips/steak fries; Fifteens, so named because the cake takes 15 marshmallows, cherries, and malted digestive biscuits each to make; and boxty, a potato pancake sometimes wrapped around beef and served in brown sauce. 387 Ormeau Road, whose name is its address, is renowned for its Fifteens cake. John Long's Fish & Chips (39 Athol Street) serves Belfast's best fish and chips and also its best pasties. You don't have to go to Lough Neagh to enjoy its special eel delicacy; you can enjoy eel tempura among many other dishes at Bistro Este (221 Upper Newtownards Road, Ballyhackamore).

Must-Savor Specialties: Ulster fry, fried soda bread, potato farls, Irish whisky (Bushmills etc.), Irish breakfast tea, Yellowman honeycomb confectionery, vegetable roll, pasties, Fifteens cake, boxty, Lough Neagh eel