Traditional Welsh Food

What is traditional Welsh food?

Traditional Welsh food recipes have been handed down one generation to another with written recipes rare and when written tended to be ‘anglicised’. As a consequence Traditional Welsh food could easily be called regional Welsh food as the same type of dish was slightly different one side of the mountain to the other or one valley to another. 

Welsh cookery is said to originate from the daily meals of village folk rather than the kitchens of the gentry. This is so easily demonstrated in the traditional Welsh foods of Welsh Cawl and Welsh Rarebit.

Because of the historical Welsh way of life food was either cooked in a cauldron or on a bakestone and this has in many ways brought forward into more modern ways of traditional welsh food.

There was much unrest in Wales around food in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries which was only brought to an end by the industrial revolution at the end of the 19^th century. 

At this time not only did Wales have the influence of the Italian immigrants which is still around today. As a consequence most traditional Welsh foods are recorded from around this time such as Welsh Cakes, Bara Brith, Glamorgan Sausages, Welsh Rarebit.

Here you’ll find info and recipes for a variety of traditional Welsh food. Some of the recipes will have a slightly modern twist on the traditional but taste every bit as good as the original recipe.