A Guide to UK Food - National Dishes

This post is primarily aimed at friends from busuu.com who have asked about food in the UK, but may also be interesting for all of you around the world.

First and foremost the UK is made up of 3 or 4 countries [depending on where you stand but let's not go down that route now let's just go with 4 countries] they are, England, Scotland Wales and Northern Ireland.  As such there exists a range of influences over what people eat.  Beyond these four countries though food in the UK is heavily influenced by the countries and cultures that at one point existed as part of the British Empire or that remain to this day within the Commonwealth.

We'll start with the 4 National Dishes of the UK.

Photograph: Steve Cavalier/Alamy guardian.co.uk	England - Roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding. Also known as the Sunday Roast owing to the day it is traditionally served this dish comprises of Roast Beef sliced thinly served with Gravy, Peas, Roast Potatoes and Yorkshire Pudding.  A Yorkshire Pudding is a type pastry shaped into small 'bowls'.
Photograph: zoonabar Flickr	Scotland - Haggis This one isn't for the the squeamish and I personally have neither ate it nor have I any overwhelming desire to try it. Haggis is basically a Sheep's Stomach stuffed with a mince made from the heart, liver and lungs of the Sheep mixed with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, salt, and stock. It is traditionally simmered in the Sheep's stomach for approximately three hours. Most Haggis sold in shops and restaurants is prepared in a casing rather than the actual stomach.
Photograph: BBC Food	Wales - Cawl Cawl is the Welsh word for Soup, Broth or Stew. There are various different types and variations you can see an example of a recipe here: at BBC Food
	Northern Ireland - Ulster Fry Of all the National dishes here this is by far the heaviest. Some locals here like to refer to it rather affectionately as a heart attack on a plate. Despite this it is traditionally ate at breakfast time usually on the weekend, Saturday and Sunday although some people have them a lot more than this. The staple of the dish would be: 2 fried eggs, 2 sausages, 2 slices of Bacon, 2 fried Soda Farls [A type of flat bread similar to Damper which is ate in Australia] 2 slices of potato bread [another type of flat bread, more like a pancake but traditionally square] Vegetable Roll [a type of Sausage meat] Black Pudding - a type of Blood Sausage similar to Blutwurst [don't knock it until you've tried it!  I LOVE this] White Pudding [similar to Black Pudding but made without Blood] Fried Tomatoes, Fried Mushrooms and Wheaten Bread Optional additions include Toast and Baked Beans [although similar styled beans exist outside the UK, the variety made here is Unique and unlike anything produced elsewhere]

I'll move on to Fast Food in the next post on this topic.  For now the above should whet your appetite.  From these four dishes alone you should already get a picture of how different cultures outside the UK have influenced our food and how despite the stereotypes we are anything but prudish in experimenting with what we eat.

EDIT: I should note here these are the 'official' National dishes.  The Favourite dishes of each Nation is an entirely different topic and can greatly contrast to those above for example Chicken Tikka Masala, a type of Curry is regarded as an unofficial National Dish due to it's popularity, along with Fish and Chips among others.