Almost everyone knows the United Kingdom is famous for its fish and chips and mushy peas. But just like every other country, we do have foods that, even to us, seem pretty weird… and these are 5 of them!
Black pudding ice cream
A Lancashire ice cream company has taken an English breakfast’s most feared ingredient and turned it into a scooping flavour. Yes, you are reading this right: black pudding ice cream is now a thing in the United Kingdom. The ice cream itself has a mustard flavoured base with bits and pieces of black pudding inside it. This may make the dessert look like chocolate chip flavoured gelato, but it certainly won’t taste like it.
Laverbread
Although most people these days wouldn’t say no to a fresh piece of maki, the overall concept of seaweed as ‘food’ still seems a bit off. Except if you are Welsh, that is. Laverbread – that isn’t a bread by the way – is made of laver; a kind of seaweed that is found in abundance on the Welsh coast. The seaweed gets boiled for several hours before it gets minced or puréed. You can eat it with bacon, cockles, or monkfish.
Angels on horseback
You might all know the Victorian hors d’œuvre, where dates or prunes get wrapped in bacon and then put in the oven. Angels on horseback are completely the same. Except instead of popping a date in the middle, you wrap the bacon around an oyster. The oysters can be grilled or raw before they are wrapped, and angels on horseback were actually considered a treat in the 50’s and 60’s, especially in the United States.
Stargazy pie
Stargazy pie might be the most well-known of all the dishes on this list, but that does not make it less weird. This Cornish treat is originally made with pilchards, but many types of fish can be used. The heads of the fish pierce through the dough, making it seem as if they are star gazing. However, the fish heads are there to make sure that the oils that come free through baking the pie remain inside, giving the pie a wholesome taste.
Jellied eels
Jellied eels might be one of the weirdest things London has to offer. They originated in the 18th century in the east of the city and are, to this day, still considered a treat. The eels are chopped up and boiled in a spiced stock, after which they are set to cool to form the jelly. It looks absolutely horrible, and the fact that the jellied eels are eaten cold does not help its cause.
What do you think? What is the weirdest British dish you ever heard of?
Written by Max Lami
www.maxlami.co.uk
Tried all of those except the black pudding ice cream. Actually all pretty good, except for the jellied eel.