British 100

Let's be honest, the Brits are not known for their haute cuisine - in the right ways, that is. It takes a special person to appreciate the oddly named, often offally-centred dishes that hail from that fair isle. Since I am the product of a Brit and a first generation Canadian who was a product of other Brits, and since I've made several pilgrimages to my ancestral lands, I've eaten quite a few traditional English meals. But when I came across this list here, I saw that I had missed out on a lot.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Link back to Food Stories, if you would be so kind.


1. Grey squirrel.
2. Steak and kidney pie (I think this is disgusting! My dad has it for his birthday every year and my mom used to make the filling from scratch. She used to get a kidney from the butcher and soak it in the dishpan for a day. Since my dad's birthday is Christmas Eve, one of my most prominent memories of that holiday is going into the kithen to get a drink of water or something and seeing a soaking kidney in the dishpan, oozing its fluids into the water. EW!)
3. Bubble and squeak
4. Spotted dick
5. Hot Cross Buns
6. Laver bread
7. Toad in the hole
8. Shepherds pie AND Cottage pie (hate both with a passion!)
9. Scotch egg (my mom made these for a Christmas brunch once and they were awesome!)
10. Parkin
11. Welsh rarebit (love to try it though)
12. Jellied eels
13. Stilton (not a fan of blue cheese at all)
14. Marmite (ew!)
15. Ploughman’s lunch
16. Cucumber sandwiches (not a fan of cukes)
17. Coronation chicken
18. Gloucester old spot
19. Cornish pasty (and in Cornwall, no less! Awesome!)
20. Samphire
21. Mince Pies
22. Winkles
23. Salad cream
24. Malt loaf
25. Haggis (not my fave thing in the world, I can tell you that)
26. Beans on toast
27. Cornish clotted cream tea (my total fave thing EVER!)
28. Pickled egg (sorry...just plain gross-sounding)
29. Pork scratchings
30. Pork pie
31. Black pudding (my dad would have this from time to time as it was available...Um, not my idea of a good time.)
32. Patum Peperium or Gentleman’s relish (oh, God! My dad practically lives on this stuff! I hate it!)
33. Earl Grey tea (one of the few black teas I actually like)
34. Elvers (this appears to be the same as jellied eels)
35. HP Sauce
36. Potted shrimps (I'd totally try this, though)
37. Stinking bishop
38. Elderflower cordial
39. Pea and ham soup (my mom makes the best ham & pea soup EVER!)
40. Aberdeen Angus Beef
41.Lemon Posset
42. Guinness (not a fan of this kind of booze)
43. Cumberland sausage
44. Native oysters
45. A ‘full English’ breakfast (many - and I LOVE them!)
46. Cockles
47. Faggots (not a fan)
48. Eccles cake (love them!)
49. Potted Cromer crab
50. Trifle (LOVE it!)
51. Stargazy pie
52. English mustard
53. Christmas pudding (not a fan; mom used to make one homemade and would light it up with brandy, and that was cool to watch, but I never developed a taste for it)
54. Cullen skink
55. Liver and bacon with onions (my mom used to make it for us as kids until we protested one time too many)
56. Wood pigeon
57. Branston pickle
58. Oxtail soup
59. Piccalilli
60. Sorrel
62. Chicken tikka masala
63. Deep fried Mars Bar
64. Fish, chips and mushy peas
65. Pie and mash with liquor
66. Roast beef and Yorkshire pudding (something my mom often made on Sunday nights)
67. Pickled onions
68. Cock-a-leekie soup
69. Rabbit and Hare
70. Bread sauce
71. Cauliflower cheese
72. Crumpets
73. Rice pudding
74. Bread and Butter Pudding
75. Bakewell tart (mmmmmmmmmmmm)
76. Kendall mint cake
77. Summer pudding
78. Lancashire hot pot
79. Beef Wellington (my dad always waxes on about this...I'll have to try it one day)
80. Eton mess
81. Neeps and tatties
82. Pimms
83. Scampi
84. Mint sauce
85. English strawberries and cream
86. Isle of Wight garlic
87. Mutton
88. Deep fried whitebait with tartare sauce
89. Angels on horseback
90. Omelette Arnold Bennett
91. Devilled kidneys (I don't do organ meats)
92. Partridge and pheasant
93. Stew and Dumplings
94. Arbroath smokies
95. Oyster loaves
96. Sloe gin
97. Damson jam
98. Soda bread
99. Quince jelly
100. Afternoon tea at the Ritz

My score: 45/100. Not bad.

But, but...Where is Bovril? I was practically weaned on that stuff! What about spaghetti on toast? What about chip butties? I could name a few other things, too. Ah well. My eating to-do list is already getting pretty big these days.