Regional food to savour

The concept of regional British food is a lovely idea, but does it exist? It does, but you have to know where to look for it. The Taste of Britain has been redesigned from the original 1999 edition which was published as Traditional Foods of Britain, is a stunning survey of our gastronomic heritage, recording any and all foods that have been produced in one region or town for three or more generations.

In his forward to this publication Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall urges us not just to browse through it, but to use it and in so doing discover some of our great British specialities.

Naturally, Oxford marmalade, Oxford sausage and Banbury cakes are featured and a lardy cake from Oxford weighing in at 500g is mentioned, along with lardy cakes from other pig- rearing regions such as Berkshire and Gloucestershire.

Cider cakes are linked with Oxford, too. So are Oxford Down sheep and the Blenheim Orange apple, discovered in the mid-18th century growing against a boundary wall of Blenheim Park.

This's important to accept that whilst the authors delve into our history to establish many of the facts within this book - it is not a history book or a collection of nostalgic culinary whimsies. It's not a cookery book either. The food that's detailed here is alive and well, even if it bears a name such as Dorset knob, puggie bun, singin hinnie, black bullet, Cumnock tart or Mendip wallfish. All of these foods have been in existence for more than 75 years, many resourcefully created to avoid wasting products that are abundant in a particular region.

Having had our taste buds tickled by descriptions of these regional dishes, it's up to us to use the book to help us go out and find them.