Welsh cuisine encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Wales. While there are many dishes that can be considered Welsh due to their ingredients and/or history, dishes such as , Welsh rarebit, laverbread, Welsh cakes, , and Glamorgan sausage have all been regarded as symbols of Welsh food. Some variation in dishes exists across the country, with notable differences existing in the Gower Peninsula, a historically isolated rural area which developed self-sufficiency in food production (see Cuisine of Gower).
While some culinary practices and dishes have been imported from other parts of Britain, uniquely Welsh cuisine grew principally from the lives of Welsh working people, largely as a result of their isolation from outside culinary influences and the need to produce food based on the limited ingredients they could produce or afford. Due to the nature of the landscape, sheep farming in Wales is well-suited and extensive, with lamb and mutton being the meats most traditionally associated with the country. Beef and dairy cattle are also raised widely, and there is a strong fishing culture. Fisheries and commercial fishing are common and seafood features widely in Welsh cuisine.
Vegetables, beyond cabbages and leeks, were historically rare. The leek has been a national symbol of Wales for at least 400 years and Shakespeare refers to the Welsh custom of wearing a leek in Henry V.
Since the 1970s the number of restaurants and gastropubs in Wales has increased significantly and by 2024 there were six Michelin-starred restaurants located in the country.
History
There are few written records of traditional Welsh foods; recipes were held within families and passed down orally between the women of the family. The lack of records was highlighted by Mati Thomas in 1928, who made a unique collection of 18th century "Welsh Culinary Recipes" as an award-winning Eisteddfod entry.
Those with the skills and inclination to write Welsh recipes, the upper classes, conformed to English styles and therefore would not have run their houses with traditional Welsh cuisine. The traditional cookery of Wales originates from the daily meals of peasant folk, unlike other cultures where meals often started in the kitchens of the gentry and would be adapted.
Historically, the King of the Welsh people would travel with his court, in a circuit, demanding tribute in the form of food from communities they visited as they went. The tribute was codified in the Laws of Hywel Dda, showing that people lived on beer, bread, meat, and dairy products, with few vegetables beyond cabbages and leeks. The laws show how much value was put on different parts of Welsh life at the time, for example that wealth was measured in cattle; they also show that the court included hunters, who would be restricted to seasonal hunting.
Food would be cooked in a single cauldron over an open fire on the floor; it would likely be reheated and topped up with fresh ingredients over a number of days. Some dishes could be cooked on a bakestone, a flat stone placed above a fire to heat it evenly.
Gerald of Wales, chaplain to Henry II, wrote after an 1188 tour of Wales, "The whole population lives almost entirely on oats and the produce of their herds, milk, cheese, and butter. You must not expect a variety of dishes from a Welsh kitchen, and there are no highly-seasoned titbits to whet your appetite." The medieval Welsh used thyme, savory, and mint in the kitchen, but in general herbs were much more likely to be used for medicinal purposes than culinary ones.
Towards the end of the 18th century, Welsh land owners divided up the land to allow for tenant-based farming. Each small holding would include vegetable crops, as well as a cow, pigs, and a few chickens. The 18th and 19th centuries were a time of unrest for the Welsh people. The Welsh food riots began in 1740, when colliers blamed the lack of food on problems in the supply, and continued throughout Wales as a whole. The worst riots happened in the 1790s after a grain shortage, which coincided with political upheaval in the form of forced military service and high taxes on the roads, leaving farmers unable to make a profit. As a result of riots by colliers in the mid-1790s, magistrates in Glamorgan sold the rioters corn at a reduced price (Corn refers to grain, wheat etc). At the same time they also requested military assistance from the government to stop further rioting. Due to the close-knit nature of the poor communities, and the slightly higher status of the farmers above the labourers, the rioters generally blamed the farmers and corn merchants, rather than the gentry.
The majority of food riots had ended by 1801, and there were certain political undertones to the actions, though lack of leadership meant that little came of it. By the 1870s, 60% of Wales was owned by 570 families, most of whom did no farming. Instead, they employed workers, who were forced to vote Tory or lose their jobs.
Around the end of the 19th century, the increase in coal mining and steel works around Wales led to the immigration of Italian workers. The workers brought families who integrated their culture into Welsh society, bringing with them Italian ice cream and Italian cafes, now a staple of Welsh society.
In the 1960s, isolated communities were unable to access produce that the majority of Britain could, including Mediterranean produce such as peppers or aubergines. Welsh artisanal produce was limited or non-existent, with farms rarely making their own cheese, and Welsh wine was of poor quality. Though by the 1990s and 2000s, Welsh foods went through a revival: farmers' markets became more popular, Welsh organic vegetables and farm-made cheese started to appear in supermarkets. Other modern Welsh characteristics are more subtle, such as supermarkets offering salty butters and laverbread, or butchers labelling beef skirt as 'cawl meat'.
Restaurants are promoting the quality of Welsh ingredients, encouraging people to purchase Welsh produce and creating new dishes using them. This has meant that Welsh products can find their way into the higher-priced delicatessens of London, Europe, and North America. However, the regular diet of Welsh people has been more influenced by India, China and America. The most popular dish is chicken tikka masala, followed by burgers or chow mein.
Regional variations
There are some variations in the foods that are eaten around the different areas of Wales. These variations trace their roots back to medieval cooking. Ingredients were historically limited by what could be grown; the wetter climate in highland areas meant that crops were restricted to oats, whilst the more fertile lowland areas allowed the growth of barley or wheat. Coastal inhabitants were more likely to include seafood or seaweed in their meals, whilst those living inland would supplement their farmed cereals with the seeds of land weeds to ensure there was enough to eat.
The invasions of the Romans and Normans also had an effect on the fertile areas which were conquered. The people there learned more "sophisticated eating habits". Conversely those who remained in wilder areas kept the traditional approaches to cooking; tools such as the pot crane continued to be used as late as the 20th century.
The only region that has a significant difference from the rest of Wales is the Gower peninsula, whose lack of land transport links left it isolated. Instead it was strongly influenced by Somerset and Devon on the other side of the Bristol Channel. Dishes such as whitepot and ingredients such as pumpkin, rare elsewhere in Wales, became commonplace in Gower.
Produce
Welsh food can be better traced through the history of its foodstuffs than through the dishes.
Meat and fish
There a number of local Welsh breeds of cow, including the Welsh Black, a breed which dates back to at least 1874. Cattle farming accounts for the majority of agricultural output in Wales. In 1998, the production of beef contributed 23% of Welsh agricultural output. In 2002, 25% of agricultural output was in the production of dairy products. Welsh beef is registered as a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) under UK and EU law. It may only be sold under this name when it is wholly reared and slaughtered in Wales.
Pigs were the primary meat eaten by early Welsh folk, which could be preserved easily by salting. By 1700, there were a number of different Welsh breeds of pig, with long snouts and thin backs, generally light coloured, but some were dark or spotted. Today, pigs in Wales are either farmed intensively, using the white Welsh pig or Landrace pig, or extensively, where Saddleback pig, Welsh pig, or crossbreeds are farmed.
The Welsh uplands were most suited to grazing animals such as sheep and goats, and the animals became associated with Wales. Sheep-farming on a large scale was introduced by Cistercian monks, largely for wool, but also for meat. By the start of the 16th century Welsh mutton was popular in the rest of the UK. Once modern synthetic fibres became more popular than wool, Welsh sheep were raised almost exclusively for meat. Towards the end of the 20th century, there were more than 11 million sheep in Wales. The most popular breed of sheep is the Welsh Mountain sheep, which is notably smaller than other breeds, but better-suited to the Welsh landscape. These only rear one lamb, rather than the lowland breeds that rear two or more. The mountain sheep are regarded as having more flavoursome meat. Welsh farmers have started using scientific methods, such as artificial insemination or using ultrasound to scan a sheep's depth of fat, to improve the quality of their meat. Gower salt marsh lamb was registered as a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) under UK law in 2021 and (despite opposition of France) under EU law in 2023.
Coastal areas of Wales, and those near rivers, produce many different forms of fish and shellfish. Traditional fishing methods, such as wade netting for salmon, remained in place for 2,000 years. Welsh coracles, simple boats made of a willow frame and covered in animal hides, were noted by Romans and were still in use in the 20th century. Once landed, fish would generally be wind-dried and smoked, or cured with salt.
Herring, an oily fish which takes well to salting, became a well established catch; the busiest harbour was Aberystwyth, which reportedly took up to 1,000 barrels of herring in a single night in 1724. Many other villages also fished for herring, generally between late August and December. Herring, along with mackerel, trout, salmon and sea trout, were the main fishes found in Welsh cuisine. Salmon was abundant and therefore a staple for the poor. Trout, which would dry out quickly when cooked, would be wrapped in leek leaves for cooking, or covered in bacon or oatmeal. Many fish would be served with fennel, which grew wild in abundance in Wales.
Lobster fishing was done on a small scale especially in Cardigan Bay, but was reserved almost exclusively for export. Welsh fisherman would be more likely to eat the less profitable crabs. Cockles have been harvested since Roman times and are still harvested in a traditional manner with a hand rake and scraper. Cockle picking still happens in the Gower peninsula, but due to the difficulty in getting licences and reduced yield, villages near the Carmarthen Bay no longer gather them.
Dairy products
As cattle were the basis of Celtic wealth, butter and cheese were generally made from cows' milk. The Celts were amongst the earliest producers of butter in Britain, and for hundreds of years after the Romans left the country, butter was the primary cooking medium and basis for sauces. Salt was an important ingredient in Welsh butter, but also in early Welsh cheeses, which would sit in brine during the cheesemaking process.