Travel around Cumbria and the Lake District through the pages of this book and discover a selection of the delicious traditional food of the area, as well as stories and fascinating facts behind the recipes. Your journey is given added flavour by the delightful historical images from The Francis Frith Collection, showing the people and places of Cumbria and the Lake District in the past.

A Taste of Cumbria and the Lake District includes 32 recipes, some traditional, some reflecting local products that Cumbria and the Lake District is famous for, some linked to characters or historical personages or events, some versions adapted to suit modern tastes.

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A Taste of Cumbria and the Lake District is peppered with topic boxes of additional snippets and information about regional dialect, words and phrases, traditional customs and local trivia, to convey a true flavour of Cumbria and the Lake District. Read on for a just a few of the fascinating facts from the book.

More about this book

• ISBN: 1-84589-458-8
• Compiled by Julia Skinner
• Printed to order and Despatched in 3-5 days
• Add your own inscription! - tell me more...
• 96 pages, Paperback
• Size: 246mm x 189mm (10" x 7")

• Large catches of sea trout, cod and whiting are brought into Cumbria's sea ports, especially to Whitehaven. In 1754 four large fishing vessels, or "busses", from Whitehaven were attacked by crews of the herring fleet from the Isle of Man. The Manxmen resented the way that the Whitehaven men could flout the Manx fishing regulations that they themselves were bound by.
• The tradition of fishing is well-established along Cumbria's coast, and one local delicacy is stuffed herrings served with mustard sauce. The use of mustard with herrings is said to have been a culinary tradition introduced by the Vikings, who settled this area over a thousand years ago. The sharpness of the mustard cuts through the oiliness of the fish.
• Freshwater fish, such as trout and salmon, inhabit the Lakes and many of the rivers that flow down to the sea through Cumbria from the Pennines and Cheviots. Salmon was once so plentiful in the area that in Kendal a school’s rule book stipulated that the schoolboys should not be "compelled to dine on salmon or fish in general more than 3 days a week."
• A rare and unusual freshwater fish that is only found in the deep waters of the Lakes, especially around Windermere, is the char. This is a relative of the salmon, and is believed to be a very old species of fish that was left behind in the inland lakes at the end of the last Ice Age, as the glaciers melted. Char has a delicately-flavoured flesh with a pinkish tinge. It is caught with long fishing lines weighted with metal spinners, and is usually eaten served in a pie, or potted. Potted char was very popular as a breakfast dish in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, when it was served in special "char dishes" made of white china decorated with pictures of the fish, which are collectors' items today.
• Huge numbers of sheep are reared on the hill farms and moorlands of Cumbria, where hardy breeds such as the Swaledale can withstand the cold winds and bitter winters of the uplands. Many of the regional dishes use lamb, and Shepherd's Pie, a favourite dish all over England, is said to have originated in this part of the country. "Sheep Meets" have been held in Cumbria for hundreds of years, when sheep that have wandered can be returned to their owners. Shepherding can be a solitary occupation and these occasions allow the shepherds to socialise together and enjoy traditional fare such as Tattie-Pot and Apple Pie.
• Cumberland Sausage has a high meat content and is seasoned with spices and herbs such as sage and marjoram. It is made in a long coil, rather than individual sausages. It is sold by the length rather than by weight – sometimes being made in lengths up to1.2 metres (4 feet) long.
• Webb's Lettuce - Clarence Webb was a noted Kendal horticulturist who was very interested in producing improved varieties of flowers and vegetables. During the food shortages of the First World War he tried without success to promote allotments for people to grow their own food. One of his greatest successes was the development of a variety of lettuce known as "Webb's Wonderful Lettuce", which is still popular today.
• One of England's most eccentric events takes place at the Cumbrian village of Egremont, near Whitehaven, every September – the World Gurning Championship. Gurning is the art of making grotesque faces, and the winner of this event is the person who receives the most applause from the audience for pulling a grotesque expression whilst looking through a horse's collar. The Gurning Championships take place during the Egremont Crab Apple Fair, which dates back to 1267 when it was first held to celebrate the local lord of the manor wheeling a cart of crab apples through the village to distribute to the poor. Crab apples are sour and bitter, and it may be that the gurning competition originated from the faces that the village people made as they bit into the sharp-tasting apples.
• Cumbria is famous for its damsons, especially those grown in the Lyth valley, just south of Windermere. These damsons are known locally as Witherslack damsons, after the village of that name, and are large, juicy and much sweeter than damsons grown elsewhere in the country. They are often eaten raw, like grapes, and accompanied by a piece of Lancashire cheese.
• In former centuries the port of Whitehaven traded with the West Indies, exchanging locally-produced wool for ginger, rum, treacle, exotic fruit, brown sugar and spices, all of which figure prominently in traditional fare from Cumbria, such as Cumberland Rum Nickie, Ginger Scones and Lemon Cake.
• Grasmere Gingerbread - Gingerbread is popular all over Britain, but the Cumbrian village of Grasmere is especially famous for it. There are actually two varieties of gingerbread linked with Grasmere, one being thin and the other twice as thick. The thicker version is probably the original "local" version, which was originally made and given as payment for people doing work for the church. The thinner version is believed to have been introduced by Sarah Nelson who came to the village from Lancashire and set up business there in the 1850s, and it is her version for which the village is now famous. Grasmere’s church is dedicated to St Oswald, whose feast day is 5th August. This is celebrated in Grasmere on the nearest Saturday to 5th August with a Rushbearing Festival, commemorating a custom that dates back to the days when the earthen floors of churches were strewn with rushes or straw to make the floor softer underfoot; this covering was renewed before major festivals and, as at Grasmere, before the church's dedication day. At Grasmere, children parade through the village carrying rushes and decorations for the church. After the procession and a special service in the church, the children who have carried the rushes are traditionally given a piece of Grasmere Gingerbread.
• In the Kendal area, whole families once went out into the woods and hedgerows on the public holiday in September to forage for nuts to augment their winter food supplies. The day was known as Nut Monday. This custom fell out of favour by the 1860s and the holiday was abolished.
• Cumberland rum butter is a delicious regional speciality of butter flavoured with rum, Barbados sugar and spices. It was traditionally made to celebrate the birth of a baby, and was served with oatcakes to well-wishers who came to visit the new arrival. The mother-to-be would make the rum butter before her baby was due, and keep it in a traditional rum butter bowl. It was the custom in some parts of Cumbria for the visitors to place coins in the empty butter bowl when all the rum butter had been consumed, to ensure that the newborn child would have a long and prosperous life. Nowadays, rum butter is delicious eaten with scones or steamed puddings, and especially with mince pies and Christmas pudding.

• 

  A Taste of Yorkshire

• 

  A Taste of the North-East

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  A Taste of Lincolnshire and the Fens

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  A Taste of East Anglia

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  A Taste of the South-West

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  A Taste of the South-East

• 

  A Taste of the North-West

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  A Taste of the East Midlands

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  A Taste of Scotland

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  A Taste of Wales