Traditional Food in Cumbria

The geographical and occupational range of Cumbrian communities has produced a wide variety of traditional Cumbrian food. Compared to many other areas of the country Cumbria is rich in its traditional food. The independence of Cumbrian people, their attachment to the landscape, their particular community life and their openness to sea-borne trade have produced this unexpected richness.

This richness is found in the variety of daily and seasonal food and in the food for traditional celebrations. Peter Brears, one of the country’s leading experts on traditional food and customs, has not only provided a remarkable range of, often forgotten, recipes from the nineteenth centuries, but also provides an original social and cultural history of the county.