Culinary heritage

Yesterday we had a meal that, to my mind, is quintessentially English. Why English rather Scottish, Welsh or Irish? I don't know. The meal was cottage pie. Good old comfort food & just what I needed to warm me up on a cold day.

I commented as much to PD at the Pub.

"Oh but other countries have the equivalent. There's moussaka in Greece, lasagne in Italy." he instantly retorted.

And I suppose to some extent he's right, though quite what the French or Spanish equivalent is I don't know. It's inevitable that the poor of every nation have produced some fairly inexpensive culinary favourites. And minced beef is about the cheapest cut of beef you can get.

But that doesn't solve the question of why I associate cottage pie as English rather than British. Is this some throwback to the cultural predominance of the English since the time of the union(s) of the nations that make up Britain? Or has some other tradition developed in those other countries? I can see that the potato lies at the heart of the British diet & is an essential part of a cottage pie. Not surprisingly the Greek manifestation uses their local veg, the aubergine, & the Italians use pasta in their version. But the basic ingredients of minced beef & potato are both found throughout Britain.

Maybe, as someone who has lived their entire adult life in England, I'm just not so aware of the Scottish, Welsh & Irish culinary heritages. What I associate Scottish food with is fish (especially salmon, smoked haddock & oysters) and oats/barley great in scotch broth & for coating herrings, not to forget porridge & flapjacks. As for Welsh food my knowledge gets as far as bara brith, that fabulous fruity bread, & lava bread. Ireland I associate with the potato & colcannon, not a great favourite of mine.

But to me, cottage pie remains quintessentially English.