English Food History – English Baking In America

The humble rock cake, it doesn’t sound like the most appetizing thing in the world to eat, but trust me, they are a very nice teatime treat, and a popular component of the traditional high tea.

Rock cakes originated from Great Britain, where they are still found on the table at teatime in many homes in England. Rock Cakes are also known as Rock Buns, depending on where in the UK you live. The Ministry of Food promoted them during World War Two, due to the fact they required fewer eggs and less sugar than many cakes, which made them very easy to make during the period of rationing.

These light and crumbly teatime favorites are very easy to make and are best enjoyed warm from the oven. I can certainly recommend them, and they are fun for children to make too.

Click here for the full recipe

So after thinking about ginger nuts for over a week (incase there is any confusion, the following image represents my line of thought) I started contemplating the many other English foods that have unappetizing names.

Lets face it, English food doesn’t have the best reputation around the world, which I am sure is not helped by the names we have chosen to give to some of our best known dishes, all of which I may add are delightful to eat.

To quote English food writer Simon Majumdar – “we have done ourselves no favors at all when it comes to giving our food names that might make anyone actually want to eat them”.

So lets take a look at a few prime examples:

Spotted dick – The word ‘dick’ was widely used as a term for pudding in the 19th century. It is a very popular pudding in England and goes down very well with a dollop of custard.