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Worcestershire sauce tops British food poll

30/05/2007

Worcestershire sauce has been voted the most influential British food offering in a new poll looking at the UK's various culinary offerings.

The tangy sauce, which is used in Bloody Mary drinks and often sprinkled on to cheese on toast, has been a mainstay in British food offerings since its debut in 1838 when John Lea and William Perrins first sold it in their chemist shop.

The two chemists originally dismissed the sauce as unpalatable, but then chanced upon it again years after it had been bottled and realised that after maturing, the sauce became quite spicy.

It has since spread around the world, with a bottle famously beating Sir Edward Young to the forbidden city of Lhasa in Tibet. Sir Edward finally completed his pioneering trip in 1904, only to find a bottle of Lea and Perrins sitting on the monks' dinner table.

The survey questioned 3,500 people about their opinions on Britain's various foods.

Also high on the top ten list of British foods was cheddar cheese and Yorkshire pudding, followed by clotted cream and black pudding.

English mustard also featured on the list, along with scones, salad cream, mint sauce and jellied eels.

Roopa Gulati from UKTV Food, which carried out the survey, said: "Although British eating habits now extend to global cuisines, it's a real triumph that classic favourites have pride of place on our place."

The top ten list

1 - Worcestershire sauce
2 - Cheddar cheese
3 - Yorkshire pudding
4 - Clotted cream
5 - Black pudding
6 - English mustard
7 - Scones
8 - Salad cream
9 - Mint sauce
10 - Jellied eels


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