Survey reveals most loved and disliked regional foods in the UK, with surprising findings

From Cheddar cheese and Cornish pasties in the south to singin hinnies and haggis in the north, the UK has an impressive wealth of regional food on offer, some dating back hundreds of years.

Holiday lettings company Stay in Devon thought it would be interesting to find out which regional delicacies British people loved, loathed and haven’t even tried and their survey came back with some fascinating results.

Cheddar cheese from Somerset is officially the most loved regional food with over 83 per cent of the British population loving it. A tiny three per cent said they didn’t like it, and less than one per cent of the population has never tried it.

Yorkshire puddings and Devon’s cream teas also made the top three with over 75 per cent of Brits stating they love both. In fact, there wasn’t one person who hadn’t tried a Yorkshire pudding, the only food in the sample that has been tried by all.

But what are the regional foods that Brits can’t stand?

A staggering 89 per cent of British people who have tried jellied eels do not like them. There seems to be no convincing the Brits that eels boiled in stock is a tasty snack. Even though they originated in the South East, they come in at the top as the most disliked food of that region.

Fifty per cent of the British population haven’t even tried jellied eels, and with these stats it’s going to be hard to convince them to.

What regional foods have British people never tried or even heard of?

A whopping 93 per cent of Brits have never tried a Coventry God cake from the West Midlands or fruit nevilles from Yorkshire and 89 per cent of people have never tried a Buckinghamshire Bacon Badger, which is a suet pastry pasty filled with chopped bacon, onion and potato.

Jemima Kirkwood, from Stay In Devon, said: “As Brits, we’re very passionate about our foods, and in Devon in particular, we really care about the ones we created.

“It’s been fascinating to learn about the various regional delicacies, but it doesn’t come as a surprise that cream teas and Cornish pasties ranked so well.

“It’s certainly inspired us to be a bit more adventurous and try some of the UK’s other regional delicacies; hopefully it will do the same for many others. That said, we’ll take the public’s advice and steer clear of jellied eels!”

So how many of the dishes mentioned in this feature have you tried?

The top ten most loved regional foods (with the percentage of respondents who loved them):

1. Cheddar cheese, Somerset - 83pc

2. Yorkshire pudding, Yorkshire - 82pc

3. Cream tea, Devon - 75pc

4. Welsh rarebit, Wales - 63pc

5. Eton mess, Berkshire - 62pc

6. Cornish pasty, Cornwall - 62pc

7. Melton Mowbray pork pie, Leicestershire - 61pc

8. Norfolk dumplings, Norfolk

9. Bakewell tart, Derbyshire - 58pc

10. Red Leicester cheese, Leicestershire - 58pc

Top ten regional foods disliked by Brits (with the percentage of respondents who disliked them):

1. Jellied eels, South East - 89pc

2. Stargazey pie, Cornwall - 49pc

3. Pease pudding, Northumberland - 45pc

4. Laver bread, Wales - 41pc

5. Stilton cheese, Cambridgeshire - 39pc

6. Stinking bishop cheese, Gloucestershire - 38pc

7. Shropshire blue cheese, Shropshire - 35pc

8. Kendal mint cake, Cumbria - 33pc

9. Fruit Nevilles, Yorkshire - 32pc

10. Haggis, Scotland - 31pc

The least tried/least known British foods (with the percentage who have not tried them):

1. Coventry God cakes, West Midlands - 93pc

2. Fruit Nevilles, Yorkshire - 93pc

3. Buckinghamshire bacon badger, Buckinghamshire - 89pc

4. Bacon floddie, Tyne and Wear - 87pc

5. Boxty, Northern Ireland - 86pc

6. Bedfordshire clanger, Bedfordshire - 85pc

7. Singin hinnies, Durham - 84pc

8. Dorset knob, Dorset - 80pc

9. Buttery, Aberdeen - 79pc

10. Cornish fairings, Cornwall - 77pc

To discover more of the findings, check out the full blog at https://www.stayindevon.co.uk/handbook/uks-most-popular-foods