Endangered British dishes – and the home cooks reviving them

Have you ever encountered carrageenan pudding? Most people hadn’t until a few weeks ago, according to food content creator Annie Mae Herring. “It was awful,” she recalls, describing the dessert as “a soggy welly, with, like, Fairy Liquid and a bit of salt.” This texture comes from carrageen moss, a seaweed common in coastal regions, used to create a gelatinous consistency. Herring, 33, from Essex, admits she might have botched the recipe but jokes that “either way, it may die a fiery death.” Her exploration of forgotten recipes has sparked a wave of nostalgia among viewers.

Rediscovering Lost Flavors

As part of a social media series, Herring has revived dishes like the Staffordshire clanger—a half-sweet, half-savoury pasty she calls “wonderfully strange”—and Brown Windsor soup, tied to Victorian royal traditions. She also paired chocolate concrete, a school-dinner staple, with a radioactive green custard, reminiscent of her childhood. While Herring has been creating content for a decade, this project has captivated her audience more than anything before.

“Thanks for the trip down memory lane: we used to have this at primary school – it was my absolute favourite,” one follower noted about a video of Sussex pond pudding, which features a whole lemon encased in steamed suet pastry. “Each table of six had a slice, and the server of the day would divide it into portions.” Another remarked on Eve’s pudding, a cake batter recipe with apples, saying, “I think this is the dessert my grandmother always made for Sunday lunch! But as she grew up in the Depression, the family served it with milk instead of cream. Now I just don’t know how you could eat it without a splash of milk on top.”

Preserving Culinary Heritage

Herring says she anticipated some nostalgia but was surprised by how deeply emotional the reactions were. She isn’t alone in this endeavor. Shannon McCarthy, a “goth baker” from Barnsley, has been resurrecting old regional recipes, from panackelty—a potato, onion, and corned beef stew—to Staffordshire oatcakes, a yeasted pancake. Both creators note that these dishes often stir strong memories in their audiences.

Dr. Neil Buttery, a chef and food historian, highlights that hyper-regional dishes are particularly vulnerable to disappearance. Examples include jugged hare and flummery, an oat-based fermented jelly linked to rural production and economic hardship. Even some familiar names are at risk, like spotted dick, which many recognize but may not cook regularly anymore. Buttery argues that whether a dish is endangered depends on if it’s still made at home, not just its presence on restaurant menus.

Not All Recipes Are Equal

Not everyone believes every dish needs revival. Anna Tobias, a chef and restaurant owner, champions classic British desserts but admits some should fade into history. “Ultimately, the recipe has to be good,” she says, referencing odd combinations like banana and herring or lamb and crab. “Classic dishes are classic for a reason—they’ve been tried and tested and accepted.”

Meanwhile, La Rondine bakery in Bedford has embraced a traditional school-dinner staple: chocolate toothpaste. This sweet tart, filled with a chocolate paste made from cocoa and milk powders, has become a hit among those seeking comfort in familiar flavors. As Herring worries about the future of rarer recipes, she emphasizes the importance of preserving them before they vanish entirely. “They provide a snapshot of a different time,” she says.