1. Welsh cakes, Swansea
Head to the centre of Swansea's indoor market and you'll find a cluster of stalls which local foodies swear by. At Karen Evans's traditional bakery (stall 55D), you can eat fantastic Welsh cakes - scone-like patties studded with dried fruit - served hot off the griddle and dusted with sugar. Next door, the rotunda contains six family-run stalls selling South Wales' beloved Penclawdd cockles and fresh laver bread (cooked seaweed, often rolled in oats and fried into little cakes). Just splash on the vinegar and away you go.
· Welsh cakes, 30p each. Swansea Market, Oxford Street; swanseamarket.co.uk
2. Bakewell Tart, Derbyshire
Bakewell looks sedate, but this Peak District town is torn over the origins of, recipes for, and differences between, the Bakewell tart and Bakewell pudding. Chew the arguments over at the Bakewell Pudding Parlour, Old Original Bakewell Pudding Shop or the Bakewell Tart Shop cafe. At the latter, its "traditional" tart has a shortcrust pastry case, layered with jam and a syrup, egg and ground almond filling; while its pudding uses puff pastry. However, its full tart range (made by Jackson's, a seasoned Chesterfield family bakers) is constantly evolving, and includes a new glazed-apple-topped variant. Eat-in, takeaway or even post a tart home to yourself.
· Tarts from £3.65 (takeaway). Bakewell Tart Shop, Matlock Street, Bakewell, +44 (0)1629 814692; bakewelltartshop.co.uk
3. Haggis, Scotland
It might not please hardcore traditionalists - it's cooked in a big pan, not a sheep's stomach, and it's pepped up with ground Jamaican pimento spice - but Stravaigin's haggis (voted Scotland's best in 2005) is quite something. Served with mashed parsnips and potatoes, it's surprisingly smooth and moist, with a sparky, peppery top-note and a deeply satisfying depth of flavour. Pre-theatre restaurant menu apart, the haggis is only served in Stravaigin's upstairs cafe-bar, a warm, cosy space - all candles, gleaming wood fixtures and genial hubbub - where you may well spot the likes of Franz Ferdinand relaxing on a Friday night.
· £5.45 starter, £9.95 main. 28 Gibson Street, Glasgow, +44 (0)141 334 2665; stravaigin.com
4. Pease pudding, Northumberland
Made by simmering a muslin bag of split peas in a stockpot of ham and vegetables, until the peas are soft enough to be blended into a paste, food doesn't get much more regional than pease pudding. It's legendary in the north east. At R Turnbull & Sons, a butchers in foodie hotspot Alnwick, you can take their pease pudding home or eat it, Geordie-style, in a ham-and-pease-pudding stotty-cake sandwich.
· 46p per 100g (takeaway); sandwich, £1.58. R. Turnbull & Sons, 33-35, Market Street, Alnwick, +44 (0)1665 602186; turnbulls-of-alnwick.co.uk
5. Devon cream tea
You can get a cream tea anywhere, these days, but connoisseurs head to the West Country where this traditional summer treat and its vital component, clotted cream, originated. At the award-winning Georgian Tearoom, owner Heather Knee makes her own jams and the scones are baked daily, to a secret recipe, using local butter, milk and organic eggs. Eat in the quaint, old fashioned tea room or, on sunny days, in the pretty walled garden. Just remember that in Devon they put the cream on the scone first, then the jam. In Cornwall, tradition dictates butter first, jam, then cream. Got it?
6. Yorkshire pudding
Yorkshiremen of a certain vintage can argue, endlessly, about such crucial matters as crispiness, consistency, and whether or not Yorkshire pudding should ever be served with beef, or just as a starter. You can make your own mind up over Sunday lunch at the Carlton Bore. A spin-off from chef Scott Hessel's excellent Old Bore at Rishworth, this new venture relies on "100% Yorkshire sourced ingredients", such as Whitby crab, West Yorkshire's famous forced rhubarb and Ampleforth Abbey cider brandy.
· Sunday lunch, £14.95 (two courses). Carlton Bore, Carlton Husthwaite, Thirsk, North Yorkshire, +44 (0)1845 501265; carltonbore.co.uk
7. Scouse, Liverpool
Authenticity isn't the first word that springs to mind when you think of the Malmaison hotel chain. But, when it comes to a pan of scouse - the thick Liverpudlian lamb stew that has its origins in the Scandinavian sailors' dish, Labskause - the local Mal has it licked. Their scouse (the recipe brought to the kitchen by former sous chef Andy Wright, who got it off his gran) features on a Homegrown & Local menu which utilises regional ingredients like wild mushrooms foraged in Ormskirk, Kidderton Ash goat's cheese from Cheshire and, to accompany the scouse, (pickled) beetroot grown near Preston.
· £10.95. Malmaison, William Jessop Way, Princes Dock, Liverpool, +44 (0)151 229 5000; malmaison.com
8. Lancashire hotpot, Blackburn
Originally a staple working class dish, the best modern hotpot is found at one of Lancashire's most expensive restaurants. Michelin-star Northcote Manor attracts an international clientele, but its chef-owner, Nigel Haworth, is obsessed with local food - even going so far as to commission the University of Central Lancashire to design a historically accurate stoneware cooking pot for his signature dish. NB: Hotpot must be pre-ordered 24 hours in advance.
· £35 for two. Northcote Manor, Northcote Road, Langho, nr. Blackburn, +44 (0)1254 240555; northcote.com
9. Soda bread, Northern Ireland
Whether cut for sandwiches, or toasted in an Ulster Fry breakfast, soda farls - wedges of the flattish soda bread, baked on a hotplate, and made using baking soda not yeast - are everywhere in Northern Ireland. Ditty's, an artisan bakery who supply Fortnum & Mason, make some of the region's fluffiest, as well as other NI favourites like potato farls, brown wheaten bread and award-winning oatcakes. Eat-in or takeaway at Ditty's Castledawson cafe.
· 43p per farl (takeaway); sandwiches from £1.90. Ditty's Home Bakery, 44 Main Street, Castledawson, Magherafelt, +44 (0)28 7946 8243; dittysbakery.com
10. Lincolnshire sausage
From the peculiar popularity of black pudding in Lancashire (best eaten hot, from Chadwick's, on Bury market) to Welsh lamb sausages, via haggis and hogs pudding, Britain has a complex sausage heritage. Oft overlooked, Lincolnshire is just as proud of its regional banger - made with locally-reared, coarsely chopped pork, seasoned with sage - and other local delicacies like plum bread (a dried fruit loaf) and Lincolnshire Poacher cheese. Uncle Henry's family-friendly farm shop/cafe showcases such, alongside prize-winning Lincolnshire sausages made from its own Hampshire breed pigs.
· Sausages approx. £3 per llb (shop); cafe main dishes £4-£8. Uncle Henry's, Grange Farm, Grayingham, Gainsborough, +44 (0)1652 640308; unclehenrys.co.uk
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