Food historian winds clocks back to explore traditional Cumbrian fare

Renowned scholar, broadcaster and writer Ivan Day transported curious history and food-lovers back in time to explore the remarkable kitchen technology of the Cumbrian farmhouse for an insight into what people in rural areas were eating between 1570 and 1960.

At the Museum of Lakeland Life and Industry Mr Day focused his talk on bakestones and clapcake - traditional girdle cakes and flat breads that were once the region's staple foods.

"We live in a wet part of the world with unpredictable weather so farmers decided to grow what would grow well," he said. "The two crops that were favoured were oats and barley because they are resistant and they could rely on them to feed the family and also to use as their version of oil - our whole transport system was once run on oats."

From an early period in the central Lake District farmers favoured haver (Norse for oats) and bigge (a type of barley), while the gentry had wheat plus the helpful addition of an oven in their kitchens.

In Kendal and the surrounding area, Mr Day said the most popular sort of bread was called clapcake - like a poppadom - which was made using a range of specially designed arcane equipment.

"It is probably the most over engineered dish in the history of humanity!" he added.

This was a simple recipe of finely ground oat meal, salt and water while another favourite was the slightly softer riddle bread made from a batter with added yeast.

And if you were lucky you could be treated to a fermented oatmeal porridge which was boiled and served in a wooden bowl.

"Farmers were living off cardboard, shammy leather and wallpaper paste," said Mr Day, who carries on the Cumbrian food legacy and by cooking them up in his farmhouse kitchen in Shap to enjoy with bread and butter.

But it was weddings and funerals where the biggest feasts were had with an Eccles cake-esque bridal cake and, saving the best for last, wiggs (filling bun with caraway seeds) at wakes.