As a nation, the British are comfortable with food from around the world. Pizza, pasta, stir fry and curry form a large part of our diets, albeit as rather ersatz versions of the genuine article. But we are far less in touch with our own culinary identity. When for example was the last time you went for an English? More likely, your last meal out was Japanese or pan-Asian. So it’s not before time that acclaimed chef Mark Hix of London’s The Ivy and Le Caprice restaurants should undertake a journey to discover the current state of British regional food.

From Stargazy Pie in Mousehole in the south to Aberdeen butteries (a kind of flatbread) in the north; Cromer crab and samphire salad in the east to deep fried Galway Bay shrimps in the west of Ireland, Hix takes his culinary curiosity to the four corners of the country. Along for the ride is ace photographer Jason Lowe whose food shots, supplier portraits and stunning landscapes are as an important record of gastronomic Great Britain in the early 21 century as Hix’s stylishly written and highly readable text.

Hix tells his story through people, places and ingredients. There’s Miles Irving who forages in the Kent countryside for rosehips, sow thistle and velvet shank mushrooms; Yorkshire woman Janet Oldroyd Hume who owns the largest rhubarb shed in the country and cheese maker Charles Martel in Dymock who makes that pungent delicacy Stinking Bishop that’s revered by chefs and gourmets.

Recipes include old favourites like Cornish pasties, Scotch broth and potted shrimps alongside more obscure delights such as Chester pie (a recipe dating back to 1868 that’s similar to lemon meringue pie) or mussel brose – a Scottish soup made with toasted oatmeal.

Often, Hix uses produce as inspiration for his own creations. Chicken from Reg Johnson’s farm in Goosenargh, Lancashire is pot roasted with root vegetables while St Tola goats cheese from Ireland appears in a salad with beetroot and sorrel.

In his introduction, Hix apologises “wholeheartedly to those I have omitted” but it would take a very hard heart to criticise the author’s laudable efforts in tracking down the best of British. The book is densely packed with absorbing detail that covers everything from the best conditions to trawl for shrimps in Morecombe Bay (when the water’s murky apparently) to the history of Bakewell pudding.

But Hix maintains a light, discursive tone while imparting all this information so reading never becomes a chore. Tales of fishing trips with fellow chefs, anecdotes about foraging for mushrooms on Wimbledon Common and recommendations of favourite restaurants pepper the text making this a very personal “cooks tour of Britain and Ireland” as the books subtitle has it.

With increasing interest in discovering where the food we eat comes from, it was inevitable that someone would write a book like British Regional Food. Luckily for foodies everywhere it was someone as passionate, knowledgeable and committed as Mark Hix.

British Regional Food by Mark Hix is published by Quadrille

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