Northern Irish cuisine

Northern Ireland's culinary heritage has its roots in the staple diet of generations of farming families: bread and potatoes.

[1] Historically, limited availability of ingredients and low levels of immigration resulted in restricted variety and relative isolation from wider international culinary influences.

[citation needed] Recent decades have seen significant developments in the local cuisine, characterised by an increase in the variety, quantity and quality of gastropubs and restaurants.

They are sometimes eaten with butter and homemade jam, or with savoury food such as smoked salmon, fresh fried eel, or thick dry-cured bacon.

[4] Veda bread is a small, soft, caramel-colored, malted loaf, typically eaten as a slice with a cup of tea.

[4] A vegetable soup made throughout Ulster contains carrots, celery, thin leeks and parsley, thickened with red lentils and barley.

[4] Pasties are made from a mixture of sausage meat, onions, and mashed potato, shaped like a burger and spiced with black pepper.