Regions known for their great food have an identity shaped by the landscape and Norfolk has just that. It’s what the French call “terroir”. I have been told by national food writers (who return time and time again) that Norfolk has one of the best regional food cultures in the UK, visible and thriving. They are struck (apart from how good it tastes) by the huge number of small producers working and, in the countryside, the ever-present tables at the end of people’s drives offering apples, honey, and samphire. Our food is amazing and I think we should support and celebrate it. Certainly eat it!
Eating from our terroir gives us access to a wealth of seafood, Cromer crabs,
Morston mussels, cockles from Stiffkey and no other county has the availability and low price of fresh samphire that we do. But we also have great land and shooting estates, so we have brilliant meat and game in season. Most of the UK’s barley is grown in Norfolk – did you know we have the second largest number of brewers in the UK? Our ice cream is to die for! Then there’s fruit - our high sunshine
levels mean that we have masses of pick-your-own and orchards .
And that’s not mentioning cheese, asparagus and the foods to be foraged from the hedgerows. If you aren’t eating a Norfolk diet you are really missing out!
