What food did you think was widely available only to find out it was regional or even town exclusive? (featuring the macaroni pie)

by PeevesPoltergist

43 comments

  3. I wonder what those two Italians would make of this. Approved, or not?

  4. I never knew the macaroni pie existed before travelling to Scotland. It’s def worth it!!

  5. Geordie stottie breads! Delicious but impossible to buy in any shops outside of the north east.

  6. Other way round; I’m from Bedfordshire, and I’ve only just recently heard of a Bedfordshire Clanger.

  7. Saucisson a cuire
    I was sure it was a french specialty, when on fact it only exists around Lyo

  8. Chinese chippy. I thought you could go anywhere and order an egg fu Yung with you’re fish and chips. Turns out it’s a regional thing around Liverpool. I miss my egg fu Yung with chipshop chips.

  9. A Macaroni pie – never heard of one! My version is butter pie (Lancashire); potato, onion and butter & in my home town it’s open with Lancashire cheese on top. They’d never heard of it in Cheshire which isn’t that far away!

  10. God, I miss macaroni pies. And bridies. And scotch pies. Haven’t had a good scotch pie in years.

  12. Not a food but a term for a food – I didn’t realise monkey’s blood for raspberry sauce was a regional term until I asked for it at an ice cream van in London and got rewarded by very horrified looks all round

  13. This thread is how I’ve found out macaroni pie isn’t a UK-wide thing. So my answer is macaroni pie lol.

  14. White pudding supper from the chipper, also rowies but they’re available in most big supermarkets now.

  15. butter pie, didn’t know its pretty much only a preston thing

  16. I’m still amazed when I go into a bakery away from the south west and can’t buy a pasty. Steak bakes are not the same thing!

  17. Not quite regional, but when I was growing up every chip shop did saveloys, scallops, haddock and fresh roe. It was only when I started travelling the country in my adult years that I realised these aren’t staples of every fish and chip shop.

    Saveloys seem to be mostly available in large cities. Scallops are a rarity in most places nowadays. Haddock is very hit and miss, plus having listed on the menu doesn’t actually mean the shop sells it. Fresh Roe is interpreted in different ways, and needs follow up questions after asking whether the shop sells it.

  18. Scraps, spam fritters and chippy gravy.

    Also – chips cheese and gravy.

  19. I moved to Yorkshire from Somerset and tried to buy Easter Biscuits. My sister who lives in Bristol had to send me some.

  20. Gravy in chippies being a regional thing always annoys me.

  21. When I was in Oxford, I got a minted lamb Henry pie. Best day of my life

  22. Macaroni pies are the absolute tits. And proper butteries. God, the saltier the better.

  24. WHAT ABOMINATION IS THIS?!?! ^Where ^can ^I ^find ^it?

  26. Orange/battered chips and balti pies.

    Always disappointing getting a chippy outside the Black Country when you forget not everywhere has orange chips.

  27. I was shocked when I went to a Scottish Greggs and found out they did haggis pies

  28. For another Scottish one, that i miss the most from my time of living in Scotland a well fired roll. Especially good for a breakfast roll with bacon and potato bread (i refuse to call it tattie scone as a Northern Irish person)

    No they’re not burnt!

  29. Battered chips, growing up in the Black Country they were a staple of most chippys.

    It was only when I moved to Dorset I discovered they are very much a Black Country thing.

  30. First visit to the Scottish office of my old employer, the canteen staff gave me a free macaroni pie to try, they were amazed they weren’t a thing in Norwich!

  31. Potted meat. Available here in Yorkshire but asked for it in Cornwall and got looked at like I had five heads!

  32. Asking for a half n’ half with your curry.

    For those who don’t know – it’s chips and rice.

    I never realised until I grew up that it’s a somewhat unique thing in South Wales. Even the elderly dinner ladies in the school canteen knew what a half n’ half was so I always assumed it was universal lol.

  33. Every single chippy I encountered from birth to my late teens had a big vat of gravy available to pour on your chips. And then as soon as you step outside the region I grew up in, it’s universally *“oh, we don’t do gravy..….”* with a puzzled look as though I’m asking for the chips to be covered in caviar or something.

  34. Gypsy Tart. Had it at least once a week with school dinners. Had no idea it was a local ‘delicacy’ !

  37. Butteries aka Rowies you mostly find them around Aberdeen.

    Welsh cakes seem to be expanding their horizons as I sometimes find them in Scottish supermarkets although they aren’t as good as the ones from Cardiff Market or the ones made by my dad.

  39. Not me, but when I moved to Plymouth for my partner who’s born and raised here, I had spicy spuds for the first time and had to tell them that’s not a country-wide thing

  40. You can’t get Holland’s Pies down south, which is a shame because Pukka Pies are shit. No one down here has heard of parkin either.

  41. Rissoles, I’ve been living in south of England for 10 years and never seen one in a chippy but are a staple back home in wales

  42. A lot of Midlanders visit my touristy town and ask for scallops at the chip shop. In Birmingham a chip shop scallop is a battered slice of potato. Here a scallop is a shellfish. They are surprised that 6 scallops are so expensive.

  43. i was genuinely shocked when i realised they dont do macaroni pies in england, it made me feel sorry for them even more than I already did.

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