Wales (Encyclopedia of Food & Culture)  Archaeological and
documented evidence show that the early Welsh economy was based
on mixed farming. When journeying through Wales in 1188,
Giraldus Cambrensis (also known as Gerald de Barri or Gerald of
Wales) noted that most of the population lived on its flocks and
on milk, cheese, butter, and oats. Numerous references to foods
in literary works establish that this was generally how the
Welsh subsisted until well into the nineteenth century.
Ingredients of the Traditional Diet  The Report of the Royal
Commission on Land in Wales (London, 1896) shows that small
farmers and tenants survived on home-cured meat from domestic
animals, home-grown vegetables, dairy products, and cereal-based
dishes. Farmers and cottagers would fatten and slaughter at
least one pig a year to provide a constant supply of salted
bacon. On larger farms, a bullock or barren cow was also
butchered and the meat shared between neighboring  Traditional
Welsh cakes were baked in a small reflector ov