For the uninitiated, mutton cawl is a stew, not dissimilar to Irish stew, to which a great deal of leeks are added towards the cooking time. As much as anything, it could be described as the Welsh national dish, partly by default (there is not that much competition after all) and perhaps because mutton and leeks are two ingredients that are most obviously identified with Wales. Even in Wales, laverbread is a minority interest. However, cawl notwithstanding, leeks may not reach their greatest heights within the bounds of Welsh gastronomy.

For some reason, perhaps a Norman prejudice, leeks were considered somewhat risible in the south of England. Shakespeare was in on the joke, mocking Fluellen’s leek in Henry V, where Pistol says he is “qualmish at the smell of leek” and Fluellen observes that “you do not love it, nor your affections and your appetites and your digestions doo’s not agree with it”. The significance of the leek seems to have been as much as a gesture of defiance as for any intrinsic love of the vegetable. Even in the north of England, although leeks are revered in the kitchen garden, I am not sure they are so highly valued in the kitchen. Any vegetable that is grown mainly for its ability to grow to outsize proportions can hardly be considered to be treated as a delicacy.