A Taste of Britain Revisited - Wales
The Food Programme
BBC
4.4 • 977 Ratings
🗓️ 31 August 2014
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1974, Derek Cooper set off on a hunt - for BBC Television - around Britain to discover what was left of its regional foods and traditional ingredients. Forty years on, Dan Saladino revisits Wales, and that series, called "A Taste of Britain" - to meet some of those involved, their descendants, and to find out what happened after these foods and skills, some of which at the time were on the wane when they were recorded for the cameras.
Dan goes to Wales to find out how the tradition of fishing for sewin in tiny boats called coracles is faring. When Derek visited the Gower Peninsula, cockles were in short supply and had to be sourced from outside of Wales. Dan visits Swansea market to ask how the cockle trade is doing now and to see if the famous Welsh laverbread is as popular today as it was when the original series was filmed in the mid 70's. At that time, Derek Cooper feared that some of the traditional Welsh foods and skills were about to be lost forever. Dan finds out whether those fears became the reality, as he asks how Welsh identity is expressed through its food.
Producer: Sarah Langan.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You don't need us to tell you there's a general election coming. |
| 0:04.6 | So what does it mean for you? |
| 0:06.4 | Every day on newscast we dissect the big talking points, |
| 0:10.1 | the ones that you want to know more about. |
| 0:12.3 | With our book of contacts, we talk directly to the people you want to hear from. |
| 0:16.8 | And with help from some of the best BBC journalists, |
| 0:19.4 | we'll untangle the stories that matter to you. |
| 0:23.0 | Join me, Laura Kunsberg, Adam Fleming, Chris Mason and Patty O'Connell for our daily podcast. |
| 0:29.0 | Newscast, listen on BBC Science. Right, so we're just over the seven bridge on the same route Derek Cooper took back in 1974 in another 80 or so miles. |
| 0:45.8 | I'll arrive in the part of Wales he travelled to and like Derek I'm in search of food |
| 0:51.3 | traditions, skills and stories. |
| 0:54.0 | He was convinced they needed to be recorded before they disappeared altogether |
| 0:58.0 | and he used a television program to share that idea with the nation. This part of Wales from Kamarthen to the Gar coast has a strong community feeling |
| 1:18.0 | and that's what you get when your roots stretch back to mythology. |
| 1:21.6 | It's a very Celtic place. As in Scotland, they use a lot of oatmeal, like the Irish, |
| 1:26.7 | they eat seaweed. Derek's 1970s series, A Taste of Britain, has fascinated me for a decade. |
| 1:33.8 | And I'm retracing his footsteps. |
| 1:35.6 | I'm searching for the people, places and food he recorded in South Wales in 1974. |
| 1:42.1 | The addition was called a Celtic inheritance, a film that has everything. |
| 1:46.5 | It's uplifting, it's funny, and it's also heartbreaking. |
| 1:52.1 | It's very sad that the cockles are disappearing from here, isn't it? |
| 1:57.0 | It is sad. It is sad. It's a sad village, not only Crofty, but Penclow the neighbouring villages as well. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.