The last of five programmes
Seaweed, cockles, unleavened bread and cawl are still eaten plentifully from Carmarthen to the Gower coast. They are the visible inheritance of a Celtic past - of an age stretching back to mythology.
The fiat bakestone - set on an open fire in the kitchen - was used to cook the pancakes, Welsh cakes and unleavened bread, but it is a thing of the past in all but one farmhouse.
Cockles - eaten with vinegar or in a pie - come mostly from Norfolk but for centuries the famous cocklers of Penclawdd have gathered them from the vast Llanridian sands. Seaweed - for laverbread and bacon - is now imported from Scotland but as long as anyone can remember families have picked it by hand on the seashore. Even before Roman times, people were catching Towy sewin from their frail coracles. Now there are only twelve remaining.
Introduced by Derek Cooper
(Manchester)
An article linked with this programme will be in the Listener dated 11 Sept.