deliciouslyorkshire | Yorkshire Food

Yorkshire Food

The Yorkshire Food Industry

The Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber serves those working across the region’s food and drink industry – whether growing, manufacturing, selling or cooking the produce sold and bought under the proud banner of Yorkshire Food. Together, these businesses make our region the very best place for purchasing and consuming locally-produced food and drink of unsurpassed quality.

“Yorkshire boasts a culture rich in food and drink,” says Jonathan Knight, the Chief Executive of RFG, “Our producers are truly passionate about what they do, and more and more people are turning to locally-sourced, in-season produce, which is paying dividends for the wider regional economy, not to mention the reduction in food miles and the benefit that brings to our wonderful Yorkshire environment.”

Yorkshire Pudding The Yorkshire and Humber food and drink industry includes more than 1,100 food and drink producers, employing around 55,000 people and with a combined turnover in excess of £8bn. Our region is proud to be home to some of the world’s best-known food companies as well as the UK’s highest concentration of small businesses, delivering innovative food and drink products with fewer than 50 employees.

Yorkshire Food and Drink

The traditional cuisine of Yorkshire and Humber is known for using rich tasting ingredients, especially with regard to its sweet dishes. Some famous dishes which originated in the region or are heavily associated with it include:

• Yorkshire pudding – a savoury batter dish which when served with roast beef and vegetables forms a key part of a classic Sunday roast.
• Yorkshire curd tart – a curd tart recipe with rosewater.
• Parkin – a sweet ginger cake which contains oatmeal and treacle.
• Wensleydale – a cheese associated with Wensleydale area and often eaten as an accompaniment to sweet foods.
• Pikelets – very similar to crumpets but much thinner.
• Ginger beer – flavoured with ginger, this beverage came from Yorkshire in the mid 1700s.
• Liquorice – created by George Dunhill from Pontefract, who in the 1760s thought to mix the liquorice plant with sugar.
• Rhubarb – the Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle between Wakefield, Leeds and Bradford is the home of Forced Rhubarb.

Yorkshire and in particular the city of York played a prominent role in the confectionery industry, with chocolate factories owned by companies such as Rowntree’s, Terry’s and Thorntons inventing many of Britain’s most popular sweets.

Curries have become popular in the region largely due to the immigration and successful integration of Asian families. There are many famous curry empires with their origins in Yorkshire and Humber including the 850-seater Aakash restaurant in Cleckheaton which has been described as “the world’s largest curry house”.

The region also has a number of breweries including Wold Top, Black Sheep, Copper Dragon, Cropton Brewery, John Smith’s, Sam Smith’s, Tetley’s, Kelham Island Brewery, Theakstons and Timothy Taylor.