Scottish contributions to the breakfast table in the British Isles include oatcakes, scones, and Arbroath smokies. Scones are very much like biscuits and are traditionally cut into wedge shapes before baking. Oatcakes, also called bannocks, are made with
a mixture of oat and barley flour, then baked on a griddle. Scots are, if possible, even a little better known for eating oatmeal in the morning than the British or the Irish; popular additions to morning porridge are sugar, cream, and black treacle. Arbroath smokies are made of small haddock that are gutted, then tied together in pairs and either salted or pickled in brine before being smoked over a peat fire. They are eaten with with a squeeze of
lemon and a sprinkling of black pepper, accompanied by brown bread and butter.
WALES
The unusual, and traditional, Welsh additions to the breakfast table are laverbread and cockles. Laverbread is an edible seaweed that is gathered from the rocky shores of the southern coast of Wales. It might be served as an added ingredient in porridge,
mixed with oatmeal and fried into a sort of griddlecake, or served plain like spinach. Cockles are bivalves similar to mussels or clams, and, in the morning, are often served fried.
