Whether you are on a caravan holiday, visiting your own Suffolk holiday cottage, wherever and whatever type of UK seaside holiday we take, there are certain treats that we just love. Almost every year there’s a new research survey carried out, and every year the same seaside treats come top of the findings.
Take a look, and tantalise your taste buds. The various surveys carried out over recent years differ slightly in how they rank your favourite seaside foods. Some items may change position from time to time. Overall though the top ten always features the same treats. Here’s a compilation of the findings…
10. Spice up an evening in your seaside holiday home with lashings of Ginger Beer
It might come as a surprise but Ginger Beer always appears in the top ten. It could be because we associate it with those childhood adventures in Enid Blyton books, where the softly fizzing drink is forever trapped in our memories of holidays and excitement. Ginger Beer started life in 18th century England when it was brewed as an alcoholic drink. It became popular in the USA and it was there that a non-alcoholic version was brewed as a response to the 1920’s Prohibition law.
It’s not a beer, it’s not to be confused with Ginger Ale and it’s not always nowadays made by fermentation. Ginger Beer is very versatile, it’s a favourite drink on its own for young and old alike. It’s a great mixer for the increasingly popular ‘mocktails’ and it’s an essential ingredient in traditional cocktails. It’s pretty much ideal then for a gathering of friends and family at your seaside holiday home.
9. Or 99 to be precise. Is a UK holiday complete without a cornet with a flake in it?
There are more sophisticated foods available to the holidaymaker but the ’99’ ice cream is always in the top ten seaside favourites. There are rules to a 99:
A ’99’ has to be served in a cone.
It has to be made from soft serve ice cream
…and, vitally, it has to have a Flake bar in it.
The idea of a flake in an ice cream had been around since the 1920’s so, in the 1930’s, a certain famous chocolate manufacturer (you know who) introduced their ‘small Flake for ice creams’.
8. Fancy a naughty, nice, sticky and sweet seaside holiday indulgence? Bring on the Doughnuts!
Of course there are lots of variations available now; decorated doughnuts, big brand doughnuts, designer doughnuts. There is the Jam Doughnut to consider as well of course.
But on a UK seaside holiday, a doughnut is defined by it being simple. It has to be a ring of deep fried batter, rolled in sugar and served in that most magical of packaging - a warm paper bag. Enjoy!
Arguably the best seaside doughnuts can be bought on Great Yarmouth seafront, which is just a few miles from some of our very own holiday parks.
7. Favourite for teatime or lunchtime at your seaside lodge. Everyone loves Hot Dogs
You can buy them from a stall and stroll with them, because they are probably the perfect ‘eat in the hand’ snack. But, armed with the - let’s be honest - pretty simple ingredients, you can make Hot Dogs in your holiday home. Smell the onions, smother on the sauce. This could be the absolutely ideal, suits all ages, fun feast. Make Hot Dogs and make memories.
6. Does anything say UK seaside holiday more than a Stick of Rock?
The answer is no. It’s not something you’re going to eat every day but as a statement of holiday fun the stick of rock is seaside royalty. Brightly coloured, super sugary and incredibly crunchy it’s a UK seaside holiday wrapped in a twist of cellophane and, even in the digital age of high tech communication, a word written all the way through a sweet remains a mystery. Why would you want to know how they do that? Why spoil the magic?
5. Chalet, lodge, static caravan - every kind of holiday is rock ’n’ roll with Candy Floss
When it comes to magic we come to Candy Floss. Who makes this fluffy pink cloud and puts it on a stick? Is it sugar, spun by unicorns, in castles in the sky? It’s pretty, and pretty sweet, and yet for all it’s fluffiness it still says dreamboats, petticoats, juke box and cool. If you’re old enough, it’s a wonderful wisp of retro. If you’re very young, welcome to the taste and touch that is Candy Floss.
4. Seafood is still a staple. Have a holiday home supper of Cockles, Whelks and Winkles
All around the UK coast traditional seafood is enjoying something of a boost to its long-standing reputation. You can still buy a pint of cockles from a stand. Did you know they were sold that way because the fishermen selling them, often outside pubs and inns, didn’t have scales to measure them?
The great thing now is that we’re more versatile in our thinking. Make a super supper in your chalet holiday home by using seafood as ingredients. Cockles are great when they are tossed into salads, or put into chowder. Serve stir fried whelks on a bed of noodles. It’s what seaside holiday home nights in are all about.
You’re reaching for the white wine aren’t you?
3. It’s a modern arrival but a firm holiday favourite. We love Slush Puppies
By food history standards, the Slush Puppie is a positive newcomer. It wasn’t invented (in the USA, obviously!) until 1970. It’s a very simple recipe - a ‘base’ made from a special syrup is mixed with water, and frozen. The result is the unique mixture of ice pellets in a sweet liquid - which tastes of the syrup. You know what comes next. You suck it through a straw and you get brain freeze! It’s a pleasure bordering on pain, but you never stop doing it.
2. Seaside holiday home tradition dictates you have a fresh crab
Much of the magic of this popular seafood is in the crab pots and boats that are a feature of our beaches. But after the fishermen have done their bit, the pleasure is all yours. You have to be mindful of eating them fresh and there are the ‘dead mens’ fingers’ to remove, but what a way to make a meal! Boiled and served with mayonnaise maybe. Or serve them with a seafood pasta. Brown bread and butter. Settle down for a night in your seaside holiday home.
1. The inevitable number one. Fish and Chips.
If Ginger Beer came as a possible surprise in this list, it’s probably fair to say that (in stark contrast) Fish and Chips being here and being number one was really quite predictable.
We’ve been eating it since the 1860’s. It’s our favourite take-away food, our topmost comfort food. And it is so very much our seaside food. The smell of salt and vinegar on fish and chips, mixed into the seaside air, is about as special a sensation as you’ll ever discover. There’s no better place to savour fish and chips than on a UK seaside holiday.
Whitby claims to have some of the finest fish and chips. But then so does Southwold and Clacton on Sea. You get the idea - Fish and Chips are essential to your seaside holiday, wherever you are on the UK coastline.