Josh Barrie

For many British families, nipping to KFC on Christmas Eve for a pot of gravy—made from leftover chicken scraps and stock—is a yearly ritual.

“I know a lot of young people don’t see milk as particularly healthy. It’s the same with meat—why do people not buy brisket anymore?”

Stargazy pie is an odd-looking invention—a dish where fish gaze up at the sky from a buttery crust—but it's more, too. It's said to be born of famine.

Welcome back to Last Call, where we visit watering holes to collect life advice from their trusty barkeepers. In a special MUNCHIES Guide to British Food edition, we meet 70-year-old Sandra Esquilant at London's Golden Heart pub.

For ten years, The Bridge cafe has been where losing teams from Alan Sugar’s reality competition go to nurse mugs of builders’ tea and talk (argue) about where it all went wrong.

South Korea is one of the largest importers of whelks, an edible sea snail native to the British coastline. But with Trump’s military threats exacerbating tensions on the peninsula, orders are down.

For Tommy Banks of the Michelin-starred Black Swan, vegetables should be as exciting (or, in the case of his slow-cooked beets, as packed with beefy flavor) as meat.

You can’t watch a football game in Hull without eating a Hull pattie, herby mashed potato fried in beef dripping and served with chips.

“I had all this space outside and I just thought, ‘Why not use it for something worthwhile?’” explains Jan Parker-Brooks of Bolton’s Stork Tavern. “The children can learn about where food comes from and afterwards, I serve it in the pub for everyone.”

A cheese-filled oat pancake traditionally eaten by miners, Staffordshire oatcakes outsell hot dogs and pies on match days at Stoke City.

Daniele Molmenti competed for Italy in the men’s kayaking at the London Olympics. Months earlier, he bet his cousin that if he won gold, together they would buy a vineyard. Molmenti won.

A match day favorite at Preston North End Football Club, butter pie is dense and nourishing and a little clammy. Its filling is pure, unrelenting, delicious fat.