It's always good to see anything Gower related shown on T.V so watching the One Show on friday was a treat.
The One Show's resident foodie Jay Rayner was shown visiting The Gower Peninsula to discover one of my favourite foods, Laverbread.
Jay is first seen on a beach, holding a bowl of laverbread.
"Richard Burton called it Welshmans caviar. Food writers have described its tastes as being like olives with marine undertones. Me? I'd describe it as adventuring food - because i've never eaten it before. It's called laverbread - a very Welsh concoction made by boiling down a particular kind of seaweed for many hours."
"The tradition of eating seaweed is centuries old and is as Welsh as Tom Jones and Rugby Union. Probably first eaten as survival food by people forced from their farm and hunting ground by Roman or Viking invaders - it gradually became a staple of the national diet.
"Eating seaweed may be in decline elsewhere in Britain but it's still going strong here on the Gower Peninsula."
Jay is then seen talking to Rick Bennett, a local man who has been picking laverbread since he was a boy. Rick goes on to explain what laverbread actually is and it's health benefits.
"Super food it may be but it's hardly pretty- then again many of the foods I really love like offal aren't rarely considered good lookers. But good food is not a beauty pageant."
Jay then goes on to talk about the process of making turning the seaweed into laverbread.
"The method of turning seaweed into laverbread has maintained the same key elements for centuries - it's repeatedly washed, boiled for 4-5 hours then minced to produce a stiff green mush."
"The laverbread industry here is tiny, producing just around 40 tonnes a year and most of it never crosses the border out of Wales. If i've never eaten it before, it must be in culinary obscurity."
Jay is then shown inside Swansea Market.
"Just a stones throw from the Gower, Swansea's market stalls have been selling laverbread for hundreds of years. It must have something going for it."
Jay is then seen speaking to Carol Watts. Carol runs Carol Watts Gower Cockles, one of the main providers of laverbread in Swansea Market.
"People will try it" Carol says, " Holiday makers will try it. They come here to see what it is, expecting to see a loaf of bread but obviously it's seaweed so they a bit of a shock at that."
Carol is then shown spreading some laverbread ontop of a slice of toast for Jays first try.
"That is one of those real seaside flavours, you can taste the depth of the minerals, it's slightly salty, very green, very rich, full of what the Japenese call 'umami' (savouryness)... you know it's good for you... I could get used to this.."
I think that's one happy customer!
Note: Images are copyright of the BBC