Blog: Celebrating the Staffordshire Oatcake

To mark the occasion, we’re delighted to share a guest blog from Mark Adams, founder of The Staffordshire Oatcake Company, who explores the enduring appeal of the Staffordshire oatcake, its fascinating place in local history, and how he’s helping introduce this regional delicacy to customers across the UK and beyond.

Read on to discover why the humble oatcake continues to capture hearts, taste buds, and the spirit of North Staffordshire.

Where do oatcakes come from? That’s a good question, and while nobody can say for certain, there are plenty of fascinating theories. What matters most to me is that they’re delicious, especially when done properly.

There are many theories as to their origin, my favourite is its connection to India, where soldiers from the North Staffordshire Regiment discovered chapatis and adapted the concept upon their return home.

North Staffordshire took the oatcake to its heart, dozens and dozens of small, cottage businesses popped up, usually selling oatcakes from the front window of terraced houses. Filled with cheese, bacon, sausage they supplied the workers, rising early and on their way to the pits and the potbanks. Providing cheap, convenient fuel for a hard day’s graft.

Oatcake shop owners would get up at the crack of dawn to make their own, secret mix and cook them on their wood fired hotplates.The pits and most of the potbanks are now long gone, but the oatcake remains and shows no sign of going anywhere soon.

Oatcakes are as synonymous with North Staffordshire as custard tarts are to Lisbon, pizza is to Naples or hotdogs to Frankfurt.

But, unless you live in or around North Staffs, they are not easy to get hold of. Amazing really in a world of constant TV cookery shows and celebrity chefs. The oatcake seems to be the last undiscovered regional delicacy.

That is why, during the first Covid lockdown, suddenly with loads of time on my hands I decided to launch a business that I had been thinking about for a couple of years prior. The Staffordshire Oatcake Company was begotten. I would supply a dry mix, enabling folk to make their own Staffordshire Oatcakes in their own kitchen.

I bought a one hundred year old recipe from a retired oatcake shop owner and kept all the ingredients exactly true to the original.I launched at the tail end of 2020, and having a captive audience of customers held captive in their locked-down homes, sold hundreds of packets instantly.

Five years later and The Staffordshire Oatcake Company is still going strong. We sell online to customers all over the country and we have many customers dotted overseas. Our mix is also available through numerous farms shops. Gluten free, pikelets and the first ever Mexican flavoured oatcake mix are also available.

A few years ago, we also started working with other local organisations with our branded packets. Stoke City, Port Vale, Titanic Brewery, The University of Staffordshire, Keele University, The Regent Theatre, 6 Towns Radio and many other Stoke on Trent companies have had their logos brandished on the front of our packets.

I’m very proud to run a Stoke-on-Trent based business, especially one connected with our local food, and through online marketing and press coverage we’re hoping that finally the Staffordshire Oatcake may spread its wings and tickle taste buds around the UK and beyond.

I would urge all local people to celebrate the oatcake. It’s something to be proud of, something special to the area, something with heritage and most of all, something delicious.

Visit the Staffordshire Oatcake Company Website