6 Oxford Foods and Drinks You Have to Try — Oxford Sausage, Sunday Roast, Cream Tea, and Original Marmalade

Oxford food is not flashy or avant-garde — it has the kind of depth that only a university city with 900 years of continuous life can produce. The Oxford Sausage recipe comes from a 1753 cookbook. Some of the pubs serving Sunday Roast predate entire nations. The cream tea in a stone-walled college room keeps every detail of a tradition that has barely changed since the 19th century. For travelers unfamiliar with English food, this is a straight-talking guide to what is genuinely good, what is worth seeking out, and what you won't regret missing.

#1

📍 Fresh-meat stalls in the Covered Market and pub restaurants across Oxford

Oxford Sausage

Unlike a standard British banger, the Oxford Sausage has a character all its own. The original recipe comes from Hannah Glasse's <em>The Art of Cookery</em>, published in 1753 — equal parts pork and veal, seasoned with sage, lemon zest, and nutmeg. The result is lighter and more fragrant than a plain pork sausage, and it is found almost nowhere else in the country. This is one of the few dishes that is genuinely specific to Oxford.

Best time Breakfast or lunch. The Covered Market is liveliest between 9 am and noon.

How to get there The Covered Market sits between Market Street and High Street in the city centre — a 3-minute walk from Carfax Tower.

Travel tips

• The butchers inside the Covered Market on Market Street are the best place to buy fresh Oxford Sausages. Open Monday to Saturday, 8 am to 5 pm.
• To eat them in a restaurant, order a Full English Breakfast or Bangers and Mash — any pub or café worth visiting will use the real Oxford Sausage.
• Fresh sausages cannot go on a plane, but some stalls sell vacuum-packed cooked versions if you want to take some home.

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#2

📍 Historic pubs across Oxford, including The Eagle and Child and The Turf Tavern

Sunday Roast

The Sunday Roast is the most important weekly social ritual in English life, and nowhere does it better than a 500-year-old Oxford pub. Beef or lamb roasted low and slow, served with Yorkshire pudding (crisp outside, soft within), garlicky roast potatoes, fresh vegetables, and a rich gravy. <strong>The Eagle and Child on St Giles Street</strong> carries extra significance: C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien held their regular weekly meetings here.

Best time Sunday, noon to 2 pm. Arrive before midday to secure a good table in an older pub.

How to get there The Eagle and Child is on St Giles Street, a 5-minute walk from the Ashmolean Museum. The Turf Tavern is tucked into a narrow alley near the Bodleian Library.

Travel tips

• Sunday Roast is served only on Sunday lunchtimes, roughly noon to 3 pm. Book a table in advance — it fills fast, especially in summer.
• Ask whether they serve Beef Dripping as a dipping sauce for the potatoes. Not every pub advertises it, but it makes a real difference.
• Expect to pay around £18–28 per person in Oxford — generous value for a meal this filling and this embedded in local culture.

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#3

📍 Tearooms and cafés across Oxford, including those attached to college buildings

Cream Tea

Cream tea is the simplest and most classic form of English afternoon tea — a freshly baked scone served with clotted cream, strawberry jam, and a large pot of hot tea. The tradition dates to the 19th century. In Oxford, several tearooms serve this in the setting of a college common room or an old stone cellar, which makes the experience entirely different from anywhere else.

Best time Afternoon, 2 pm to 5 pm — the traditional English teatime, when the atmosphere is at its best.

How to get there Several good tearooms sit near the Covered Market and High Street. The Grand Cafe on High Street, which claims to be England's first coffee house, is one well-known option.

Travel tips

• The Cornish way is cream first, jam on top; the Devon way is jam first, then cream. Either is fine — no one is judging visiting tourists.
• A good tearoom near the colleges will use real clotted cream from Cornwall, not whipped cream. Worth asking if it matters to you.
• Cream tea in Oxford runs roughly £8–15 per person. Side-street spots are noticeably cheaper than those on the main thoroughfares.

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#4

📍 Fish-and-chip shops across Oxford, particularly in the student neighbourhoods

Fish and Chips

Britain's national dish deserves to be eaten at a proper local shop, not from a supermarket. Cod or haddock in a beer batter, fried whole and served with thick-cut English chips — different from thin fries — then salted and splashed with malt vinegar. Eating it hot from the paper in Oxford's cool air is a specific pleasure that does not translate anywhere else.

Best time Lunch or dinner. A good shop fries to order — if the fish has been sitting in the warming cabinet, go elsewhere.

How to get there Fish-and-chip shops are spread across Oxford. Cowley Road, the main student strip, has several solid, fairly priced options.

Travel tips

• Order mushy peas as a side — thick-mashed British peas with a buttery flavour. English regulars consider them non-negotiable, but visitors often forget to ask.
• The standard condiments are tartar sauce (a creamy, lemony sauce) or curry sauce if you want something sharper.
• Local shops charge around £10–15. Significantly higher prices usually indicate a tourist-facing restaurant rather than the real thing.

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#5

📍 Pubs and bars along the rivers Cherwell and Thames in Oxford

Pimm Cup

The Pimm Cup has been the symbol of the English summer since the 19th century, and it is tied particularly closely to Oxford. Pimm No.1 is a gin-based spirit mixed with lemonade or fresh citrus soda and loaded with fresh fruit and vegetables. Drinking one riverside while watching students punt on the water captures the essence of an Oxford summer afternoon in a single glass. At around 5% ABV, it is light enough for a warm afternoon.

Best time Summer afternoons, 2 pm to 6 pm, May through August — the light is good and the punts are out.

How to get there The Head of the River pub sits on the Thames near Christ Church Meadow. The Cherwell Boathouse is on the river Cherwell near Magdalen College.

Travel tips

• If you are not drinking alcohol, ask for a Virgin Pimm or a glass of elderflower cordial with soda water — the riverside atmosphere is the same.
• Pimm Cup works best outdoors in warm weather. If the sky clouds over or rain sets in, switch to tea or a pint instead.
• Expect to pay £8–12 per glass. Pubs set back from the water will be cheaper than the riverside spots popular with tourists.

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#6

📍 The Covered Market and independent shops across Oxford

Oxford Marmalade and Traditional Puddings

Frank Cooper began making Oxford orange marmalade in 1874, and it became famous enough that Robert Scott's polar expedition carried jars of it on the 1910 journey to Antarctica. Today, local marmalades and old recipes are still sold widely across Oxford. Beyond marmalade, traditional British puddings — Treacle Tart, Spotted Dick, and Bread and Butter Pudding — are on the menu at college dining halls and older-style pubs.

Best time Covered Market shopping is available any time it is open — Monday to Saturday, 8 am to 5.30 pm.

How to get there The Covered Market is between Market Street and High Street. Gift shops on Broad Street near the Bodleian Library also stock marmalade and local preserves.

Travel tips

• Marmalade jars travel well by air and keep a long time, making them one of the better things to bring back. Expect to pay £4–8 per jar.
• Treacle Tart is the pudding J.K. Rowling put directly into Harry Potter — worth ordering at any pub that has a dessert menu.
• If the bitterness of orange peel puts you off, try a thin-cut marmalade first — the peel strips are finer and the flavour is noticeably milder than coarse-cut.

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