Land o Cakes
August 9th 2025
The Dictionaries of the Scots Language (DSL) tell us that Land o Cakes was, “a popular designation for Scotland, arising from the fact that oatcakes are (or were) an important item in the fare of the rural population.”
In 1728, Allan Ramsay wrote in his Poems: “Nor believe These wha an ill Report would give To Ed’nburgh and the Land of Cakes.”
The phrase is also used by Burns in Captain Grose’s Peregrinations (1789): “Hear, Land o Cakes, and brither Scots Frae Maidenkirk to Johnie Groat’s.”
In 1891, R. S. Fittis wrote in Sports and Pastimes of Scotland that, “The same sentiment made us open our purses, and give our countrymen wherewithal to drink [to] the Land o’ Cakes.”
The connection to oatcakes has faded and is increasingly overlooked. In September 1958, the Scotsman remarked: “The world has a taste for Scotland. From the ‘Land o’ Cakes’ a stream of sweetness is spreading across the continents.”
Following a trip down the bakery aisle in December 1992, a columnist in Scotland on Sunday questioned why, “In this ‘land o’ cakes’, [she] counted only one Scottish brand among 109 different varieties in one shop.”
Then, in February 2002, the Scotsman featured the following recollection of a childhood crush: “In short, she was … tarnished only by her smile which displayed a formidable set of broken teeth, a sight common in Scotland, the dentally-challenged Land o’ Cakes.”
The phrase is also preserved in a local Dundee landmark – the painted gable wall sign of the former Wallace’s Bakery on Dura Street.
Dictionaries of the Scots Language would like to thank Bob Dewar for illustrating our Scots Word of the Week feature.
