Laver seaweed has been cultivated as a food in Wales since at least the 17th century. It is prepared by washing repeatedly and then boiled until it becomes a soft mush when it is known as laverbread. The gelatinous paste that results can then be sold as it is, or rolled in oatmeal; it is sometimes coated with oatmeal prior to frying. Laverbread is traditionally eaten fried with bacon and cockles as part of a Welsh breakfast, or with hog's pudding in the south west of England.