More Meat. We Ride at Dawn
I’ve just had the privilege of attending the Rutland & Melton
Conservative Association lunch at Northfield Farm, Cold Overton. Guest
of Honour Clarissa Dickson Wright was signing copies of her new book,
“Rifling Through My Drawers”, and was introduced by Alan Duncan MP, in
his usual sparkling form. According to Clarissa, Northfield Farm is
one of only two places in England where she is prepared to buy pork.
Our host, Jan McCourt, breeds his own Gloucester Old Spots, and pork
from these beasts, alongside Roast Longhorn Beef, was served for
lunch. The crackling on the roast pork was very special.
Jan McCourt is also responsible for the T-shirts worn by the staff,
with splendid slogans on the back, which could generally be classified
as pro-meat, anti-veggie. My title for this blog post,
“More Meat. We Ride at Dawn” was one of them. Another (worn I’m glad to say only by the ladies) was
“I’m too sexy for this griddle”. Others included
“If only vegetables smelled as good as bacon”; “You can’t win friends by BBQ’ing lettuce”;and “
AVOID FRUIT AND NUTS – you are what you eat”.
For some reason I suspect that Jan McCourt would not be a big fan of
Doctor Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC), who advises us that we must all eat less meat,
and more lentils, to solve the problem of global warming (though I
always thought that lentils brought their own emissions problems).
Clarissa was magnificent, as usual. A great cook and gastronomist, a
TV personality of the best kind, a brilliant racconteur who has led a
colourful life, a staunch Tory and a staunch supporter of country
sports and country ways, she was a delight to listen to. Above all,
her contempt for political correctness shone through.
In passing, let me recommend Northfield Farm. They have a superb farm
shop with magnificent cuts of traditional-breed meat, plus a range of
home-made sausages, burgers and so on — together with a good range of
cheeses. If it’s good enough for Clarissa, it’s good enough for me.
They (and their web-site) are well worth a visit.
Original Source, from Roger Helmer here
25/09/2009 00:00:00