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Avebury Rings, one of the
largest Neolithic monuments in Europe, was saved from possible destruction
in the 1930s by Alexander Keiller, when he bought it with part of the
fortune he inherited from his family’s Scottish marmalade business.
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Elizabeth l had the
kitchen at Hampton Court moved – because it was under her bedroom and she
didn’t like cooking smells wafting into her clothes and furniture.
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The most eaten
‘convenience’ food in the world was invented by an English aristocrat with a
passion for gambling, the Earl of Sandwich. So that he didn’t have to stop
playing and to keep his hands clean for the cards he asked for meat to be
put between 2 slices of bread.
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King James 1 of England
and VI of Scotland imported 10,000 Mulberry trees to create a silk industry,
unfortunately he ordered the wrong variety, the silk worms wouldn’t eat the
leaves – but the mulberry ‘berries’ make excellent jam.
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Beatrix Potter used the
fortune she earned from writing illustrated books to save the Herdwick Sheep
from extinction – today a descendent of her shepherd sells Herdwick meat at
Borough Market in London.
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Colchester
oysters are so good they were one of the main reasons for the Romans
invading Britain in 43AD.
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Royal Ascot isn’t just a
place to wear a hat, it’s also a place to enjoy great food– last year’s
punters enjoyed 120,000 bottles of champagne, 6 tons of salmon and over 4
tons of strawberries.
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Prize for Strawberry
eating championship goes to Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Club where 27 tons of them
are eaten during the Championship every year (and 7000 litres of cream).
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Crowdie, a soft , fresh
milk cheese, has been made in Scotland for centuries, the first farm to
flavour it with garlic only did so after their cows had escaped from their
field, wandered into woods and eaten wild garlic, the flavour that went into
the milk was so good that garlic crowdie quickly became a favourite.
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‘Bletted’ Medlars were a
much loved after dinner treat in Victorian homes in November and December –
the fruit was gathered from the trees in September, laid in sawdust and kept
until the flesh turned dark and soft, they had to be ‘rotten to be ripe’.
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During the Spring you can
trace the routes of the Roman Army through Southern Britain by following the
white blossom on tall, wild cherry trees – the soldiers brought cherries
from Italy and spat the pips out as they marched.
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It’s not only Stilton
cheese that’s important to the people of the Heart of England, in 1734 the
Mayor of Nottingham was bowled over with a 100lb cheese during a riot after
stallholders at an annual street market had increased cheese prices by over
a third.
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Ice cream was so popular
in London in the 19th century that massive ‘ice wells’ were dug in the city
and ice imported from America, and later Norway, to fill them.
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Over 163 million cups of
tea are drunk every day in the UK.
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Mint sauce, the
‘essential’ accompaniment to roast Lamb in the UK is thanks to Elizabeth 1.
To stop her subjects eating lamb and mutton (and help the wool industry) she
decreed that the meat could only be served with bitter herbs – enterprising
cooks discovered that mint made the meat taste better, not worse.
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The world’s first
chocolate bar was made in Bristol in the late 1720s by Joseph Fry, long
after his day his company was eventually taken over by Cadbury’s, another
British, family owned firm.
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The world’s largest apple
was grown in Kent in 1997, it weighed 1.67 Kilos.
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Harry Ramsden’s Fish and
Chip restaurant in West Yorkshire can seat 250, serving nearly 1 million
fish and chip meals a year.
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Horseradish is the perfect
partner for roast beef, to grow a plant you have to buy a thong (that’s what
English gardener’s call the sliver of root you need to start growing).
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One of France’s top wine experts Philipe
Faure-Brac is serving English sparkling wine at his Paris Bistro. He starts
by offering a ‘blind’ tasting to get over any preconceptions from his
predominantly French clientele, then as they’re complementing the quality he
tells them where it’s come from.
