"When 250 diners sit down to an £85 feast called Ten Things to Eat Before They Die this week, they plan to send a message to the mass market.
What's on the menu
· Lancashire asparagus The Formby crop is down to a few farmers after the loss of the transatlantic liner market.
· Herdwick mutton Staunchly produced since Beatrix Potter's day but confined to the Lake District.
· Ballobar capers Introduced to the Aragon region of Spain by the Moors but long since gone wild. Costly to harvest and outpriced by Andalusian and Moroccan rivals.
· Huehuetenango highland coffee From Guatemala. Needs forest shade and laborious depulping and bean-raking for its famed flavour.
·Raw milk cow's cheese Traditional process reintroduced by Irish artisan producers in the 1970s to international acclaim, but a small market.
· Herat raisins Known since the fourth century AD but the 120 varieties are struggling against Afghanistan's disruption and more lucrative crops such as poppies.
· Perry pear juice Unsuited to mass production and now limited to Gloucestershire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
· Imraguen mullet botarga Mauretanian caviar confined to the Banc d'Arguin national park, whose nomads with motorless boats are the only people permitted to fish there.
· Saxon village preserves Based on berries and other fruits from Transylvania, made by Romanian women to supplement low farming incomes.
· Saint Flour golden lentils Thin skins absorb sauces well but livestock has taken over much of the French land used in its early 20th century heyday." (Thanks Rania)
1 comment:
And on the other side of the Atlantic, they're eating gold (literally). See http://www.smh.com.au/news/unusual-tales/the-180-goldtopped-burger/2008/05/21/1211182836424.html
What food crisis? Fighting to avert cynicism, struggling...
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