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£1,000 'beggars banquet' stars Mick Jagger
Benedict Moore-Bridger, Evening Standard14 Mar 2008
It was the charity banquet with a difference, a £1,000-ahead five-course meal made of ingredients all grown, plucked or fished from in and around London.
We can only hope the guests did it justice. As well as Mick Jagger, L'Wren Scott, Trudie Styler, Annie Lennox, Jamie Cullum, Richard E Grant and Colin Firth, the 400 diners at Guildhall included supermodels and It girls better known for picking at their food rather than tucking in. Called the Feast of Albion and masterminded by TV chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the menu included nettles picked from Hyde Park, wild fennel from the banks of the Regent's Canal in Hackney and organic beetroot from Romney Marsh.
Oysters from the Maldon Oyster beds in the Blackwater river, Essex, and venison shot by the gamekeeper at the Windsor Estate were among the highlights of the "eco-banquet" to raise money for the Soil Association.
In order to cut down on the evening's carbon footprint - in line with the Soil Association's ethos - teams cycled the root vegetables from an organic farm in Pangbourne, Berkshire, 50 miles to London in dreadful weather conditions.
The event, with songs from Lennox on piano, was hosted by Jonathan Dimbleby, president of the Soil Association-Chef Mark Hix prepared canapés such as Windsor Park venison sausages, Highgrove mutton and turnip pies, and smoked pollack which was line-caught at Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage.
The night, organised by lifestyle group Quintessentially, aimed to encourage supermarkets to stop flying out-of-season produce across the world and rediscover locally grown, seasonal food.
Fearnley-Whittingstall said: "This is a celebration of our fantastic British produce but in this case it is all about the South-East - it is a cerebration of seasonality for an extremely good cause.
"I am an organic farmer in Dorset myself and I believe passionately that we need more land under organic cultivation. One of the greatest joys is cooking and eating seasonal food."
Mr Hix added: "If you keep an eye out you come across all sorts of things in hedgerows or patches of grass. We've all become so used to going to the supermarket and filling the basket without a thought for where the food has come from."
An auction with lots including a carbon-offset holiday at a Himalayan retreat raised more than £300,000. Jazz singer Cullum paid £20,000 for a fishing and cooking trip with the evening's two chefs in Dorset.
THE FEAST OF ALBION
Canapés
Windsor Park venison sausages with Cumberland sauce; Laverstock Saddleback brawn on sourdough toast; Highgrove mutton and turnip pies; home-smoked Hanningfield Reservoir trout on potato cake; smoked pollack and nettle beer rabbit; raw roots and artichoke fritters with a wild garlic mayonnaise.
Starters
Bay pickled Thames herrings with roast Romney Marsh beetroots; salad of crispy pig's head (Laverstock Saddleback) and ducks' eggs with foraged spring leaves and celery leaf salt; Pangbourne purple sprouting broccoli with pickled walnuts and parsley dressing.
Soup
Nettle soup with wild garlic.
Main course
Windsor Park venison, roast fillet braised shoulder and venison offal faggot with a bay and juniper gravy, red cabbage, sea spinach and four root mash.
Dessert
Richmond maids of honour with a rhubarb compote and east London honey. Organic fair trade coffee and organic herbal teas with Venezuelan black truffles from Willie's Chocolate Factory, Devon.
Digestifs
10-year-old Somerset cider apple brandy
Reader views (1)
God bless Annie.....and the rest. But why didn't I get an invite ?
- Colin Bond, London, 15/03/2008 18:35
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