Rob IM’ed me a link to an article on Heston Blumenthal, which provided a snapshot of attitudes to food in olden times:

“I had came across a manuscript of Le Viander de Taillevent. He was the chef to the Palais Royal in Paris. I think it was the 14th century.. . .And in there was this wonderful – wonderful? fascinating as opposed to wonderful; it’s not the right word – recipe for how to roast a chicken. You take the chicken, and you pluck the chicken while it’s still alive, and you baste the skin with a mixture of soya, wheat germ and dripping, I think it was. And apparently this makes it look like the skin’s been roasted. You then put the head of this live chicken under its tummy and rock it to sleep. Then you get two other chickens and you roast them. And you bring these three chickens out on a tray to the table. You start carving one of the roasted chickens. And. . .the one that is still alive but sleeping goes sort of ‘Wha!’ – head pops up – and it runs off down the table.”

…and continues in that vein; it’s both interesting and illuminating, and has some recipes – for instance Hinds Head Chocolate Wine .

I still can’t bring myself to go to The Fat Duck – perhaps it’s the antisnob in me, but I wonder what sort of occasion I need in order for it to be worthwhile my dealing with the bureaucracy and lead-time involved in booking any place that’s ever been called the best restaurant in the world..