Fellow Wine Lovers,
I’m not going to lie, Wayne has been a tad over excited this week.
Yes, we’ve known the programme since it was unveiled in October last year and have had plenty of time to work out the best vantage points to watch all the action; we have kept a keen eye on who will be there and who, significantly will not; we have also regularly checked the weather forecasts and googled what different participants might be wearing, so are feeling pretty well prepared; however, even with all that, as the big day approaches the tension is palpable when he blurts out something for which I hadn’t prepared:
‘So, who do you think is going to be crowned?’
‘Errm, are you extracting the Michael, I think we’ve both spent all our lives knowing the answer to that question…’
‘No, no, no – who do you think is going to be crowned when they cross the line in Rome on May 28th?’
Evidently, you can take the boy out of Essex but you can’t take him off the bike, as his agitation would seem to be stemming from the start of the Giro D’Italia this Saturday. He’s paid his GCN subs and will be glued to the action from 10am on Saturday morning, don’t expect any bunting.
Meanwhile, for those of you less inclined to Lycra, you may be aware that this Saturday will be King Charles’ coronation – we will be open from 12-7pm as usual and are expecting 70% chance of drizzle all day with temperatures in the low teens, what could be more British?
So, anyway, for a lot of us, this is our first Coronation but, having become experts in Jubilees over the last few years, I imagine we have the requisite skillsets to cope with the novelty. Ditto regarding the extra Bank Holiday, which we also have had a lot of recent experience in dealing with. Street parties have been encouraged as ‘Neighbours and communities across the United Kingdom are invited to share food and fun together at Coronation Big Lunches on Sunday 7th May 2023, in a nationwide act of celebration and friendship. From a cup of tea with a neighbour to a street party, a Coronation Big Lunch brings the celebrations to your neighbourhood and is a great way to get to know your community a little better.’ www.royal.uk
So what should we be eating? Looking back over previous events of this stature, courtesy of Professor Wikipedia, we discover a goldmine of trivia that needs to be shared.
The Victoria Sponge is named after the good Queen, who, whilst she didn’t invent it, was reportedly a very keen partaker of afternoon tea and this style of cake was her favourite. Alfred the Great also had some cake based anecdotes but they are best ignored as cooking guides.
By all accounts, in 1902, King Edward VII organised (?) a ‘Coronation Dinner for the Poor of London’ where 500,000 dinners were served in multiple locations across town – apparently the King contributed £30,000 towards this.
According to the Bank of England Inflation Calculator £30,000 in 1902 is worth £2,974,268.89 today.
There is no obvious food association for George V; his son Edward VIII abdicated before we got to learn his tastes and very quickly a rather reluctant George VI was crowned in 1937. We don’t learn much about the food side of proceedings but did find out that the event cost £454,000, just shy of £25 million today and I suppose you could argue they got two coronations out of that.
Next up, our Queen, the lady we all grew up with and who played a blinder, not only in her service to the nation but also in her dish – Coronation Chicken. Still hugely popular in sandwiches today, I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t like it!
Charles has enlisted Nadiya Hussain, Ken Hom and Gregg Wallace to rattle off some tasty sounding main course but the choice of a quiche as the ‘signature’ dish has surprised a lot of us.
To start with, it’s French, which has been a Republic since 1792. If The Proclaimers get removed from the official playlist for Republican views how does this slide through? Secondly, the ingredients: If you want to unite the nation as one, offer them fish and chips or a cup of tea, not broad beans in an egg custard – might as well make marmite on toast the official breakfast too! In fairness, I like broad beans and marmite but they are divisive tastes that only elicit binary responses – perhaps it’s a clever metaphor and, if it is, I must praise Charles for his cognizance!
QEII gave us Chicken in mayo, KCIII gives us Egg in pastry – I think we can now answer which came first.
I mentioned the Official Coronation Celebration Playlist that is available to enjoy alongside your French tart on Sunday. Of course Coldplay and Ed Sheeran are on there, Queen too and Harry Styles but no Robbie Williams which comes as a surprise, but not necessarily a disappointment. Noticeably no Prince either, another sign of Charles’s clever curation perhaps? It was a bit disappointing to see that Coventry’s second finest band, King, failed to make the shortlist, their song Love and Pride would have been a banger!
So, I think that’s possibly all you really need to know about the Coronation to get the conversation started on Sunday. As mentioned, we’ll be here as usual on Saturday but closed on Monday. Should you be in need of a break from the television and a bit of a leg stretch then pop down and see what we’ve got on tasting this weekend: Chatelain Desjacques Chardonnay (£10.99) from the Loire Valley and Juliénas Chaintré Fleurie (£15.99) from Beaujolais – both absolutely bang on matches for your egg flan on Sunday and both unashamedly French.
Vive La France – Long live the Quiche!