After my recent holiday – I had what appeared a rather gentle re-introduction to my working life – hired for a small village fete to provide some of the food for the event. With other events and other food stalls I naively thought I may have a relatively quiet day, but as son as word got out about “the man with the crackling” I was done for. I can’t remember the last time I was so busy for such a relatively small event.
At Spitting Pig Chelmsford we have been all over the place recently doing the usual weddings, parties, Jubilee and Olympic stuff as well as corporate events. We’ve been all around the county, into Essex, and all along the coast but nothing was as pretty as the village green set out for this fete. It was just splendid, like walking into a Miss Marple serial and wondering why we all need mobile phones – when those lovely red phone boxes will do the job just as well.
For the hog roasting I was given a little corner of the green and summoned by the organiser to get started, “and make it tasty”. Well I am never one to shy away from a challenge so setting up the stand and getting the pig started was the easy part. But keeping the queue manageable once we were roasted and ready to serve, was another matter. We usually get pleasant comments and platitudes wherever we go, but this was taking it a little far – I’m sure someone even came back for thirds! It was a good job that we had brought along quite a sizeable beast otherwise we may have had a mini riot.
The hard work involved in such a busy day is always made up for by the people that enjoy the food. I get to serve up tasty grub in a lovely setting – whilst the patrons get to eat it and enjoy it. By the end of the afternoon we had completely removed every last morsel from the carcass – there was nothing left for myself and Tom to finish off. Whilst cleaning up and filling the van – we did have one last run in with the organiser, who simply said,
“You did well there boys – good and tasty.” And then marched off. Faint praise, but praise indeed.