An Unashamed Vege Post.

Something reminded me tonight that I need a new block of vegetable-based deep fat frying oil for my chip pan. (Do people other than the British have chip pans, by the way, or does the rest of the world rely on those soulless, microwaveable excuses-for-the-real-thing these days? And just in case there are any Americans who still don’t know, what we call chips are what you call fries.)

OK, I need vegetable-based deep fat frying oil… Problem is, the Sainsbury’s store in Ashbourne doesn’t sell it, and I haven’t found anywhere else in Ashbourne which sells it either. Ashbourne is still a lard town. Ashbourne people are, or so it would appear, lard people. They still insist on utilising the renderings of a dead animal rather than the healthier and more ethical alternative.

They still have hog roasts, too. Big notices are occasionally seen in the town centre proclaiming the fact that a whole pig is to be roasted on a spit, while people rub their hands with glee. ‘A whole pig! Lovely. Can’t miss that, can we Fiona? Better take the kids along, too. It will contribute to their education.’

Now, the odd thing is that Ashburnians generally dress normally, if a little conservatively. You’d think they’d be wearing loin cloths carefully crafted from the hides of woolly mammoths, wouldn’t you?