Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

The King has definite ideas about food. But will Britain dig in?

Small farmers in Britain see Charles as a champion, and his views on climate change and regenerative farming have made him a hero among some in the agricultural progressive class
Coronation-related foods, including, on a pedestal, the limited-edition Crown Jewel Celebration Pork Pie, created by Calum Franklin in collaboration with the pie maker Dickinson & Morris in London.
Coronation-related foods, including, on a pedestal, the limited-edition Crown Jewel Celebration Pork Pie, created by Calum Franklin in collaboration with the pie maker Dickinson & Morris in London.
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British supermarkets are brimming with packages of coronation cupcakes, hoppy coronation ale and coronation crisps seasoned to taste like king prawn cocktail. There are even Jack Russell-themed cakes in honor of the king and queen consort’s rescue dogs, Bluebell and Beth.


The royal couple likely won’t eat any of it. King Charles III and Queen Camilla lean heavily on fruit and vegetables, preferably organic and from their own gardens. She loves fish and salads. For breakfast, he requires a selection of six honeys and a special mix of muesli, and to end a meal, a plate of local cheese. To lower his carbon footprint, the king goes vegetarian two days a week and gives up dairy on another.


But can Britain’s first green-minded monarch persuade a nation that loves Sunday roast, chips and chicken tikka masala to embrace the locally grown, organic, climate-friendly diet that he follows?


There is undoubtedly power in how a nation’s leaders and their families eat.


Jacqueline Kennedy installed a young French chef from New York in the White House kitchen, ushering in a new frontier of sophisticated dinner-party diplomacy. The Obamas planted a vegetable garden and used it to promote local food and healthier school lunches. President Donald Trump served a fast-food buffet to a championship football team to underscore his fight with Democrats over a government shutdown and to burnish his populist image with what he called “great American food.”


When it comes to making lasting change in a nation’s food culture, the king has an edge that American presidents don’t, said Jamie Oliver, the English chef and television personality who tackled unhealthy school lunches. He has worked with Charles on a number of projects and shared a few meals and several “lovely cups of tea” with him.


“People in the public eye come and go, but not the crown,” Oliver said, “so he’s been very important for progress in the UK. That consistency and relentlessness has extraordinary value, because his secret weapon isn’t just being king; it’s time.”


Charles was an early adopter of organic agricultural practices back when it was novel enough to get him a good drubbing from the press and even members of his own family. It didn’t help that he was an advocate for talking to plants and playing music to make milking a calmer experience for his cows. He even converted his blue 1970 Aston Martin, a gift on his 21st birthday, to run on bioethanol derived from surplus English white wine and whey left over from making cheese.


But if there is a royal last laugh to be had, he had it. Charles turned 1,100 acres next to Highgrove House, his estate west of London in Gloucestershire, into an organic farm that eventually supplied meat and produce for Duchy Originals, a company he founded in 1990. It has become a multimillion-pound food brand in a lucrative partnership with the upscale grocery chain Waitrose. Profits go to charitable causes, and it is likely that the king’s elder son, Prince William, will take over.


Small farmers in Britain see Charles as a champion, and his views on climate change and regenerative farming have made him a hero among some in the agricultural progressive class.


“When you shake hands with him, you will understand what I mean when I say he has farmer’s hands,” said chef and cookbook author Romy Gill, who lives about a 20-minute drive from Highgrove House.


Influencing farming practices is one thing. Convincing the dining public is another, as evidenced by the current outrage over a royal recipe for quiche.


“There are, as you can imagine, some slightly different views on the royal family here,” said Calum Franklin, a British chef and author who rose to fame as a craftsman of meticulously researched and intricately designed traditional savory pies at the Holborn Dining Room in London.


Franklin is contributing his own dish to the coronation food madness. He has worked for nearly a year to develop a limited-edition Crown Jewel Celebration Pork Pie in collaboration with the pie maker Dickinson & Morris, which will make 500 of the intricately designed pastries by hand using British-bred pork and breast meat from pheasant, the king’s favourite game meat.


The royal family is encouraging Britons to cook for a series of street parties throughout coronation weekend.


The main event, called the Coronation Big Lunch, will be held on May 7, a day after the new king is crowned.


Menus will include everyday food like sausage rolls, scones and finger sandwiches, but Buckingham Palace has sent out suggested recipes for home cooks, including roasted rack of lamb with an Asian-style marinade, hard-shell shrimp tacos with pineapple salsa, and grilled eggplant with a dressing of mango chutney, yogurt and curry powder.


But the real attention-getter has been the coronation quiche, the official dish selected by the king and queen and developed in the Buckingham Palace kitchen by chef Mark Flanagan.


The new dish, which was quickly nicknamed Quiche Le Reign, is built with spinach, tarragon, broad beans and cheddar, a nod to the cheesy eggs the king sometimes likes for breakfast. The crust is made with lard — that’s just one small part of the controversy — but the royal chefs advise that store-bought is fine.


The recipe’s reception quickly devolved into a political beef. The Reform Party called the dish “foreign muck” and said pie would be a more patriotic choice. The Socialist Party asked whether the quiche would be available at food banks. - The New York Times


Kim Severson


The writer is a Southern-based correspondent who covers the nation's food culture


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