LL-L "Lexicon" 2004.09.20 (06) [E]

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From: john feather <johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk>
Subject: Lexicon

This is a New Year present to Ron so that he can start a new 'Food' strand.

>>From our local free newspaper, the _Camden New Journal_.

"SCHOOL MEALS FIRM TOLD: STOP DRESSING UP MUTTON AS LAMB

"Mutton is still dressed as lamb in Camden's school canteens, under-fire
catering company Scolarest admitted this week. A spokesman for the firm
conceded dishes such as "lamb vegetable pie" and "lamb chilli con carne" are
actually made with mutton.

"Scolarest's practice of labelling dishes made with mutton as "lamb" was
first uncovered by ... the Islington Tribune. Recipe books used in Islington
kitchens showed dishes described as lamb were routinely made with older,
cheaper sheep meat. The names of dishes were changed to "winter pie" and
"winter casserole" after Islington Council made its displeasure clear."

There are several interesting things about this, apart from the obvious
word-play in the headline. First, the only formal complaint about this
aspect of the caterer's operations was the mis-use of the word "lamb": the
newspaper introduced the idea that mutton was cheaper. The firm quite
reasonably said that children didn't know the word "mutton". For EU purposes
the two products are called "sheep meat" but I doubt if many people ever
come across that term in daily life. Second, the paper assumed that its
readership would understand the linguistic point even though it seems likely
that a lot of adults wouldn't understand the terms either. Third, mutton is
an excellent ingredient for stewed dishes and has more flavour than lamb.
Foodies often lament the difficulty of buying it these days. Fourth, a few
years ago mutton stews were usually called "Irish stew" if they had potato
in them (as far as I know there is no legal specification of the recipe) but
I guess that's politically incorrect these days. Hence "winter casserole",
etc.

BTW an "under-fire catering company" is a catering company under attack, not
one which has a special way of heating its products (cf "tandoori").

John Feather johnfeather at sceptic1.freeserve.co.uk

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