Saturday 2 February 2019

A handsome dinner

Once again, Joan Aiken has some wonderful descriptions of food in “Go Saddle the Sea”. Set in Spain, it tells of the adventures of Felix who describes being treated to a handsome dinner consisting of “meat cooked with tomatoes, and chicory salad, bread sprinkled with salt, and a tart of apples, which grow very plentifully in this region”. With just a few words, with sparse details, she conveys something far more interesting and appealing than one of those phoney descriptions one gets on a plastic-coated menu.