November 1998
A
Farmhouse Tea with Anna and Ugo
Cowley,
Exeter 22 November, 1998 "When
are we coming to you again for tea?," Bella asked Anna, inviting
herself -- and us -- with her usual six-year-old forthrightness to one
of Anna's spendid farmhouse teas. Tea for us is an unusual meal that
we rarely encounter these days, so it's a treat that we look forward
to as much as the children. Once a normal feature of English (and Welsh,
Scottish and Irish) life in town and country alike, this is a meal that
was formerly enjoyed throughout the world wherever there was or had
been a British presence, though inevitably modern lifestyles, combined
with changing eating habits mean that it is definitely on the decline.
Tea
is a late afternoon meal, enjoyed well after lunch, but equally well
before supper or dinner. In times past, people must quite simply have
eaten considerably more than we do nowdays (energy expenditure levels
for manual and farmworkers would have necessitated greater calory intake)
because tea was a meal often enjoyed in addition to lunch and supper
or dinner (as well, sometimes, as 'elevenses'). For children, tea is
often the evening meal, served to them before being despatched to bed,
leaving the grownups free to enjoy a civilised supper or dinner ('children
are to be seen and not heard' was the reasoning, 'we're British after
all'). But a true farmhouse tea is a delightful family meal enjoyed
by all around an amply laden kitchen or dining room table.
"We always
enjoyed a tea like this together every Sunday with our children," explained
Anna, as she urged us to sit and eat. The house was warm on this cold,
damp Devon afternoon, heated throughout by the comforting glow of Anna's
kitchen AGA, as well as by log fires. Outside we could see the chickens,
ducks, and geese scratching in their penned in yard, while clouds hung
low over the hills and fields beyond. Turning inwards to the fire, the
dining table was almost completely covered with an ample all-at-once
mixture of both sweet and savoury foods. The centrepiece was two fragrant
loaves of homebaked bread that had only recently emerged from the AGA,
one a potato loaf, the other a light rye bread. There was a tray of
sausages, slow-roasted in the oven, slabs of rich yellow farm butter
from nearby Quicke's dairy, cheeses, tomatoes, and a delicious egg salad
made with fresh eggs laid by Anna's own chickens. There were mustards
and homemade chutneys and pickles, delicious with the cheeses that Anna
had brought back from a recent cross-channel shopping trip to Brittany.
"Why can't
our supermarkets supply us with produce as fine -- and as cheap -- as
in France," she asked. Why indeed. It is a familiar moan: our supermarkets
here have undoubtedly improved in recent years and we now have an enviable
choice of foods from around the world, but at a price. And do the supermarkets
here encourage us to value the genuine, local, artisan made foods that
we have in abundance on our very doortstep, and whose counterparts remain
such a part of the gastronomic scene in France? Sadly not.
What caught
the childrens' eyes, not surprisingly, were Anna's cakes and jams and
jellies. Guy especially loved the potato bread, first spread thickly
with butter, then slathered with dollops of homemade apple and grape
jelly. Bella, meanwhile, eschewed the savoury foods and instead tucked
directly into homemade Danish pastries, rice krispies biscuits (made
with melted marshmallows, something my mother used to make too), oat
and honey flapjacks, and finally, the pièce de resistance, the
richest and most luxurious chocolate cake Bella had ever tasted.
We washed down
this immense farmhouse meal with endless cups of strong tea and milk
(the children with milk or juice), finally retired to the lounge to
luxuriate in front of the fire, before making our way from country back
across town to riverside Topsham (if a car could waddle, then ours did).
Speaking of
the artisan made, Anna's fruit cakes are famous among the conoscenti,
produced to order by Anna herself with only the finest ingredients --
fresh farm eggs and butter, superb products like Somerset apple brandy
or the finest malt whisky, and slow-baked in the everlit Aga. For those
who would like to sample them, they are available by mail order or over
the web from Real
Cakes of Exeter. Or email
Anna if you have any particular requests or requirements.
Copyright © Marc Millon
2000
