Prince serves up beef treat

Royal takes chefs down to the farm

It was meant to be a feast fit for a future King but while 22 of Europe's top chefs tucked into British beef the Prince of Wales politely declined.

While Prince Charles extolled the virtues of the meat he sacrificed the chance to enjoy a taste, having decided to give up lunch for Lent.

Even without sampling the menu laid on at Grove Farm, Wells Folly, Moreton-in-Marsh, the Prince still proved to be the best of ambassadors for the UK's cattle farmers.

But with treats such as Beef Wellington slices, oriental mini mince sticks, beef ragout stroganoff, mini tartlets and miniature beef kebabs it was not the hardest of tasks.

Enjoying the Prince's hospitality were Michelin-starred guests from eight European countries, who were invited on the two-day visit to the Cotswolds by the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC) at a cost of £30,000 to persuade them to put British beef on their menus.

One of Charles's aides explained: "The Prince has given up lunch for Lent. That is what he chose to give up. He does not enjoy eating in the middle of the day very much but still has breakfast and dinner."

Buckingham Palace press officer Colleen Harris added: "He's looking forward to having the chefs to dine on traditional roast beef fillet at Highgrove."

The dinner takes place tonight at his country home near Tetbury.

The Prince did enjoy a slice of cake with a cup of tea later in the visit.

Grove Farm's owners Douglas and Anna Scott, who had specially slaughtered an 18-month-old steer from their award-winning 300-strong herd, said the tour was a great success.

Mr Scott, who has bred South Devons since 1977, said: "Unfortunately we can't time these things to co-ordinate with the Prince's fast. "It would have been nice to see him munching a big piece of beef but I'm not really disappointed.

"I'm happy he came, did this and spoke so warmly about the industry.

"It's something of a venture of faith for him and I hope the chefs will ask their suppliers for access to British beef."

On the evidence of the quickly-emptied buffet trays British beef his wish may soon be granted.

Former Claridges chef Marjan Lesnik, who now works for the MLC, created the banquet, which also included canapés of mini burger with fried quails' eggs, roast beef and onion confit in a Yorkshire pudding and roast beef with black olive tapenade sandwiches.

After lunch the Prince thanked the chefs for coming to see for themselves how British beef was produced. He said: "I hosted a similar event for European beef importers just after the British beef ban was lifted.

"I thought there might be a few lingering suspicions in the minds of people about its standards.

"But nothing is more effective than seeing is believing. I believe you are the group who most influence your countries' eating habits.

"The home market for beef is very strong indeed. A recent survey found more than 70 per cent of British consumers would prefer to eat British beef rather than imported."

He called on France to lift its ban on British beef and join countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy in taking the meat again. Meat and Livestock Commission chairman Don Curry said: "We recognise the image of our beef has been tarnished but we're determined to re-establish its reputation.

"Consumer confidence in British beef crashed to an all-time low. There was a terrible plunge in consumption so it is very exciting to see we are now back to 1995 levels.

"We have returned to the levels we saw before the crisis."

The visitors from France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Holland, Portugal, Spain and Greece then went on a tour of the farm, which took them through...

...[page 8] the full cycle of beef production.

They saw calves born last week, bulls and heifers being raised to be sold as breeding stock and steers ready for slaughter.

The Prince sat on a stack of bales to listen to a talk on how cattle can be traced through their lives with "passports". The chefs seemed won over by what they had seen and heard.

Roger Verge said: "I would certainly buy British meat if there was no French ban."

After sampling some of the beef delicacies, Italian chef Sergio Mei said he was putting British beef back on the menu at the Four Seasons Hotel in Milan.

He said: "We are just starting to use British beef again. We stopped because of the BSE crisis but there has been a crisis for chicken, rabbits and even wine.

"If we follow each crisis we would never eat anything. We can't just stop eating and the situation is improving. I am convinced British beef is safe and days like these help promote it.

Fellow Italian chef Luigi Sforzellini added: "We used to use British beef and then we stopped for well-known r easons. Now we hope we can start using it again.

"Unfortunately, even if we had continued to use it before, people would not have eaten it. I don't think there's anything wrong with Prince Charles not eating lunch. He's just following h is beliefs."

Belgian restaurateur Luigi Ciciriello said: "We are the last stop on the chain of beef.

"To have an opinion is very important, particularly if we discover good quality beef. That is why we're here."

On hand to see the Prince was Caroline Fisher, 10, daughter of the farm's stockman Keith Fisher. She said: "I had the day off from school for this. I got really close to him he's a lot shorter than I thought he'd be."

Asked about the Prince's Lent vow to skip lunch, Fiona Brown, a dietician at Cheltenham General Hospital, said missing lunch could be bad for you.

She said: "Eating three balanced, healthy meals a day is important to provide you with all your nutritional needs. Skipping meals can result in you not getting all your nutrients."

She added that eating badly could lead to anaemia and tiredness from a lack of carbohydrates.