Eat no more than SIX sprouts for Xmas lunch says nannying council
IT can be a job getting most people to eat any at all, even with their Christmas dinner.
but those of us who are fans of the humble brussels sprout are being warned not to eat too many.
in fact, it’s claimed, we should limit ourselves to just six.
The rationing is not due to the vegetable’s notorious antisocial sideeffects on the digestive system, however.
Local authority chiefs claim their diktat is an attempt to reduce food waste.
but Leicestershire County Council’s ‘Christmas tip’ was met with incredulity by residents, who said they did not need guidance on how to enjoy their traditional roast turkey with all the trimmings.
They accused the council of acting like a nanny state by suggesting ‘officially approved’ portions and speculated on the penalties if diners dared to eat seven or eight.
others pointed out that leftoBy ver sprouts are one of the main ingredients of a perfect boxing Day bubble and squeak.
The storm blew up after the council wrote on Twitter on Saturday night: ‘Six sprouts = oNE portion. Don’t overbuy and they won’t go to waste. #Christmastip #wastefreexmas.’
The tweet sparked a host of angry replies. Natasha rossiya asked: ‘are you going to prosecute residents if they have seven or, heaven forbid, eight sprouts? Will there be a Sprout officer (circa £42k per annum)?’
a sprout fan said: ‘a man like me likes at least 16 sprouts – shall i expect to hear the sound of jackboots on the stairs?’
others said: ‘Looking forward to a string of prosecutions of ordinary Leicestershire folk in the new year as many will fail to heed this advice/warning/veiled threat’ and ‘a portion is as many as i want. Which is several times more than six.’
one resident wrote: ‘Councils need to focus on collecting bins and fixing street lamps, not offering this mind boggling dull and irrelevant nanny state drivel. That’s your official portion of common sense for the day.’
There were several brexitinspired replies, including: ‘if we want to leave brussels we will.’
one Twitter user even joked: ‘We’re not having sprouts as we don’t like them. Can we transfer our allowance to other people provided they live within LCC jurisdiction?’
a council spokesman admitted yesterday that the authority may have slipped up when it offered the advice.
he said: ‘We send out thousands of tweets, including messages about food waste, and sometimes we get it wrong.
‘We want residents to enjoy every aspect of Christmas Day, including the sprouts.’
The tweet came as asda predicted that 1.5million bags of british brussels sprouts will be sold this week, up 30 per cent on last year. Farmers are producing around 100 tons a day.
although sprouts have been grown in Europe since the Middle ages, they did not become popular in britain until the 19th century.
it is thought Victorians may have enjoyed the novelty of the ‘miniature cabbages’, although some experts believe the arrival of sprouts in the UK coincided with the rise in popularity of the Christmas feast.
‘Jackboots on the stairs’