Experimenting with alternatives to Easter lamb
sir – The tradition of eating lamb at Easter is derived from the ancient Hebrew Passover feast. Chapter 12 in the Book of Exodus states that “every man shall take for himself a lamb” and that the lamb should be “a male of the first year”.
As a former small-scale Herdwick breeder, I can vouch for the fact that lamb is at its most flavoursome at one year old. However, providing fodder and shelter for lambs over winter for spring slaughter can be prohibitively expensive for farmers. The logical time to slaughter lambs in Britain is in autumn, when the pasture begins to die back.
Consequently, little British lamb is available at Easter and there is a strong market for New Zealand lamb (Letters, March 22).
As an alternative to this, why not follow Peru’s tradition, as pictured in the Last Supper murals in many of the major churches there, and have a roast guinea-pig instead. It is delicious.
Mike Hames
Malvern, Worcestershire
sir – After yesterday’s news about the cricket, I have banned the family from purchasing any New Zealand products.
John H Stephen
Bisley, Gloucestershire