The Red Notebook

As a former card-carrying member of the Glutton Club, Charles Darwin was pretty unsqueamish when it came to sampling strange flesh, but he did not at all relish the idea of eating calf foetus while travelling is South America. Fortunately, it turned out to be something decidedly more appetising:

We did not reach the posta on the Rio Tapalguen till after it was dark. At supper, from something which was said, I was suddenly struck with horror at thinking that I was eating one of the favourite dishes of the country namely, a half-formed calf, long before its proper time of birth. It turned out to be Puma; the meat is very white and remarkably like veal in taste. Dr. Shaw was laughed at for stating that “the flesh of the lion is in great esteem having no small affinity with veal, both in colour, taste, and flavour.” Such certainly is the case with the Puma. The Gauchos differ in their opinion, whether the Jaguar is good eating, but are unanimous in saying that cat is excellent.

BBC2, 21:00 tomorrow night (3rd June):

The Supersizers Go… Victorian

Restaurant critic Giles Coren and writer and performer Sue Perkins spend the week on the diet of a wealthy Victorian couple. Cooking for them at home is best selling cookery writer Sophie Grigson. As Giles dons top hat and waxed moustache, Sue dresses up in tight corset and outrageously wide skirts.

During the week, they visit the Natural History Museum to try the food of Charles Darwin’s Glutton Club, a tea where they try and raise the spirits of the dead and find out what Oliver Twist and the poor really ate. The week culminates with a traditional Victorian Christmas complete with a giant pie as enjoyed by Queen Victoria herself. Despite joining the Victorian Temperance society Sue has knocked back a huge amount of alcohol during the week. So after seven days of Victorian dining, what’s the doctor’s verdict on Sue’s health?

I have steadfastly avoided this series so far—it looks rubbish—but I suppose I’m going to have to watch it now.

I wonder if they’ll eat a putrid owl (as Darwin did).