My friends divide into three groups. There are those who are determined to anticipate Lent. There is a larger number whose January diet barely made it until Twelfth Night. There is a third group, whose dietary plans are indeed based on Twelfth Night: the characters of Toby Belch and Andrew Aguecheek. To which set do I belong? That depends whom I am talking to, and whether they will believe me.
Whether or not Christmas is the greatest Feast — the truth appears to be that there is no hierarchy in Feasts — we had a great feast down in Somerset. The centrepiece was goose. There is a family called Zebedee, famous for geese, whose headquarters is Lower Daggon farm. Shades of Tolkien’s Farmer Maggot: I bet they also harvest mushrooms. I would aver that in all England, no more succulent bird was eaten that day.
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