News
HRH launches the Mutton Renaissance Club
2nd February 2006
The Prince of Wales claimed tonight that a revival of mutton could make the difference between the survival and disappearance of sheep farmers.
He insisted that putting the misunderstood meat back on the menu was vital to sustaining the way of life in the countryside.
In a speech, The Prince branded it a ‘tragedy‘ that it had fallen out of favour over the years, but said that people were now developing a real taste for it once again.
The Prince of Wales, Patron of the Mutton Renaissance Club, was attending the launch dinner held at The Ritz in London, and was joined by celebrity chef Brian Turner.
They and fellow mutton lovers from butchers, restaurateurs and farmers dined on specially created dishes featuring the key ingredient some which were named in honour of The Prince of Wales.
The Mutton Renaissance Campaign was launched in 2004 by The Prince of Wales to support British sheep farmers who were struggling to sell their older animals, and to get the meat back on the nation‘s plates.
The Prince explained why he supported the campaign: "Having such fond childhood memories of it (mutton) to me it was a tragedy that it had disappeared from the culinary experience of most people.”
The launch of the Club takes the campaign a step further as it aims to strengthen the supply chain of what The Prince described as a "mouthwatering meat".
Speaking before the dinner, The Prince told guests that links in the mutton supply chain were weak and more was needed to be done to ensure more farmers benefited from the renewed interest in the meat.
"The lives of the farmers are tough and getting tougher by the day - that‘s the problem," he said.
"We heard only this week that farm incomes fell by 11 percent last year.” He added: "They have families whose children go to the village school…they use the village shop and the post office."
And The Prince continued: "These are the people who make our countryside utterly unique and these are the people for whom I will do everything in my power to help and that is why we are here tonight.
"A renaissance of mutton won‘t change the world but it just might, might make the difference between survival and disappearance and that, ladies and gentlemen, is enough for me."
Celebrity chef Brian Turner described the meat as a national asset and said the new club had a moral duty to sustain its heritage.
He also called for mutton to be used in school dinners.
The chef said that in an ‘age of blandness‘ when food was brought to the table before it had a chance to develop its flavours, the mutton renaissance could help redress the balance.
Other top chefs who have helped with the campaign in the past include Jamie Oliver, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Gary Rhodes.
Among the guests at the dinner was hill farmer Maldwyn Thomas.
He said: "It is very important to us and it has helped a lot. I used to sell mutton for £16 in the market per sheep. Now it goes for £84."
Andrew Lawrence, who owns the Farmers Arms pub in Cwdu in the Brecon Beacons, was also at the dinner.
He said: "I‘d introduced it to the menu last year. The local people didn‘t want to pay a lot of money for something they had been eating all these years. I had to make it quite special. It had to be something a bit different. Maybe one day we can put it on a mainstream menu and be confident people will chose it, but that‘s why we‘re here tonight."
Two years ago The Prince of Wales launched the Mutton Renaissance Campaign - a joint effort of the National Sheep Association and the Academy of Culinary Arts to promote the meat.
For hundreds of years, mutton was the staple meat of the British household, considered superior in texture and flavour to lamb.
Changes in farming and cooking led to mutton‘s sudden decline, and for the last fifty years it has hardly been on view in shops and restaurants.
Now, an estimated 200 family farms, restaurants, butchers and abattoirs across Britain are selling and serving mutton.
This year, mutton will appear on the menus of a number of top restaurants, including The Ivy, The Ritz, Langan‘s Brasserie and Le Gavroche.