I could recite a litany of tasty and tasteful products that I or my whole family have come to love, but that have been removed from the shelves in one way or another. Yet vile perversions like cheese with candied mango remain. When I see shoppers buying such things I give them a cold stare that would have made Paddington Bear envious.
Take for example Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire Cheese in my local Booth's supermarket. It is one of this country's finest cheeses, and beyond sensible argument its best Lancashire. Yet the shop, perhaps eight miles from the farm where it is made, has dropped it, presumably because of poor demand.
Or the giant Greek beans in sauce that were sold by Sainsbury's, expensive but delicious they were a perfect part of a mezze.
It is tempting to resort to thinking along the lines of the mother at the passing out parade: 'Look at all those soldiers out of step with my son.'
There are ways round the problem. For Mrs Kirkham's I will try the local Waitrose, or call on the farm myself - Graham Kirkham is a top bloke, great storyteller, and cheese genius, I'd hope he'd sell direct if asked.
For the beans I have just made my own, taste-memory harnessed to try to mimic the ingredients of their sauce, and butter beans the nearest equivalent of the gigantes ones in the long lost jars. SC tried some, and thought them good, but the bean texture wrong. So the next step is grow our own. Maybe.
Update: the gigantes bean jars are back in Sainsbury's, not on the fancy gourmet shelves but with various preserves. Excellent.
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