Canterbury Terry and Mason's Great Food Trip

It's very hard to eat beans without remembering the Mel Brooks movie,

isn't it? When they're all gathered around the campfire.

You're OK. There's no one sharing the back of the cab with you.

You're on your own.

It's taken 50 years in broadcasting, but I've finally cracked it.

A chance to meander around the country, see the sights,

meet the people and, ah, yes, eat and drink.

Is melt in the mouth a suitable phrase?

I've hailed a cab with one of London's finest cabbies,

Mason McQueen, to steer me around Britain's highways and byways.

-I'm looking forward to a decent meal, are you?

-Oh, I'm starving.

I can't wait, Tel.

Our route has been mapped out by an adventurous gourmand,

Samuel Chamberlain, in his book, British Bouquet.

Almost 60 years later, we're following in his footsteps...

I'll do all the work, Tel.

..to seek out a weird and wonderful regional British cuisine

and discover how our tastes have changed over the years.

Do it right, son.

Oh!

Mason has a mastery of walking the animals,

but these animals they like me for another reason.

On this leg of our mouthwatering crusade, we're heading

through Kent, to one of the most visited places in England.

We're set fair for Canterbury, master driver.

-Have you been in here before?

-I've never been to Canterbury, Terry.

No, I spent a lot of visits to Kent.

My Uncle Harry was doing 12 years in Maidstone,

-so we used to make a family event of it.

-Very nice.

Little bit of picnic just outside the walls of the jail. Lovely.

Canterbury is in the north-east corner of Kent,

only eight miles from the coast.

For centuries, the kitchens here have fed kings,

archbishops and pilgrims, so I wonder how they'll cope

with the empty tummies of Mason and myself.

Quite a nice look at the place, isn't it?

As you come in here, nice half timbered houses and narrow little...

Those narrow little streets that we like.

Until we come across lorries and tourist buses.

Don't you start, now, don't you start.

OK, I'm not going to start on roundabouts.

Chamberlain promises that exciting days await the Canterbury

visitor, so to prepare us for adventure,

we sniff out some local decoction to keep us on our toes.

There's not many things more enticing than

-the smell of coffee, is there?

-No.

-Lures you in.

A Micro Roastery.

Look, and to even lure us more in,

it's got a little tube breathing out the coffee.

-Coffee.

-Coffee.

-Coffee.

-We need coffee.

-We're lured by the smell.

-How are you doing?

-Morning.

-We followed that shrewdly placed...

-Yes, it's part of my cunning plan.

Yes, and it's working.

Nick Chasteauneuf may have the name of a winemaker,

but coffee is his passion.

He's been seducing Canterbury's coffee lovers for the last five

years, not only by brewing, but also roasting a selection of magic beans.

Predominantly, what we do, is a medium roast,

so that's coffee roasted just to after the first crack.

There's two cracks in coffee.

There's the first crack, there's a second crack.

Is this a crack in the bean or...?

Basically, it's pressure building up inside the bean, fissures are

created and its water vapour and CO2 that then, pop, explodes out of it.

-This one is the first...

-It's like splitting the atom, this.

It is a bit like splitting the atom.

This is the first crack and this one is taken, as you can see,

it's a darker colour and it's a little bit more oily.

This is taken just into the early days of second crack.

-I prefer a couple of cracks.

-What's the craic, Terry?

-Aye, sticking out.

In the '60s, Canterbury had several large coffee roasting houses

and Kent is still home to the largest coffee roastery

in Europe, which produces 8,000 tonnes of coffee a year.

Nick's operation may be on a smaller scale,

but he seems to know what he's doing.

So, this is the seasonal blend, medium roast.

That's definitely coffee. Oh, yes.

This is seasonal blend, dark roast.

The other one is perhaps rather like a very fine Bordeaux and only

for the connoisseur, and this, for the commoner garden guy

like you and me.

No more, gentlemen, no more coffee today,

because you don't want to be too wired.

I'd like him a bit more wired.

-Sometimes he falls asleep in the middle of the show.

-And I'm driving.

-Come on.

-See you later. Ta-ra, bye.

Suitably alert, we make our way through the narrow

streets to find something a little more substantial.

-Tel, look at this.

-Look at this.

Everywhere we go, it's a constant temptation. Pulled pork.

-How did they know it was my weakness? Look at him.

-Look at that.

I daresay they've been roasting pigs on the Mediaeval

streets of Canterbury for centuries

and it looks like the same fellas are doing it today.

This looks like a Brian Blessed theme going on. "Gordon's alive!"

Mediaeval.

You look like three country rockers, with your own pulled pork business.

I see that it's a 14-hour slow cook.

14 to 16-hour, depending on the weather.

The weather affects the ovens a little bit

and how you cook it, but 14 to 16 hours, slow cook.

Goes in, in the afternoon, we skin them, we rub them.

The pig is rubbed with paprika and garlic before its long stint in

the oven and when cooked, the meat is gently pulled from the bone by

hand and then stuffed into the open mouths of passing strangers like me.

-Look at that.

-On a hot summer's day like this, perfect.

A true taste of Mediaeval Canterbury.

Let us walk the streets of Canterbury with our pulled

-pork sandwich.

-In our hands.

-Forward.

For centuries, Canterbury was on the main road from London to Dover

and for many, these narrow streets would have provided people's

first taste of England.

Today, nearly two million visitors a year make their way to

Canterbury and, of course, they all need feeding.

So, look, Tiny Tim's Tearoom. Sunday pot washer.

-There's a job for you.

-Enquire within. Let's go in.

You can't walk in through this door without saying,

"God bless us every one."

-You're not Tiny Tim, are you?

-I am not, no.

-What have you got?

-We've got puddings.

-Pudding.

-Yes.

-Just what you're looking for.

A bit of pud.

Steamed puddings have been hitting our dining tables since the 16th

century when they were mainly savoury and a way

of using up old meat.

Today, Joe is just serving the sweet stuff

and has two puddings with strong Canterbury connections.

We made it two years ago for the enthronement of Justin Welby

-as the Archbishop.

-Has he had a slice?

He has not, no, but they are aware of it.

This one, we chose almond, because, apparently, almond is

one of the oldest domesticated fruits,

so we thought it was a good choice and it also tastes mighty fine.

-I thought the almond was a nut.

-Fruit.

-Is it?

This is the Kentish Puddle Pond.

Now, this is a very, very old-fashioned recipe.

-This is from the 1600s.

-Wow.

-There we go.

There's eating and drinking on that. There is.

It's a messy, messy pud, it really is.

It's a suet crust and inside are whole lemons, sugar,

-butter and lots of dried fruit.

-Is that all?

-Yes.

I think I'll have a go with the old eating and drinking.

-Kentish Puddle Pond.

-Piece of the old Puddle Pond.

-Puddle Pond.

It's what it looks like, as well. Is there any fish in this?

-Wow, look at that. That's unusual.

-There we go.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Look, there are some sheep droppings in here.

Oh, no, no, raisins.

And it's warm.. Oh.

That's gorgeous. That's really nice.

Canterbury should be very proud.

-There's only one thing that is worrying me, Mason, about this.

-Yes?

We're travelling the roads and streets of Canterbury.

But I can't see sight nor sign of a cathedral.

-Where are they hiding the cathedral?

-I'm sure it's here somewhere.

I haven't even seen so much as a spire.

-Let me know if you see the cathedral.

-Bear with me.

We're going to get there.

If I had known that the main feature is the hidden

cathedral of Canterbury, I might have walked around the town...

..on the off chance of actually bumping into it.

-There you are, what's that?

-Oh, for goodness sake.

Once you pass into the cathedral grounds, it's a

wonder you could ever miss it because the place is vast.

Described as the cradle of the Anglican Church by our guide,

Sam Chamberlain,

this is a building that has witnessed the history of a nation.

All built to the glory of God and possibly the local bishop.

-This is the paving, though, that I want in the garden.

-Yes.

-It's nice, isn't it?

-Probably work in the kitchen, as well.

The cathedral and its paving became a place of pilgrimage

for the 12th century.

Canterbury being made famous by the murder

of Thomas Becket, cruelly hacked to pieces on the altar steps.

Today, I'm meeting the cathedral's archivist,

who knows all the stories these old walls have to tell.

So, the cathedral has survived Viking raids,

it survived fires, it survived the disruptions of the Reformation,

the Civil War and, indeed, bombing in World War II.

Much like St Pauls in London, Canterbury Cathedral became a great

symbol of hope for the people of Kent during fierce German bombing.

And in those rationing years, he not only fed their spirits

but their stomachs, as well.

This is a little box of tokens which were used for British restaurants.

The intention of British restaurants was to provide a good hot meal.

-Good hearty food.

-Yes, good hearty food.

Keep their spirits up and the nutrition values is high.

The Ministry of food did get dieticians to

advise on the menus, so they were quite nutritionally balanced

with the food that was available.

You say there was one here in the very cathedral?

In the Cathedral precincts, a place called the Parry Hall

and that was requisitioned for use as a British restaurant.

This wasn't peculiar just to Canterbury.

No, they were set up throughout the country.

There were over 2,000 in the end.

The initiative started off in London,

but British restaurants did, in many ways,

democratise food during the World War II period, so it was

the same food that was on offer, really, to all levels of society.

We could all do a little bit more of the British restaurant,

couldn't we? Feeding our faces continually.

Well, there's nothing wrong with meat and two veg and a hot pudding.

-True.

-And a cup of tea.

-And a cup of tea.

Leaving Canterbury's tourists in our wake, we follow

Chamberlain to the coast and the idyllic fishing port of Whitstable.

This old Chamberlain, of course, whom we follow, he says,

"Finest oysters come from Whitstable seven miles

"north-west of Canterbury."

Oyster dredging has been going on here since Roman times.

We've a lot to thank the Romans for, haven't we?

Apparently, you know when they came to Kent, the Romans,

when they were met by the natives, they didn't have any,

like, armoury to fight them and all they had was apples and pears.

Honestly, and I'm not doing Cockney rhyming slang here,

they chucked the apples and pears at the Romans and they'd land

on the spear and that's where the first fruit kebabs came from.

Do you know, you're a mine of what I can only describe as utterly

useless information.

And also the very fact that I know that you're making it all

up as you go along. Honestly.

As Mason's talking gibberish again, I'll try and get some sense

out of the locals. What do you think?

Is Whitstable not the very essence of an English fishing port?

"Argh, absolutely, Terry, I couldn't agree more!"

Some sensible conversation, at last. I wonder if he can drive.

Chamberlain may have come for the oysters,

but today, there's another sea creature making all the noise.

This is the sorting of the whelks.

All the little ones have to go back in the sea, these days.

They have to be a certain size.

Does the EU tell you to put the smaller ones back? Is that it?

Yes, we have to put them back, otherwise you get a heavy fine.

You've been saved, little whelks.

You owe your lives to the European Community.

How long have you been doing this, Derek.

-I've been on the harbour 66 years.

-66 years?

-Yes.

-What?

-You must have started when you were three.

-I'll be 87 in January.

Look, there isn't a mark on you. Obviously, the sea breeze...

-You look fantastic.

-Not a line on your face.

-And whelks.

Once these whelks are sorted, they're boiled on the quay

-and then eaten. A fresh whelk.

-Fresh whelks.

-Fresh cooked whelk.

-Do you want salt and vinegar on it?

-No. Vinegar?

He's not used to eating this proper food. Well?

-That's a first today, anyway. Very good.

-Well, yeah.

Any fresher, I'd have to slap ya.

-So, are there plenty of whelks in the sea?

-Yeah, at the moment, yes.

There's about five boats in which we'll catch them

-and they're bringing in about a tonne a day, each boat.

-Whelks?

They bag them up, a lorry comes in and takes them away.

They go up the country somewhere, they're cooked, tinned

and they go to Korea.

The Koreans might be keen on Whitstable's whelks,

but would we be wrong to come all this way and not try the oysters?

We're too early for the famous Whitstable Royals,

but Derek's son, Graham, has got hold of the next best thing.

-Here you go.

-Good man.

-Graham, look at this.

Shallot vinegar, Tabasco. Lemon.

These are the lesser oyster, of course.

-Yes, these are the lesser oyster.

-Not the Whitstable native Royal.

No, we can't fish the Whitstable Royal until two days before...

And because Mason is here. The upper classes don't want him to eat them.

These are what we call triploids, so they never spawn and

they're always in good condition.

Right, so you're telling me that these rock oysters

-don't have a sex life?

-No. Not at all.

Welcome to the club!

To Whitstable.

You know, It took a good thing to get past old Chamberlain,

because he says, "Unlimited flocks of white sheep, graze on the salty

"lowlands and provide England with some of her finest lamb and mutton."

Baa!

-Is there no limit to your talent?

-There's not.

The voice of them all. Mason McQueen.

Sheep impersonations, done to order.

Our next stop is Monkshill Farm.

Once run by monks to feed Canterbury's clergy.

Today, they produce some of the sweetest meats in Kent.

-So, we've had the smell of the sea and now...

-The smell of the farm.

-Oh, that's stronger, isn't it?

-Slightly stronger.

-Just a minute.

-Have a look at this. What's this? Do you have one of these?

-No.

A lamb finisher. What does that mean?

You throw the lambs in there and it finishes them off?

That's very cruel.

You can't stroll through a Kent farmyard without eventually

bumping into a farmer.

Tell me about farmers, because farmers are perennially

complaining, aren't they?

And yet you never see a farmer on a bike, do you?

Normally a Range Rover, a new one.

Yeah, I think that's courtesy of the bank managers, though.

Keep in with the bank managers.

Richard is no ordinary farmer.

He's been crowned as Britain's Local Farmer Of The Year and part

of the reason for that, is his incredible herd of Salt Marsh lamb.

All the old Marsh down here which used to be

tidal in the distance there, it's in its natural state.

There's no fertiliser or pesticides applied

and it's just all herbs and natural grasses that the sheep

graze on throughout the year and it gives a unique flavour to the

meat and that's the difference between what you buy,

sort of, factory farmed, if you like, and what we try to do.

They're prime lambs which have just been weaned off their mothers

and will be ready for the table in three to four weeks.

I'm not waiting around for three to four weeks.

Have you not got one that you made earlier?

-We have got one we made earlier and it's cooking as we speak.

-Good man.

I like to hear it.

MUSIC PLAYS

-Hello, hello, hello.

-That looks terrific.

-Look at that.

This time, Mason, we may have bitten off more than we can chew.

Oh, little bit of fatty lamb. I love a bit of fat on my lamb.

-Superb.

-Beautiful.

-That is beautiful. Tel, you're not saying much.

That's a good sign.

Well, it's of enormous benefit to the viewer, as well.

Did you ever meet people who, when they really have a

-meal that they like, they sing?

-Do they?

Yeah, I had a relative and he'd be eating and you'd see him going...

HE HUMS

That's what I feel like doing with the lamb.

Did you invite him round again?

This lamb sings along with you.

Leaving the sheep to their salty shrubs,

we head back to Canterbury and an old railway shed

filled to the rafters with local produce and people

passionate about their grub.

-The Good Shed, this is called.

-Tel, look at this place. It's huge.

-You don't expect that. Amazing.

-Check out the butcher's name.

Wogan's Butchers. You'll be Carl Wogan.

That's me, Terry, nice to meet you.

Everywhere I go, people say, are you any relation of Carl Wogan?

-That's funny, I never get that from you.

-No.

I'm delighted to see that somebody with the same name as myself,

is in some kind of useful job.

We're trying, we're trying.

Romany sausage.

What's the difference between a Romany sausage and a pork sausage?

It moves around the plate a lot.

Chamberlain praises Kent produce as some of the best in Europe

and judging by what's on offer here, I'd say he tells no lie.

Tel, they're the finest cherries I've ever seen. Look at them.

-They look beautiful.

-Do you think I could nick one?

HE COUGHS

Keep walking.

-Sausage roll.

-Are you going to have a sausage roll?

-Go on, you have one.

I don't think anybody saw that, did they?

-Do you want to share a sausage roll?

-Go on then.

-I can't.

-Sorry, mate, nothing to do with me.

-No problem.

Delizioso.

-Have you ever heard of a dirty vicar?

-Er, yes.

-Yes, but in a cheese sense.

-No.

-Chaucer's camembert.

-Do you think he made that himself? In the 14th century?

-I'm not sure.

I may sample the food, it's only right that we wet the whistle.

And Mason has the opportunity to dazzle the locals

with his barman's flair.

-Hey.

-Do you know, he's got a bit of a reputation for his cocktails.

Do you know that, do you? He makes a mean cocktail.

-What's your speciality, Tel?

-I can do a Cosmo, I can do a champagne.

-I can see you do them. He knocks it back.

-A dry martini.

That looks terrific.

This is the Elderflower Days and it's a very Kentish cocktail.

You've got elderflower liqueur, which is made in Faversham.

We've got Kentish apple juice.

So what you're saying is, that this is entirely from Kent?

-Entirely from Kent.

-It takes a good one to get past me.

-I'm going to slainte.

-Slainte.

-Where are you taking me now, Mason?

-We're off to the cricket.

To be honest, cricket has never been high on my list

of sporting priorities.

But you played rugby, though, didn't you? That's a contact sport, Tel.

That's right, but nobody is trying to hit you with a hard ball.

They're trying to bite your ear off and they're trying to

gouge your eyes out, but at least you know where you are.

My feeling is that we should bring back bodyline bowling

and really intimidate those Aussies.

Cricket is said to have originated in Kent as early

as the 14th century.

It's been played here at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury

since 1847, which makes it one of the oldest first-class

cricket grounds anywhere in the world.

Home to Kent County Cricket Club, we're meeting the man at the helm,

-Jamie Clifford.

-Kent's a cricketing county.

We don't have much other professional sport

and there are over 400 local cricket clubs in Kent,

so you're never far from cricket and we're supported in great numbers.

How are they doing, Kent, in the league?

Essex above you?

Essex are above us, yes.

It pains me to say it, but, at the moment, that is the case.

-Why do I think that you knew that?

-I don't know, I took a gamble.

-Exactly.

Kent might not be top of the league, but they do have an extra

fielder for home games and he's rooted to the spot.

As I look past you, I see the famous lime tree,

which is a bit disappointing to me, because I thought it'd be huge.

-Did you?

-Well, it was a fully grown lime tree until 2005.

-But it's within the boundary.

-It's within the boundary.

In 2005, it blew down, the original lime tree and in our wisdom,

we decided it's such an important part of our tradition

and what this ground is known for, we planted another.

It's a bit hard, though, isn't it, if you hit a tremendous shot

and it hits the tree and bounces back?

Or the fielder doesn't know where he's going

and he's run into the tree. Runs into it, Tel. Have you had any accidents?

-No, touch wood, we haven't.

-Touch wood?

He would be touching wood if he runs into that.

The tree is not the only oddity here and Jamie has granted me

access to one of the ground's hidden treasures, the sacred scoreboard.

You're in charge. You're the scorer?

Yes, I'm one of the ones that operates this...

Bizarre... bizarre is the word you're looking for.

-Yes, definitely.

-How old is the scoreboard?

I am not sure when it was first built, but, originally,

when I first come in here, which was '60s, this used to be

more square and we used to have to climb in through the roof.

There used to be a ladder out the back

and you had a hatch and you actually climbed in and climbed down into it.

This is one of the, probably,

the only one left of this size anywhere in first-class cricket.

-It's all done by hand?

-It's all done by hand completely.

This will operate the units on the total score,

so just pull it once and it should be number one up there, and it is.

-There's nothing to this.

-No, nothing to it,

but what you'll find, is they've all got different pulls.

This one operates the 100s,

so what we should have up there now, we have now got 111, hopefully.

Yeah, I knew I'd reach my century.

Having made my century, it's time to see if Mason can make his.

He's donned the armour and is ready to face the best Kent has to offer.

Steeped as I am in the lore of cricket, it's a great honour

and a privilege to be here with Daniel Bell-Drummond,

he's a very fine cricketer, and Mason McQueen, who isn't.

Take it easy, mate. Any tips for me?

Yeah, watch the ball, stay relaxed and you'll be fine.

Don't show any mercy, you know,

it's television, he's a professional.

No, I'm not, no, I'm not a professional, Tel.

Not a professional. Professional cab driver.

Yeah, but that's even worse.

What I want you to do, Daniel, is bowl as hard as you possibly can,

because he's a pretty good cricketer.

Do you know, looking at you today, you remind me of W.G Grace.

-Are you sure you're doing your best, Daniel?

-Terry, will you be quiet?

He's doing his best.

The box is on the move. There's not much to protect there.

-He doesn't fool me, though.

-Oh!

-Oh!

I may not have much enthusiasm for the bat and the ball,

but there's one part of this sport that I will always make time for.

There's the old song about everything stops for tea and cricket

is the only sport that is in that great British tradition, isn't it?

Stops for tea.

How does it feel when you're playing a team that are knocking seven

bells out of you and you all have to sit down and have tea together?

That can't be much fun.

Yes, it is and it isn't because, thankfully,

you get off the pitch for a bit and you're able to just get off

for a while, relax, but, yeah, if you're going to have tea with them,

there might be a bit of problems going on.

You mean a bit of sledging over the tea?

Maybe some guys might carry it off the cricket pitch, which isn't

-very good.

-So you do it every time?

You have a break in the game and you do stop for tea and sandwiches?

-Twice a game.

-Really?

This is in the grand old Kentish tradition, isn't it?

See how he delivered that? The bowler, there, see.

-Good delivery, Daniel.

-Exactly.

I was a bit disappointed at first, in Canterbury

because wherever you drive, there's no sign of the Cathedral.

-But, otherwise, lovely place, plenty to eat and drink.

-Definitely.

And then we finish our day here in the sunshine in this

beautiful, beautiful setting. Wonderful cricket club.

-Good way to end our day in Canterbury.

-Here, here.