JOINS THE ‘BAKE OFF’ STAR AND FAITH LEADERS FOR A SPECIAL LUNCH AT WESTMINSTER ABBEY
REPORT: TRACY SCHAVERIEN
She’s used to judging culinary creations on The Great British Bake Off, but last week, Dame Prue Leith sampled a dish fit for a King when she joined the Duke of Edinburgh, the Archbishop of Canterbury and leaders from a range of faiths for the Big Coronation Lunch at Westminster Abbey, where the King and Queen Consort are due to be crowned on 6 May.
Hosted by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Rev. Dr David Hoyle, the lunch was organised to inspire people to plan their own community events. It also gave guests a chance to sample the Coronation Quiche, the event’s official signature dish, which it is hoped will feature at gatherings across the country over the bank holiday weekend.
Prince Edward was all smiles as he sat down at a table decorated with flowers and Union flags and piled high with sandwiches, cakes and pastries. As he cut Dame Prue a slice of the quiche, which had been baked in Buckingham Palace’s kitchens and which he brought himself, he joked: “We’re not going to do a bake-off.” The judge replied: “It better taste as good as it sounds,” before declaring the creation, made by royal chef Mark Flanagan using light pastry, spinach, broad beans and fresh tarragon, to be “absolutely delicious – a really good quiche”.
The recipe was chosen by the King and Queen Consort because it is relatively cheap and easy to make, is a good sharing dish and can be adapted to suit different tastes and dietary requirements.
THE FOOD OF LOVE
Dame Prue, who said she planned to cook a salmon wrapped in puff pastry and shaped “like the King’s head on a stamp” during the coronation weekend, said: “Food is not just about nutrition. It’s the glue that sticks families together; it’s how you make friends, and it’s the thing that helps you talk to each other.”
Guests included Rabbi Rebecca Birk from the Finchley Progressive Synagogue; Manchandan Kaur Sandhu of the Sikh Network; Archbishop Nikitas, Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Great Britain; Trupti Patel, president of the Hindu Forum of Britain, and Bogoda Seelawimala, head priest of the London Buddhist Vihara.
Also present was Sir Tim Smit, co-founder of the Eden Project, which runs the Big Lunch. The annual community celebration, funded by the National Lottery, usually takes place in June, but has been moved to 7 May this year to coincide with the coronation.
The Archbishop, the Most Rev. Justin Welby, said: “The diversity of our country is one of our st
