Table Talk
But can welsh roast the springboks on the pitch? Grilled Kangaroo, grilled ostrich, and poached shark steaks are not the kind of dishes you find in the average staff restaurant. But that's what caterer Clement's Cuisine is dishing up to workers at Surface Technology Systems in Newport. Manager Mark Thomas said: "To maintain the interest of the 200-strong workforce who eat in the canteen day in and day out, we have to be innovative and creative. To coincide with the Wales and South Africa rugby match, we'll be offering roast springbok."
Keg theft has the pub industry over a barrel
The theft of beer kegs is a growing problem because of the current high price of aluminum and stainless steel, according to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). Stolen aluminium kegs are typically smelted, while stainless steel kegs are shredded or crushed. A recent survey suggests up to 250,000 kegs have gone missing between January and August this year. Keg Watch, an industry trade body that recovers kegs for about 300 companies, has also reported a rise in keg theft. Keg Watch has been working closely with the police, through beefed-up surveillance and raids on premises. Culprits will face stiff penalties, says the BBPA.
Fart-free baked beans? so where's the fun in that?
They've been a staple in student diets and English fry-ups for years, but baked beans have always had one big drawback - their dramatic effect on human wind production. Now a Cambridge boffin has developed flatulence-free varieties. Dr Colin Leakey has just produced his first six-tonne harvest of a new strain of South American manteca beans. Leakey, 71, has even developed his own "fart-ometer" to measure the amount of flatulence produced by manteca beans compared with other varieties.
"In physiological and replicated tests, the manteca beans produced no more flatulence than muesli or any other normal (non-bean) grain crop," he said. The beans have already been grown in industrial-scale trials abroad and are sold in French supermarkets as "haricots non-flatulent". "I call them ‘social beans' and am confident that they're relatively wind-free," he said.
