Good riddance to the Sunday roast

Summary

The author, an Englishman, expresses a personal disinterest in the traditional Sunday roast dinner, a sentiment that aligns with the necessity to adapt to rising food costs in the UK.

Abstract

The article titled "Good riddance to the Sunday roast" presents the author's perspective on the declining relevance of the traditional Sunday roast dinner in the UK, particularly in the face of increasing food prices. The author, who is English, recounts his early life experiences with his father's limited culinary skills, which did not include the Sunday roast tradition. Despite societal expectations, the author never developed a taste for the Sunday roast and has since convinced his spouse to embrace alternative meals. The piece reflects on the author's journey from a steak-averse childhood to a more varied diet in adulthood, ultimately concluding with a personal farewell to the Sunday roast.

Opinions

The author views the Sunday roast as an expendable tradition rather than a sacrosanct one.
He acknowledges the financial strain of maintaining such traditions due to the rising cost of living in the UK.
The author is not a vegetarian or vegan but has a nuanced appreciation for meat when cooked properly.
He recalls his father's cooking with humor and a sense of nostalgia, despite its lack of culinary finesse.
The author has intentionally moved away from the Sunday roast tradition in his married life, preferring other types of meals.
There is a hint of relief or indifference in the author's sentiment towards the potential disappearance of the Sunday roast from his diet.

Good riddance to the Sunday roast

I am aware this statement may bring howls of anguish to people of the United Kingdom, especially the English, because the tradition of the Sunday roast dinner is sacrosanct to some people, but not to me, and I am an Englishman.

The rising cost of living in the UK is pushing the price of food to levels where people are having to think about giving up certain items of food, and one of these items is the Sunday joint of meat, particularly beef, for years the staple of the traditional Sunday lunch.

Now I am not a vegetarian or a vegan. I enjoy eating meat along with the rest of my carnivore friends. But the Sunday lunch never featured much in my early years.

Without going into too much detail, from the age of twelve until I left home in my early twenties, I lived with my father. And my dad, God bless him, could not cook, unless you call cremation cooking.

The only meals I remember him cooking was steak. He fried this until it had the constituency of an old leather wallet. We ate that with bread, no veg, and usually standing up. I avoided steak for years until I learned that cooked properly it could be quite nice.

For some reason, my dad only cooked this steak treat during the week, never on Sundays. So, the tradition of the Sunday roast never took on with me.

When I married, I fell into the Sunday routine, but I never really took to it.

Gradually, I have weaned my better half off eating a roast dinner covered in gravy every Sunday.

Now we may have a salad, pasta or chops (no roast potatoes allowed.)

I do make the occasional concession, but I do not enjoy it.

So, good riddance to the Sunday roast.