gobble gobble...

Turkey.

I'm sure that most of you will be eating it, or (depending on when you read this) ate it this Christmas. It's a tradition that most of us upkeep, along with chocolate at Easter and pumpkin at Hallowe'en.

Unfortunately, large scale traditions create large scale demand, and where there is large scale demand, some very unscrupulous people try to make large scale money.

And our old chum the turkey can be in the thick of it. Some commercially produced turkeys can grow to an immense 40kg in around 30 weeks. Staggering - which is exactly what they do when their joints just can't keep up with their mass.

I am a very opinionated meat eater, but I respect that people have a choice, so therefore I ask you this. Instead of having an intensively reared turkey that you have to sit on to get into the oven, that takes a day to cook, and that you have to eat for the remainder of the week as you did not realise exactly how much meat was on there, maybe you could spend your hard earned cash differently.

Get a smaller free range bird, or smaller organic bird for the same money (less need for the '200 ways with turkey' book) Or have a free range, organic, local goose. How about a joint of venison (beautifully in season) as old Hugh had in his alternative Christmas feast? Or a good bit of local pork?

Ring the changes, but whatever you do, try and have a responsible dinner...