Fringilla Farm and Lodge is about 40 km from Lusaka out on the Great North Road, a decent enough distance to make us feel like we are escape the big smoke for a while but not too far.
We were told about this farm by a friend and we were very impressed, the complex is very big, with beautifully kept grounds, a restaurant with excellent service and a well maintained farm. We were especially excited by the butchery that sells everything from beef to game meat and the staff were attentive. Unfortunately they were out of pork spare ribs but we did leave with a leg of lamb – lamb is very rare in Zambia, and some lovely free range chicken. We can't wait to go back and stock up, the meat is of such good quality because the animals clearly live happy lives, being allowed to roam free and are well fed.
What kind of amateur foodie would I be if I did not pay homage to the wonderful Keith Floyd! If you are vegetarian, you probably won't be too bothered by his passing as he was a committed carnivore.
I loved Keith Floyd for one reason in particular - he was ENTERTAINING. He cooked in daft locations on camp stoves, bellowed at the camera man and other crew members on a regular basis, drank heavily, set things on fire and still managed to produce sumptuous dishes. I never really felt I could cook what he was cooking, but that didn't matter, he was all about loving life and food is the quintessential element of that.
I will miss him because now we have such aself-satisfied group of TV chefs who make great dishes, but the programmes are so obsessed with their own style. Mockney barrow boy Jamie Oliver is not a patch on Floyd, Nigella Lawson's erotic munching is all very well but this new tradition of the staged social event where fake friends sit around enjoying the food, while we the viewers are left watching like orphans with our noses pressed against the window is insulting.
Their offerings are anaemic compared with Floyds full-throttle, full-blooded delivery and Britain is a slightly poorer place now.
Maybe the recipes have improved but the delivery has not.
This video is a perfect example of Keith Floyd, a salad full of posh offal, on a boat, bossing the camera man and despising the noisy river traffic - and there is the ubiquitous camp stove.
Floyd in a more subdued mood and looking a little frail, but making a fantastic cassoulet with half the gross domestic meat production of France in it.
