Oooh someone has asked The Green Man a question and fortunately it is on one of The Green Man's special subjects - food.

Janet asks

After reading Barbara Pym books my book club is meeting at my house for discussion and lunch. I want to serve ploughman's lunch and summer pudding. Do you have a good recipe for the lunch (or the pudding as well)? What shall we have for a tiny alcoholic beverage before?

Well Janet, a Ploughman’s lunch is a demonstration of the fact that things don't have to be complicated to be exceptional. Ploughman’s lunch is simple, arising from the fact that it was originally made for ploughmen to take into the field with them. It is ideal for an informal lunch and simple to prepare.

It is essentially a collection of cured meat (usually ham or corned beef), cheese (usually a vintage cheddar), pickled vegetables (onions, cucumbers etc) and pickles (Branston made an excellent brand for this purpose). This is accompanied by crusty bread. Normally you would assemble a collection of these on a plate however since you are catering for a group it is probably better to present it buffet style and participants can assemble their own open sandwiches from the ingredients.

Of course no ploughman’s lunch is complete without alcoholic apple cider. For devotees this would be "scrumpy" which is a still cider of exceptional potency. It doesn't taste that great but after a glass or two, strangely, that doesn't seem to matter. For your lunch a sparkling cider is more appropriate. It comes in three basic types, sweet, dry and draught. If your guests are unaccustomed to cider you might like to get one (or more) of each for them to try. Most ciders these days are about the same strength as beer so the same drink driving considerations apply.

Summer Pudding

Finally, here is a recipe for Summer Pudding. The great thing about it, apart from the fact it is delicious, is that it can be made ahead of time cutting down the effort at the time.

Ingredients
white sliced bread (it can be a bit stale it doesn't matter)
a good selection of summer berries, strawberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants, stoned cherries and raspberries
sugar to taste depending on fruit

Method
Put fruit and sugar into a heavy saucepan and heat gently until the juice runs. Cool. Line a 2 pint pudding basin with slices of white bread (crust removed). Strain fruit well and reserve juice. Put cool fruit into bread-lined basin and place a bread lid on top. Moisten lid with a little fruit juice. Put a saucer onto the bread lid so that it presses down onto the pudding. Put a weight or full, heavy tin onto the saucer and leave in fridge over night. Turn out onto a plate and serve immediately with reserved juice and double cream.