Spaghetti bollock-naise anyone? Pubs embrace 'I'm A Celebrity' spirit
The trials, in which contestants have to eat an array of usual and often unpleasant food items, can be a popular way to get customers through the door and raise money for charity.
The Fighting Cocks in Horton Kirky, Kent – Best Family Pub at the 2014 Great British Pub Awards – is hosting its third annual bushtucker trial on Friday (21 November).
The pub is serving up a selection of delights to six contestants, including ‘Would you like me... to be the cat’ – a tin of cat food, biscuits and a saucer of milk, and ‘The eels have eyes’ – a fish dish with Chinese swamp eels and a whole cod’s eye. ‘Eggs Benedict Chunderbatch’ is half a muffin, topped with a slice of honey-glazed ham and a Chinese black century-old egg.
Del Boy dish
The entrée, created by head chef Del Alfredo Parkere, is ‘Del’s Trotter’ – a cooked pig’s trotter stuffed with raw jellyfish. Dessert is a classic take on the British sundae. ‘Knackerbocker glory’ has all the ingredients of the original dish, plus a whole diced-up pig’s testicle.
Licensee Chris Maskery said a lot thought goes into the food items, but it is great fun to do.
He explained: “It’s always a busy night, as people like to see others suffer – in a nice way of course – hence why the TV programme is so popular.
“For every dish the six contestants eat, we give £5 to Cancer research and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. For every one they don’t, they have to pay the £5. We can earn £150 from the dishes, and that’s before the staff go round the 100-plus audience with buckets.”
Charity aim
The Lighthouse Inn in Burnham-on-Sea, Somerset, also has a charity focus to its bushtucker events. The Enterprise Inn leasehold is planning to hold the first round of trials on 26 November, and a final one night in December. Bar manager Mandy Pike said they were currently in the process of researching some “disgusting” dishes.
“Last year, we had items such as 100-year-old fermented eggs, lightly-steamed pigs’ ears, and a fish cocktail – made from off-cuts supplied to us by our local fishmonger.
“We didn’t raise money for charity then, but this year I we’ll be doing it on behalf of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, and a local charity called Charlie’s Memory.”
Pike added: “We’ll also offer a prize of a bottle of something or meal vouchers to the ones who succeed.”
Halloween event
The Black Dog Saloon, in Chedder, Somerset, hosted its bushtucker event on Halloween, raising money for the Children's Hospice Southwest.
The Western-themed bar, opened in April by local operator Peter Simon, managed to raise £1,000 thanks to the sponsorship efforts of seven competitors. Bar manager Sarah Fisher said several parts of pig, donated by a local butcher, were used in the seven-course trial.
“They started with little amuse-bouche of crickets, larvae and mealworms. The rest included eyeballs, slow-roasted tongues, liver smoothies, testicles, penises, lungs and tripe.
“It was pretty gruesome to watch, but great fun and the bar was absolutely heaving. I’m sure we’ll do it again next year.”
Prizes for the most money raised were donated by St Austell Brewery and Cheddar Ales.
