iGod

Cadbury's changes its brand image and goes Fairtrade

It was interesting to read this week that good old Cadbury's has undergone something of a revolution by aiming to go totally Fairtrade by Autumn of this year. Not only that but they have bought into social network marketing by stepping into the blogosphere to get their message out. However, I am not sure it works for them. If they had a tribe, as Seth Godin, sees it, maybe this would be a cool tool, but they lack a following, unlike Green & Black.

Now I know that I risk being branded cruel talking about chocolate when I am aware that people have given up the cocoa bean for Lent, but I thought you should know all the same. Sorry.

ASD

Mince pies and the meaning of Christmas...sort of

Are you someone who takes their food for granted?

For instance, is a mince pie just a mince pie to you or does it transcend you into the heavenly realm?  No I am not referring to NIgella Lawson or Delia Smith's Christmas culinary recipes, but something with a higher significance.

We started eating the tasty little things at Christmas right back in Tudor times; they represented the Nativity.  The contents of the mince pies were seen as the gifts of the three wise men.  While the pie, itself, represents the manger.  They also made a pastry baby which was laid in the cradle, which was, of course, Jesus.

But that old spoilt sport Oliver Cromwell, who was probably not a barrel of laughs to invite to your New Year's Eve party, decided that it was all very papal and forbade its eating and saw that they had no place in his Puritan England.

Thus, they became illegal to eat on Christmas Day. And they are still illegal to eat today. It is one law that has never been revoked. But I shouldn't worry if you now feeling you have suddenly join the ranks of the criminal fraternity. I suspect our 'boys in blue' have bigger fish to fry at this time - if that is not mixing my metaphors too much.

Coming back to Cromwell, there does seem to be some agreement among historians that he could have been partly right, as there is evidence that similar pies where placed on church altars by women desperate to become pregnant. Mince pies were, therefore, not just symbolic but efficacious.

Another tradition has it that mince pies should have a star on top to represent the magi being led to Jesus by a guiding star.

Then there is the one that they should be ate in silence.  Like that is going to happen with excited children at Christmas time.

For me this is all getting a bit much.  I just want to scoff one then another and another, and washed  them all down with a glass of mulled wine. Maybe we should just eat our mince pies and be thankful without getting religious about our food.  But then, forgive me, I never was much of a sacramentalist.

I am happy to just have the bread and wine at Communion.  Even on Christmas Day with the Roast Turkey and all the trimmings it is still the best meal in the world.

ASD

In Search of Perfection

I’d be a big fibber if I told you I didn’t like good food. The trouble is I’ve got a champagne taste and ginger pop money. Nevertheless, it doesn’t stop me from enjoying the foodie programmes and the odd culinary indulgence.

On Monday I watched Nigella Lawson do her goddess thing by suggesting that whatever you find in your fridge you can do something amazing with it. Unfortunately, when she opened her fridge it had little resemblance to mine.  I am happy for her that she “never gets fazed with doing impromptu entertaining for guests that drop in” But for me she is hardly the people’s cook.

I suspect that crown belongs to affable Essex boy Jamie Oliver, a crown once worn by Delia Smith and Marguerite Pattern. And he does turn out a good book of recipes. His programme is also currently on and called Jamie’s Garden. Worth a watch. Though the graphics are dead annoying.

But the guy I personally like knocking up something in the kitchen is Heston Blumenthal, or as Terry Wogan calls him, “Heston Bloomin’ ‘eck”.. His new  programme is on Tuesdays, BBC2 and called In Search of Perfection.

The man is a genius.

He has been described as the man who got lost on the way to the science lab and found himself in the kitchen.

Last night saw him go in search of the perfect burger. He scours the world, tests beef for the perfect tissue texture, blends, wraps, freezes, calculates bite size, experiments with elasticity, and emulsifies proteins and fats with sodium citrate. Dontcha just want one now?

The problem is a burger is a burger. It is a fast-food experience. So all this effort would seem slightly contradictory.

Being a perfectionist is a blessing and a curse. At worse, it makes you intolerant of someone who is less able than you and becomes a nightmare for all people around. At best, it means that you are driven to give the best experience possible and aspires others to aim higher for themselves.

As a church pastor, and being prone to perfectionism, I have really had to get my head together on this one.

Although perfectionism is admired, much like Heston’s wizardry, it can also have the adverse effect of putting people off from even picking up a ladle in the kitchen for a fear of anything they do will not be good enough. Yet, we value good cooking, because the pay off is so rewarding.

In church terms, the leader is not there to be the master chef. That title belongs to Jesus.Our Bibles all say he is the only perfect one that has ever lived. Perfectionism implies that weakness or deficiency is not allowed. So perhaps the ism in perfectionism needs to be tackled as a condition or disease.

To be in search of the perfect is not bad, as we all aspire to be better people, but to claim we have got it perhaps is another thing.

The problem is we can find it hard to see anyone who can do the job as well or better.  Our defence against this condition is to continually humble ourselves before the Perfect One. By default, our own unworthiness will appear and pride will dissipate.

The job of any leader is to encourage new Christians to feel that anyone can do what we can do. That means lowering the bar so everyone can jump over.

Otherwise, how will we ever grow our churches? The Anglican Church talks famously about the "priesthood of all believers". In the Vineyard we say "everybody gets to play!" It all the means the same. Like food, ministry needs to be democratised and not made to be an elite activity.

Something to chew over.

ASD