King Charles III and Queen Camilla have announced a quiche as the official coronation dish. Devised by a Buckingham Palace chef, the idea is that people will cook it at home, as part of a Coronation Big Lunch, a nationwide and indeed international feast.
The recipe features a traditional shortcrust pastry with added lard, encasing a cream-and-egg filling of spinach, broad beans and cheddar, spiked with tarragon. Like Queen Elizabeth’s 1953 coronation chicken, it reveals much about the inevitability of multiculturalism in the kitchen. The message of any British coronation is arguably that we should celebrate Britishness. The question, then, is what a French staple is doing at the centre of the table.
Perhaps, like George V’s 1927 empire Christmas pudding, itself devised by a French chef, the quiche is meant to tell us something about who we are. But messages can get lost over time. The Christmas pudding was meant to show the greatness of belonging to the British empire, but is now more likely to remind people of the violence at its heart.
