More people than ever are on the move every day now throughout the country, and in the hotels they can deal quickly and efficiently with goodly numbers in the carvery, as it is so often called. You trundle along the counter with your tray. Will the man in the white coat offer you today beef, lamb, pork alone, or will he have breast of turkey and a good fish dish, lasagne and/ or some form of chicken dish? In no time at all, he has done his carving, and then comes the good old-fashioned part. "Cabbage?" asks the carver's assistant, and if you say yes, you get back to our original country concept of dinner - a great, steaming mass of the green stuff from a big spoon or ladle. You may say, of course, "just a little cabbage, please", but the rural respect for tradition makes your little quite a big helping. Carrots? Yes, a small helping please, and you may be luckier here. They do, indeed, taste good, and in long sliced form, buttered usually, are very palatable. Sometimes turnip is on offer. Definitely "no, thanks."
Now the most unchallengeable part of the whole, surely. You may have a roast potato already, usually tossed on to the plate with the meat. So the question is asked, as if there could be no refusal: "Potato?" But potato, to the world, surely, is your boiled spud, often a giant, and you can also, and to crown all, be offered mash. An unbelieving shake of the head as you give in, and point to the smallest of the boiled version. On one occasion the woman at the cash desk called out an amazingly low sum for the two trayfuls. "Sure your portions were only children's size," she said.
Many of these carveries in hotels across the country have also a good selection of puddings or fruit and fruit salads; cakes too with variations on the chocolate and meringue theme. Sunday tends to be more of a family sit-down occasion with children and friends, though the puddings and tarts and cakes are still on display for choosing. Two sittings on a Sunday, with full table service. Many pubs have a smaller version of all this. The good hotels draw from far and wide, and seem always to have a conference or two going at the same time in another part of the premises. One thing most are short on is cheese. But to the people who move around a lot, the carvery is a blessing - and quick. Y