The Observer Sunday 13th February 2022

One person can make a difference, and everyone should try – John Fitzgerald Kennedy

On a very wet Sunday afternoon in February what better activity can there be than to hunker down next to a warm radiator, read a Sunday paper and enjoy a mug of coffee?

My regular Sunday paper is “The Observer” whose political leanings reflect my own; left centre.

The go to page that determines how much of the paper I will be reading and even enjoy is in the magazine supplement. It is Jay Rayner’s “Food & Drink” weekly feature in which he reviews a restaurant with the efficient of use of eight to nine hundred words. Those words can be at worst excoriating with a vicious lash that can flay the veneer of pretension away from the highest of high- end restaurants mercilessly. Or, will sing evangelical like praises on anything from a corner café to a West End restaurant. His evangelism gets extra anointing when the food that is served results in sticky juices , oils and gravies make themselves at home around his self-confessed ample chops or, drain down into his goatee beard.

This week’s review was about a venue called “Sugarcane London” located in south west London’s Wandsworth Road. The food, the service and the venue got the full gelatinously coated thumbs up.

What took up more words in the review was the backstory to Sugarcane London. The owner, chef, maître d is Chef Tee. He was brought up in London’s care system and has always had a passion to do anything to make life better for those who must leave the system on reaching adulthood. Most often lacking support from local authorities and not having any support a family could provide. So, he set up Sugarcane London on a shoestring. After blagging the lease on the premises, scrimped around for some kitchen equipment, designed and made the signage on his own and fitted the venue out. Within four weeks of opening he had enough turnover to be able to employ for care leavers. In his words:

“I am a helper, a changer and this is what Sugarcane London is about”.

Recently the premises were broken into and badly damaged threatening the future of the business but with loads of support from the local community who recognize the intrinsic value of what he is doing and a generous crowd funding effort Sugarcane London was soon open for business again.

Footnote: I showed this review to a restaurant franchise owner and manager just after it was published and he became visibly lachrymose.

The Great Gatsby comes out...

I have a great affection for the works of F Scott-Fitzgerald which was sparked when I was at secondary school aged about fourteen. One of my English teachers entrusted me with a copy of a Penguin reprint of "The Great Gatsby" which he wanted me to read to further my education in American literature beyond James Thurber.

Gatsby was the first proper adult story I ever read that would be counted as "serious" and from there I went on to read Hemingway and Steinbeck. And, I can still vividly remember going to see the movie in the 1970's starring Robert Redford.

The Great Gatsby left copyright here in the UK in the early nineties as discretely as Gatsby himself would excuse himself from company to deal with calls from Chicago or New York. It left copyright in the US in 2021 but not as discretely. Since then there have been editions published which according to academics are "shoddy" as they are sold through both online and traditional retail outlets. By "shoddy" the academic, Professor Kirk Curnutt, includes the following translation from the original:

"At any rate, Miss Baker's lips fluttered"

To

"Anyway, Miss Baker's lips frizzed"

"fluttered" sounds so much more exciting if not mildly erotic unlike "frizzed" which is what would happen to lips stuck on a griddle.

And worse, much worse. One edition now available has suffered the vandalistic pain of having the last three pages of the original story omitted. Three pages taken out for whatever reason be it economic or undiluted philistinism is akin to taking out the last page of a murderously enthralling whodunit.

My advice for anyone wanting to read any of the modern classics, or any classic for that matter, is to buy copies from reputable publishing houses such as Penguin. Or do I what often do. Go hunting in charity shops and secondhand bookshops. That way you get the thrill of the hunt followed by the pleasure of a good read.

I found my current copy of Gatsby in a charity shop here in Ringwood. It was well worn then and was printed in 19xx well before it left copyright.

...of copyright