All’s fair in love and war: The Great Village Bun Fight

pumpkin-228510_640 — Giant pumpkin (CC0 Creative Commons)

I have this, most likely completely false, idea of Brits competing in the strangest ways – giant pumpkins and crazy perfect gardens – and now I know they also do it with cupcakes. Compete, that is.

We do it here too…I think. They at least have people competing in cake-baking on TV so I’m assuming we have cupcakes too. I would say there is one big difference, though, one thing I really love about the picture I’m painting of the UK, and that’s these village traditions. We don’t really have that here, not in that way at least.

By now I bet you’re wondering what the heck it is I’m talking about. I’m talking about The Great Village Bun Fight by Debbie McGowan. This is a story about Henry, who begat Herny, who begat Henry, who begat Henry and just so you know I begat a Henry too. If he becomes a baker, we’ll see.

So Henry Jones started a bakery in 1874, and all the Henrys after him were bakers too, until Henry the 8th got into a bit of trouble and Henry the 7th refused to change Henry Jones and Son to Henry Jones and Daughter – it has to do with tradition you see. An end of an era, which lead to THE Village Bakery opening and left the Joneses without any bakery to call their own.

But as Henry the 9th is denied a wedding cake when he’s to marry his partner because Margaret, owner of THE Village Bakery, can’t give her blessing, things escalate.

This is such a lovely story. I snuggled up with a blanket and a cup of coffee and followed the battle of the bakeries until only one remained :D. The Great Villiage Bun Fight is sweet and funny – the narrator my absolute favourite – and I had this Wallace and Gromit feeling – that’s a compliment, just to make it clear. Wallace and Gromit guard the giant vegetables in their village just as the Joneses and Sharpes guard their giant bun LOL.

All’s fair in love and war. But not in baking.