Murder on the Menu

IN THE LAKE DISTRICT’s natural larder, deadly poisons lurk unseen. Pretty flowers and exotic fungi may flatter to deceive, and they should not be underestimated. Their toxins evolved in prehistoric times to deter great grazing beasts like bison and elk and the Ice Age aurochs.

But in the modern fashion, rare plants and other wild fare – Grizedale venison, Arctic char, Herdwick lamb – are blended with traditional ingredients to make Cumbria a gourmet’s paradise. The rugged and beautiful county boasts more Michelin stars per head than any other part of the British Isles.

And each year the region’s top-ranked chefs compete to be crowned Champion of the Great Cumbrian Menu – a six-course fine-dining feast: the more original and innovative, the more likely a restauranteur will serve up the winning formula. In search of obscure ingredients, contestants scour sea and shore, lake and river, and forest and fellside.

For the chef and the gourmand alike, it is the chance to experiment – to stretch the limits of convention and excite the taste buds. And to win an accolade that may bring fame and fortune.

But for someone with murder in mind … it presents an opportunity of a different kind.