June

More prosaically, retail chains launch the summer sales push on the idea of outdoor eating: jazzy little stickers, claiming ‘Suitable for BBQs’, appear on the meanest shrink-wrapped pork chop and packet of sausages while meat-counters scale wild heights of imagination on the wooden skewer and kebab front. Men who wouldn’t dream of letting delice de volaille grillé aux crudités de saison anywhere near their lips nevertheless don hilarious pinnies to toss salads and watch over blackened drumsticks that sullenly spit with each application of their own special barbecue sauce, which always has a ‘secret ingredient’, which always turns out to be Tabasco.