We’re all researchers. At this time of year there is competitive
desire to locate the season’s best mince pies. We read up on the best brands
and we go into the field to test the results. As a family, we have done well. We’ve
been enjoying Iceland’s ‘luxury’ brand.
They came in at number two in a poll of pies conducted by Which? but are only three-quarters the price of the winner from
M&S. And they are delicious.
It has
struck me that supermarket mince pies are always
better than those that are homemade. This is one of those instances where
the factory system does know best. The formula of balancing pie with filling is
deceptively complex. It takes precision tooling and multiple repetition to get
it right.
Quite naturally this revelation has
led me to think, in turn, about Jimi Hendrix. In Charles Shaar’s Murray’s Crosstown Traffic there is an explanation
of why the left-handed guitarist preferred right-handed guitars:
he seldom bothered with special
left-hand models, both because right-handed guitars were more plentiful and
easier to obtain, and because – with a touchingly American faith in
mass-production – he believed that they were likely to be manufactured to a
higher standard.
Hendrix knew a thing or two about guitars, so who is to say
that he was wrong in this belief? If only he were with us now to help us choose our mince
pies.
