The word sausage comes from the Latin word, salsus, which means salty. Sausages are mentioned in Homer’s The Odyssey more than 2,700 years ago. Queen Victoria was fond of a sausage but insisted the meat was hand chopped not minced. Sausages were called ‘bangers’ in the second world war because they contained so much water they exploded when fried. Every day 5 million Britons eat sausages. A typical recipe for a standard class sausage is 30% meat, 20% recovered meat, 30% rusk and soya, 15% water, 5% herbs and spices.

I know these things because Elle Ledden, the head chef of the Sussex Yeoman told me when I attended Elle’s Belles Sausage Pop-up Party at the Sussex Yeoman at the beginning of May. Elle and team, aided by the jolly Ms Rachel Lampen, fed sausage lovers with her premium, 100% free range meat sausages made from natural casings and pure ingredients. Enjoying the proceedings were locals and Brighton Festival visitors alike, including the dashingly moustachioed Andrew Kay, famous food critic and soon-to-be published author of Pretty Boys all in a Row.

Being a vegetarian, I was sad to hear there were no meat-free versions so I left the revellers and enjoyed a vegetarian meal inside the Yeoman – delicious.

Colette Wilson