BLOODY PARKINSON’S: SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE BELGIAN

In summer there is an unfeasible number of beer festivals and since my Bloody Parkinson’s seems to be calmed by a drop of beer, I attend a fair number of these cheerfully amateur and semi-pro events, sated by a long list of classics and something new.

Most of the audience are in a good mood and keen to talk beer and pubs till the cows come home.

But there are exceptions....

A small but fiery man came up to me at the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia and yelled at me above the noise to ‘stop shaking!’. I looked at him, slightly concerned, and asked him what he had just said. ‘STOP SHAKING’ he yelled, this time at what seemed to be maximum volume; he was now going blue in the face. My companion said, pointing at me ‘he’s got Parkinson’s Disease’. The small man’s anger had abated somewhat as he demanded ‘what’s that when it’s at home?’ Then he staggered backwards into the throng in search of his next of no doubt many pints.

Very few visitors to a beer festival go to get drunk and stewards deal with anyone who seems to be getting intoxicated or elephant’s (trunk = drunk in rhyming slang).

Then at the Brussels festival, a very civilised do in the centre of the historic Grand Place, a slightly inebriated German gent apropos nothing at all said, what is it? Pointing at my shaky right hand. Alzheimer’s? So I explained it was something quite different, Bloody Parkinson’s, no less. He nodded sagely and wandered away towards the bars to replenish his glass.. I never saw him again.

We visited Brocante, Moeder Lambic, Poechenellerkelder, Fleu de Papier Dore and more in Brussels and four places in lovely Leuven including Fiere Margriet with 250+ beers.

TOPICS OF CONVERSATION

Brexit, Cameron, Theresa May, Belgian beer (strangely), the rarity of Westvleteren beers, Eurostar prices, beer glasses, why it’s a pity we are Brexiting the EU when countries like Belgium are so great....

THE WHY FACTOR AND PARKINSON’S

I have to thank Margaret from my French class for the central construct of this week’s blog. Margaret had heard ‘The Why Factor’, a smashing series of 10 minute programmes on Radio 4 which simply ask ‘why?’ and in this particular episode they asked ‘why cycling?’. The programme was, like one of my blogs I like to think, pretty discursive, moving from the history of the bike, to bike commuting and bike messengers in India, and so on to a trans-Iowa bike ride by a woman suffering PD: not a capable cyclist, couldn’t hold a pen, a tremor in her right arm.

She was aiming to cycle across Iowa with her husband on a tandem. But she fell off when her husband forgot she was on the back and continued falling off. So Dr Jay Alberts, a very keen cyclist and neuro-scientist, offered to ride the tandem front half with the PD woman on the back. At 80-90 RPM.

And the woman kept up and stayed on, and is now able to pedal at a far higher rate. On a bike it was as if she had no more Bloodyparkinsons.

A subsequent trial of 10 sufferers indicates that ‘forced exercise’ may improve mobility, get arms swinging, head rotating and eyes looking up rather than down; new skills can be learned, and old ones relearned. The trial has been increased to 100 respondents. Watch this space.

One hypothesis is that forced exercise helps the body build proteins that send information back to the brain, helping the patient acquire new skills and retain or relearn old skills.

So now I’m looking for a tandem on e-bay..... and the dog’s keen too.

DOWN THE PUB

Meanwhile down the pub we have an annual lads’ trip to Brussels or Paris, which in these times of Brexit was transferred to Brighton with the theme of Craft Beer pubs in mind. Inter alia, we visited the Craft Beer Co, The Evening Star, the Trafalgar and more whose names and beers are lost to me!

The Brighton i360 needle was hard to miss as they were conducting trial runs before opening for the tourists. Impressive.

Discussion ranged over many topics eg the Premier League, the small claims court, fish and chips, mushy peas, Brexit options. Firm conclusions were drawn but for the life of me I can’t remember any!

And by the way, did you you hear about the bloke who went in the chip shop and asked for cod and chips twice? The bloke behind the counter replied: ‘don’t worry, I heard you the first time’.

BLOODY PARKINSONS: BRAIN BURGERS

MEATliquor and Fergus Henderson collaborate on a brain burger. 

We bite into brains for a very good cause.

Burger chain MEATliquor  has teamed up with  St John  owner Fergus Henderson to create a brain burger, which it is selling in order to raise money for research into Parkinson’s Disease. 

Fergus Henderson — who suffers from Parkinson's himself — is famed for his nose-to-tail cooking and dishes such as bone marrow on toast.

It’s rather appropriate then, that he’s partnered with MEATliquor founders Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis to create an offal burger.

The burger is made from a slice of calf’s brain fried in panko breadcrumbs and served with Sauce Gribiche, homemade mayonnaise and shredded cabbage — all sandwiched in a potato and onion roll from  St. John Bakery. 

The burgers are a strictly limited edition, available throughout June only from Monday to Friday at the MEATliquor restaurants in both Marylebone and Islington as well as MEATmission in Hoxton.


Those wishing to bite into the brain will need to  book a ticket in advance. Each ticket costs £30 and includes a brain burger, fries and a kitchen apron designed by Henderson.


Tickets are available now.  All of the profits will go directly to Parkinson’s research. 

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As it happens word of my blog has got out and I was invited with my wife to taste the brain burger at MEATliquor in Welbeck Street (back of Debenhams, Oxford Street).

As it happens, just 2 weeks earlier, we’d tried out CHICKENliquor in Brixton and had enjoyed their wings and meaty chicken dishes in various sauces (Thai, Korean etc) and had a great meal experience in the atmospheric old market. Very messy eating, if you know what I mean, in a good sort of way.

So, focusing first on ambience, it wasn’t a surprise to sit down in MEATliquor in a darkened room – decor seems based on what might be a war torn vibe (ie you have to see it) – with great music (loud), great friendly service, a great big tray to share from or leave the debris of great finger food if you feel so inclined, and a very appealing cocktail list, alo
ng with craft beer and the rest. We drank a Grapefruit High Wire and a WHEATliquor weissbier in frozen glasses, so no danger of warm beer.

Conversation ranged around whether brain burger raises your IQ or not; would it spontaneously increase my brain cells in size or number; would I take on the brain donor calf’s personality or start mooing; would it improve my dopamine flow and suppress the shake in my right hand; how were they going to ‘hold’ the brain in the bun and so on.

The brain burger was among the best burgers I’ve tasted; just different, sweeter and softer than expected, breadcrumbed, so more like a pattie than a burger, in a great two flavoured and textured bun. A pity there isn’t more offal on menus generally if this experience is a guide.

So there are a few more days of June to give the Brain Burger a try! Or miss your chance!


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Note that these are my individual thoughts and brain burger should not be relied upon in the search for a cure for PD!