In Celebration of the British Sausage
07/08/05

THE great British banger has re-invented itself as a fashionable food, served in the country's top restaurants with a market worth almost £500 million a year.

And the culinary delight is being celebrated again this year with British Sausage Week, organised by the British Sausage Appreciation Society.

The week, now in its eighth year, is between Monday, October 24 and Sunday, October 30 and celebrates the taste and variety of the sausage with more than 400 individually named varieties in Britain alone.

One of the highlights of the week will be The Banger & Mash Clash, a competition between regions to find the country's best twist on the classic favourite bangers & mash recipe.

Anyone can enter from local butchers, school cooks and chefs to mums who cook up their own tasty Bangers and Mash - the only rule is you have to be fanatical about sausages!

Finalists will be judged in a cook-off competition during Sausage Week and the winners will be presented with a coveted Banger Award.

Independent butchers across the country will be also be running events and creating mouthwatering new sausages for their customers to sample.

There will also be offers on sausages from supermarkets and butchers, while pubs and restaurants will be joining in the festivities by running dedicated sausage menus.

For those who prefer to celebrate at home, the British Sausage Appreciation Society will be rustling up some exclusive sausage recipes.