The Cheshire-Montford Eaterie is a restaurant in Upper Halliford, in Surrey, England. It is owned by Peter Cheshire-Montford, who is the 14th member of the Cheshire-Montford family to own and run the restaurant.
"I never wanted to follow in the family business," he wrote in his autobiography See The Meat Dance in 1985, "But father made my trust fund dependent on assuming the position in his will. Although I had always loved meat, ever since following father lovingly around his favourite charcuterie while we were holidaying in the cottage in France, I had become a keen student of the Dutch master puppeteer Theo Vangerhaus, and had always hoped to be come a practitioner of the noble art of puppeteering. So I said, here's a chance to combine my love of puppetry with my love of meat."
The Cheshire-Montford Eaterie now attracts visitors for its unique way of serving fine meats from around the world: They are cut into the designs of traditional puppets, treated and with organic food colourings to create individual designs, and served in a costume of the customer's choosing.
"Well, it is a little heart-breaking every time one of your creations is consumed," Cheshire-Montford told the Surrey Comet in June 1984, "But I still go to bed each night feeling that I have honoured both of my fathers; he from whose loins I sprung forth, and he who made me the puppeteer I am today."
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| An arrangement of puppets used by Cheshire-Montford to mount an edible production of the One Thousand and One Arabian Nights for a local children's hospice in 1995. Photograph by rednivaram. |
©2012 James Mathurin
