Is ham on the menu this Christmas? It is at our place and I’ve got my order in for one that’s been happily trotting around green New Zealand paddocks. I know…it’s a rather idealistic image, blissfully divorced from the reality of how it gets from the paddock to my plate. I prefer to keep it that way so I can enjoy a few slices of free range ham this Christmas.

When I was the nutritionist for Woolworths supermarkets in Queensland, Australia the meat manager insisted I visit their freezing works. Have you ever heard the saying ‘Bleeding like a stuck pig’? After that visit I know what it means and I was so traumatised I couldn’t bear the smell of ham, pork or bacon for weeks! One visit to a place like that is enough to turn anyone vegetarian – at least for a while.

Back to the free range thing. It made TV news a few weeks ago when the reporter compared various hams on taste, price and labelling. NZ free range beat the imported ham on taste but it is more expensive. If you can afford it, order a free range ham to support local farmers who are trying to farm in an ethical way. I’ve been given some amazing looking glace orange slices from Kerikeri which I’ll stick on my free range ham when I glaze it next week. Just in case any of those screaming pig memories come back to haunt me I’ll delicately smile, and nibble on an orange slice!