Producing growth in Kent
Plus Maidstone author Dan Abnett on video games, upcoming Kent events, news in brief, and more
Kent has a thriving food and drink sector, but how much do we really know about the unique foods that come out of our county? Steven Keevil has decided to make it his mission to find out more by putting them all in his stomach. Further down, we continue our serialised conversation with Maidstone author Dan Abnett, where this time we turn our attention to the video games he has worked on. Beyond that, we have our guide to the best upcoming Kent events, news in brief, and more.
Producing growth in Kent
This month, Visit Kent and Locate in Kent both entered liquidation. The knock-on effect for the economies in Kent and Medway is likely to be significant, leaving a void in their sectors and raising concerns about the region's long-term economic health. Yesterday saw the launch of the campaign to bring international travel back to Kent, more of which we will be coming in the next week. Today, it’s time for us to mention the B word: Boosterism. It’s time to highlight more of what Kent does well, speak to the people behind it and put our mouths where our mouths are.
I am talking about Kent’s food and drink sector. Kent produces a wide range of high-quality fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, snacks, alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. We recently published an interview with Ed Perry and Rosie Brown, the co-CEOs of award-winning food manufacturers COOK. We wrote about the award-winning Canterbury Ales, whilst in our award-winning sister title Local Authority, we spoke with chef and head brewer Calvin Gear of Moot Brewery and Katalin Takacs, baker and owner of Mrs Sourdough Bakery. In our interview with him MP for Chatham and Aylesford, Tristan Osborne, spoke about the growth and success of the wine sector in the southeast.
Earlier this year, Lauren Edwards, MP for Rochester and Strood, held a parliamentary event bringing together food and drink producers from across Kent and Medway for the ‘Taste of Kent and Medway’ showcase. The event drew a strong turnout, including members of the House of Lords, and a range of other guests, all there to celebrate the innovation and quality coming out of Kent. This included Copper Rivet Distillery, Jaggers Gin, Wine Garden of England, Kent Crisps and Condiments, Wooden Spoon Preserving Company, Fudge Kitchen and the Cheesemakers of Canterbury.
The event highlighted just some of the artisanal producers, expanding businesses and award-winning drink makers leading innovation, tradition, and the mentioned award-winning excellence of Kent and Medway’s food and drinks producers, alongside those all-important networking opportunities to forge new commercial relationships and demonstrate the region’s role in the UK food economy.
At the time, Edwards said, “Rochester and Strood is home to some of the UK’s most innovative and high-quality food and drink producers. I’m so proud to bring their work to Parliament.” Jill Sargent, Head of Business Development at Produced in Kent, added: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of Kent’s outstanding food and drink producers. Our members pour their passion and energy into creating exceptional food and drink, and we are only too pleased to help them share it with a wider audience.”
Before it closed, Visit Kent would have told us about acclaimed eateries like The Sportsman in Seasalter, The West House in Biddenden, and the Fordwich Arms in Canterbury. I recently ate oysters for the first time, and up until this time, I have failed to tell you about it. Going forward, I will eat Whitstable oysters, Romney Marsh lamb, and sea-fresh Dover sole, washed down with a pint of Shepherd Neame’s finest ale.
Until I started writing this piece, I hadn’t been aware, consciously at least, that Kent Breakfast accreditation is actually a thing. It is “a commitment that most of the produce has been sourced in Kent.” I can’t recall ever seeing it, but I will certainly be keeping an eye out for it in the future, as I am assured that it is a sign that the breakfast will be “high on quality and low on food miles.”
In researching this piece, I have gained a new appreciation for the mighty sandwich, which is, of course, a Kent invention. Where is the best sandwich in Kent, and by default, the best sandwich in the UK and the world? If that place is not actually in Sandwich, what is going on? Is the best course of action to eat a variety of sandwiches in Sandwich and to set the baseline? Or should I do a sandwich tour of Kent, finishing in Sandwich, so I can end on a high and anoint the sandwich king of the world?
Many of you will be aware of cheese on toast’s origins in Welsh Rarebit, but did you know there is a Kent Rarebit? For this delight, you add apple to the recipe. Before the Hawaiians added pineapple to pizza, the people of Kent added apple to cheese on toast. I have never seen this on a menu. I must find it. Will I enjoy it?
The website for British Food and Travel, which sounds authoritative, lists ten ‘traditional’ Kentish foods. With my new mission, I must try them all. It’s not about want: It is a mission.
Bread is known throughout the United Kingdom and the world, but apparently, Kent is known for huffkins. I have never seen these in the wild. They are rolls that are notable for a small indentation in the middle, which can be filled with small fruit, a spoonful of jam, or whipped cream! On my travels, I will be visiting the village of Appledore, once a busy river port, but it gave its name to a pie containing chicken and hard-boiled egg in a creamy bacon sauce.
During my visit to Folkestone, I failed to have any Folkestone Pudding Pie, which must be rectified. Also known as Kentish Lenten Pie, it is a baked custard tart with raisins and nutmeg. Gypsy Tart originated in East Kent, along with the dessert of the same name. It can now be found throughout Kent, but where is the best? Which is better: The modern Canterbury apple pie, an open-faced tart made with a variety of apples, or the medieval version, which adds saffron? Then there’s Cobnuts! That’s all I have to say on the subject at this time.
Kent has over 2,000 food and drink production enterprises, and I am looking forward to finding out more about them.
If you represent one of them and would like to invite us to visit and find out more about what you do, and of course taste the produce you have to offer, then contact me via steven AT kentcurrent DOT news.
In brief
📦 Ever wanted to tour an Amazon warehouse? If so, this is the link for you.
🏏 Kent Cricket are aiming to redevelop the Spitfire Ground in Canterbury. Plans include a hotel, a new pavilion, and media facilities.
🤠 Great British Life has spoken to Jonathan Neame about his role as High Sheriff of Kent.
🏖️ The Independent has bravely asked whether Folkestone is the UK’s answer to Venice.
IP Man and the Game of Doom
As part of our serialised conversation with Maidstone author Dan Abnett, we turn to his work on some very important video games…
Having discussed with Dan Abnett his involvement in the computer game Alien: Isolation, we turned our focus to other computer games he had worked on, including one small franchise called Doom. “That was in an early iteration,” he notes, even though it the final game, Doom: The Dark Ages, was only released earlier this year. Dan worked on the game a couple of years ago, when “they decided they were going to revise and come up with a new volume.”
Dan had done computer game consultancy work before, including on both Middle-earth games, “where they come to me and say, we specifically want you to look at this, or we specifically want you to, for instance, with Shadow of Mordor, create 60 distinct characters and then write 6,000 lines of dialogue for them.” The games were built on the Nemesis System where “the NPC (non-playable character) protagonists in the game remember who you are, so if you encounter them again the game, they will remember specifically your encounter with them.” While Dan did not write the overall story, he had to write specific parts to facilitate that mechanic.
With Doom, Dan “basically brainstormed with the guy who was running the game how to build their new mythology.” Dan recognises the inevitability that, as games take years and a lot of money, they go through many iterations. “I doubt there’s much of what I remember from a couple of years ago that has survived through to it, but it was brilliant to experience them getting enthusiastic, ‘we want to go bigger and better this time.’” Dan’s suggestions including making the setting medieval, something that did survive to the finished game.
There have been many other games which Dan has written dialogue. When we talked, he was contributing to Darktide, “which is one of the Warhammer games which I thoroughly recommend.” Whilst the game has now launched, “we’re adding to it all the time, because it’s basically a game where you play an Inquisitorial Warband, which is basically like the psychic police, being sent into what is called a Hive, which is one of their enormous super cities.”
As you explore it, “because there is a chaos that’s got in there and you need to weed out the chaos, you’re creeping around all these pipes and alleys and ducts.” Dan’s enthusiasm grows. He is clearly having fun with this project. “The Hive city is the cross-section of what the 40K universe is like. We’re introducing story strands and characters that will teach you about the universe as you go along.” Dan is confident that the game is growing in success. “It’s a great looking game. I was so impressed early on when I started working on it. They’ve got the atmosphere right.”
Dan has a weekly meeting with the game developers in Sweden. “We get on Zoom, and we brainstorm stuff.” Dan will then write a treatment for a new character they want to introduce, explain how this might work in-universe, or create names. “Sometimes they’ll send me a video that’s a walkthrough of the new level. They say, we want names for everywhere. What’s this or what’s that? What do we call this?” Dan then invents the world, ensuring consistency to the rest of the game.
Over the years Dan has also worked on Tom Clancy games, as well as games he can’t remember and games that never appeared. “I’ve worked on a couple of games where I thought, ‘This is great,’ and two years down the line they decide their funding is up and they’re not going to make it after all because it’s cheaper not to put it out than it was to spend the millions they spent on it. That happens a lot.” Dan finds computer games a fascinating industry. One of the first jobs he was contracted for was to write “what they called ‘chatter.’”
In the beginning, he knew little about games as he didn’t play them. “I said the reason I don’t play them was because I know that I would get quite drawn into it and then I’d never get any work done.” Thankfully, this wasn’t held against him. Developers wanted to hire Dan for his skills as a storyteller, not as a player. “Over the years, my sheer ignorance, I think, has been one of my greatest assets.” Dan has been able to sit in with the game designers, and when they aren’t explaining the basics to him, he has been able to challenge the status quo. “There has to be a better reason to do something than ‘Because that’s how we’ve always done it.’”
Dan is continuing to learn through the work and has been able to write dialogue for actors and watch as scenes are filmed using mocap (motion capture). “I’m not there in the studio,” but he works on ‘chatter’ and dialogue and diary pieces that are read by actors playing the characters. “It’s close to working on audiobooks, where you’re thinking about writing dialogue in a very different way, because somebody’s got to read it out loud and make that work. Some of the best lines of dialogue I’ve ever put in a novel, I would never give to an actor to say because it would either sound silly or it would be a mouthful.” As ever, what works on the page doesn’t always work off the page.
Upcoming Kent events
🕰️ 30 Sep - 4 Oct - Time // Latest light show from Luxmuralis explores humanity’s relationship with the concept of time. Rochester Cathedral.
📚 Sun 5 Oct - Censorship in British Literature & Media: A Talk by Connor Sansby // Talk on books that have been banned under UK law. Marine Studios, Margate. Pay what you can.
🎷 Thu 9 Oct - The Horne Section’s Hit Show // Comedy band led by Taskmaster’s assistant Little Alex Horne. Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone. Tickets £32.50.
🎤 Fri 10 Oct - Dr John Cooper Clarke // Godfather of punk poetry plays seaside show. The King’s Hall, Herne Bay. Tickets £26.
Footnotes
Are you doing something interesting in Kent, or know someone who is? Steven is actively seeking interviewees for future editions. If you’d like to put yourself or someone else forward, drop him an email via steven AT kentcurrent DOT news
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