Middle-class family admit tagine probably won’t get used a second time

“We had come back from a holiday in Morocco and got completely swept up in the fashion for North African cooking,” said father of three Marcus Grosvenor.

“So we bought a tagine which I vaguely remember using once, I think we cooked some sort of lamb stew with prunes or something – chickpeas probably. Since then the poor thing seems to get pushed back further into the kitchen cupboard as each month passes. In many ways this is entirely the fault of Nigel Slater.”

The family reportedly told neighbours and friends that while they haven’t gone off Moroccan cuisine, they are doubtful the tagine will ever see any more culinary use.

“It would be a shame for it to just sit at the back of the cupboard and gather dust,” said Grosvenor.

“I’ve suggested to the family how we could repurpose it – using the base as a water bath for birds in the garden, or the top as some kind of pointy clay hat for my teenage daughter to wear.”