The roast ox has apparently morphed into dryish roast beef sandwiches over the years.
Just beyond it, in the heart of the village, is the welcome sight of the Roast Ox.
Venture towards the gourmet fringes of the crisp offering, and the choice and exoticism multiply: jalapeño pepper, roast ox, horseradish and sour cream, Ludlow sausage with wholegrain mustard.
"The theme was an authentic Viking feast in a Viking long hall, so they were all dressed as Vikings, eating roast ox and getting drunk on mead".
The public would be greeted by staff dressed as the Merry Men and there would be archery and jewellery demonstrations and traditional food such as roast ox.
Historically, Egyptians used roasted ox liver, which is rich in vitamin A, to treat night blindness.
Steve Davis died, and it turned out nobody else knew how to roast an ox, so we had to give up the ox roasts.
But when it was done, it was magnificent, with a two-foot-high hearth and a firebox big enough to roast an ox.
In one year during Elizabeth I's reign, according to records at Hampton Court, the royal kitchens roasted 1,240 oxen, 8,200 sheep, 2,330 deer, 760 calves, 1,870 pigs and 53 wild boar.The scale was more modest but the principles the same for the middle class.
Bastia's mammoth kitchens are equipped with modern appliances but retain their original walk-in fireplaces, just in case you feel the need to roast an ox for a village festa.
