Why David Cameron has been feasting on reindeer this week

No, it's not because he hates Christmas

While David Cameron was in Helsinki yesterday looking for allies in his long battle to improve Britain's position with the EU, he was served a meat dish which he has probably never tasted before. It was reindeer.

Lunch at the Northern Future summit, for the premiers of Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland opened with Arctic charr, followed by black trumpet soup, followed by a main course of roast fillet of reindeer.

Poor Rudolph, Dasher and Dancer...

Then came a chilled sea buckthorn souffle with rosemary and chocolate sauce for dessert. Then, presumably, the conglomeration of gluttonous world leaders actually got down to some business.

What you need to know about reindeer

Finland has around 200,000 reindeer, and their meat is a common element in the Finnish diet.

In the UK, it is unusual, though Lidl recently announced that they will be selling thinly sliced raw reindeer meat for £4.99 a pack.

More: No one seems to know what is going on with Britain's £1.7bn EU bill