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CELEBRITY CHEFS: PUT CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS BACK ON THE MENU

Year of Food and Farming leads campaign for return of "Stir Up Sunday"

The Year of Food and Farming is joining forces with some of England's top celebrity chefs, to encourage children to get involved with festive food this Christmas.

Historically, preparation for Christmas dinner begins on the last Sunday before Advent, called 'Stir up Sunday'. This is the day that Christmas puddings are traditionally made, with everyone in the household, particularly children, mixing the pudding and making a wish.

However, new research* from the Year of Food and Farming shows that today's children are now missing out on these Christmas rites of passage. Almost half (46%) of children never get involved with making the Christmas dinner, and six in ten have no experience of stirring up a Christmas pudding. Day-to-day cooking also fares badly: one in five of today's young people never help prepare a family meal of any description.

As part of its efforts to rebuild the nation's food culture, the Year of Food and Farming is encouraging parents to re-create Stir Up Sunday this weekend, and has enlisted the support of high profile chefs including Jamie Oliver, Raymond Blanc, Phil Vickery, Rachel Green and Prue Leith, Chair of the School Food Trust. To help foodie families get started, Raymond Blanc has donated his favourite Christmas pudding recipe to the Year1, and schools have also been invited to get involved.

Tony Cooke, Programme Director of the Year of Food and Farming, said:

"Many of us will remember taking our turn with the spoon when we were young - it was part of the build-up to Christmas Day itself. It's important that we give our children the same memorable, hands-on experiences with meals, to make them passionate about their food. Stir up Sunday is a great one-off opportunity for kids and parents to prepare a Christmas pudding together, and we think it is exactly the kind of activity which could help get children interested in food the whole year around. We're so pleased to have the support of some of the country's leading chefs, and hope that many people will get stuck into Stir Up this weekend."

Jamie Oliver added:

"Many of the famous chefs I know started experimenting when they were small - they've gone from preparing the odd meal or pudding, to serving up entire restaurants and cookbooks. Not every child will grow up to be a gourmet, but it's vital that every single young person has a taste of where their food comes from. Stir Up Sunday is a great way for families to start cooking together - it's high time we brought the tradition back into our kitchens."

Previous research from the Year of Food and Farming has shown that the more contact children have with the ingredients behind their meals, the more they can be persuaded to take an interest in their diets.

Alarmingly, many children currently have no experience of the countryside, which in turn makes them far less likely to venture into the kitchen: a recipe for disaster when it comes to the health prospects and "agricultural literacy" of the next generation**. Losing out on hands-on experiences means children now struggle with even basic food facts: only a quarter of children realise that Brussels sprouts are a typical winter vegetable in England, with a third associating them with the spring.

Michelin-starred chef, Raymond Blanc, commented: "Getting kids to understand where their food comes from is one of the greatest favours we can do for our young, to help them establish lifelong patterns of good eating habits. So I salute the Year of Food and Farming for helping our children to connect with the countryside."

See the recipe here.

ENDS

To request an interview on the campaign to restore "Stir Up Sunday", please contact Jenna Frost/Jenny Holt/Gregor Ridley on 020 7260 2700 or email [email protected]

Notes to Eds

*The Year of Food and Farming research project was carried out by EdComs, surveying 1,000 children aged between 8-13 across England in July 2007

** Children who are often exposed to the countryside are more likely to be regular helpers in the kitchen: over a third of these pupils stated they always or often help prepare the family meal, against one in five of those who don't have contact with farms or fields. For further information see full concrete children report by Dr Aric Sigman: https://www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk/News/News/Downloads/release001.pdf

About Stir Up Sunday

  • Traditionally Christmas Puddings are made on Stir Up Sunday and everyone in the household and in particular every child gives the mixture a stir while making a wish
  • Stir up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent Sunday. The name originates from the Collect for that Sunday in the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer of 1549
  • Christmas Pudding became a customary Christmas dessert around 1650, but in 1664 the Puritans banned it as a bad custom. It was re-established as part of the Christmas meal in 1714 by King George I
  • Silver coins are traditionally included in the pudding mixture as they are said to bring wealth over the coming year to whoever found it on their plate. Other tokens to be traditionally included are silver thimbles for thrift, a ring to foretell marriage, small wishbones to bring good luck, or an anchor to symbolise safe harbour
  • Christmas puddings were originally called 'frumenty', a porridge / soup consisting of beef, mutton, raisins, currants, prunes, wines and spices. The Christmas pudding gradually developed into a plum pudding thickened with eggs, breadcrumbs and dried fruit