Press releases

LONDON HOTPOT AND LEICESTERSHIRE PASTIES – KIDS MAKE A PICKLE OF POPULAR BRITISH FOODS

Chefs are being sent into schools, as part of British Food Fortnight’s recipe to reconnect children to British culinary classics.

This initiative comes as a new study from the Year of Food and Farming reveals a worrying gap in children’s grasp of home-grown delicacies.

  • One half (54 per cent) do not know that pasties come from Cornwall
  • Eighty per cent do not know that hotpot hails from Lancashire
  • Most surprisingly, over half (57 per cent) do not know that haggis is a Scottish dish

Children do not even seem to know about foods originating in their own backyards.

  • Thirteen per cent in the North West believe hotpot originated in London
  • One in five (19 per cent) children in the South West believe that cheddar cheese comes from the Midlands, rather than its Somerset base
  • Only 39 per cent in the North West know Manchester gave birth to Eccles cakes

In response to these sorts of mealtime muddles, this year’s British Food Fortnight is mobilising more than 9,000 volunteer chefs to go into schools and teach children about the basics of their national cuisine.

Alexia Robinson, organiser of the British Food Fortnight, commented: "We desperately need to re-engage children with the pleasures of eating quality, fresh, seasonal and regionally distinct produce. The consequences of this lack of awareness amongst our children could be monumental – from obesity to falling sales for Great British products. British Food Fortnight is an annual mass movement to excite and educate young people about British food, and we believe we have the winning ingredients to help children get the measure of why their food matters.

The Year of Food and Farming should continue this good work during the coming months, inspiring a new generation of children about where their food comes from. It’s encouraging that the whole food and farming industry has come together to help educate children about British food."

Tony Cooke, programme director for the Year of Food and Farming added: "British Food Fortnight is playing a crucial role in the Year by sending cooking advocates directly into the classroom. We believe this will help give children a taste for learning even more about the food chain. We need to take urgent action to educate children about the food chain to preserve the future health of our nation and the rural economy itself. We are hoping that impactful initiatives throughout the year will help excite and inspire children about their food."

The Year of Food and Farming website, www.yearoffoodandfarming.org.uk gives details of all the initiatives taking place during the Year. Teachers across the UK have already been logging on, all looking for events, tips and resources to help recapture children’s imagination about where their food comes from and the countryside. Information on teaching cookery within the National Curriculum is provided on www.britishfoodfortnight.co.uk. Details of chef associations that can arrange for chefs to visit schools are provided on the Teacher Zone section of the site.