Where do sausages come from? 'Eat the County' brings back the art of cooking

Friday 5 May, 2006

Eat the County will bring food producers and chefs together with children, to give them a hands-on chance to discover a love of cooking. Local chefs and local producers will be giving talks and cookery demonstrations to Burford School, as part of Oxford Inspires' Eat the County project, to be launched in the week of 8 May 2007. Oxfordshire's Raymond Blanc and Sophie Grigson are the joint champions of Eat the County.

Oxford Inspires is the cultural development agency for Oxfordshire and it sees food and cooking as essential, but neglected parts of our culture. Eka Morgan, Food & Environment Coordinator, at Oxford Inspires says: "Jamie Oliver has done wonders in raising awareness about school dinners, but we also need to encourage children to cook. There are now more and more celebrity chefs—but how many new dishes have we all learnt to cook? Cooking is a vital life skill and it's time to show children the joy of cooking."

Eat the County is a collaboration between Oxford Inspires and Burford School. New Eat the County Cookery Clubs will be aimed at 11–12 year olds in Year 7. Fresh local produce will be delivered in a box on the day of the cookery club, and the Food Technology teacher and visiting local chef will not know what's in the box until they open it in front of the class. They will then improvise with the food in the style of Ready, Steady, Cook. Gavin Alcock from The Fleece gastropub in Witney will be the first of six visiting chefs.

The project will also introduce children to the origins of food. Local producers will give talks about how the food they make is produced and parents are also invited. The first talk is by Colin Dawes and John Williams of Foxbury Farm, near Burford, and it's a 'Lamb and Pork Double Act'.

Eka Morgan says: "There will be no cellophane-wrapped slices in this show. Colin and John will bring a lamb and a pork carcass and will demonstrate the skills of butchery, including the joints they recommend for sausages, chops, stews and roasting. They will also describe how lambs and pigs are reared. There will be future talks suitable for vegetarians and vegans as well!"

First Food Festival for Children
The project will run for a year and will lead up to the Eat the County Food Festival in July 2007, the first food festival to be aimed at children. 2007 marks '1000 years of Oxfordshire' and Oxford Inspires is coordinating a year of special events.

The school project is part-funded by money from the European Community and DEFRA, through West Oxfordshire Network. Additional funding and sponsorship is currently being sought for the festival.

Oxford Inspires is building an exciting network of chefs, restaurants, farmers, local producers, community groups and schools. Eka Morgan, the Food & Environment Coordinator at Oxford Inspires would like to hear about any schools, local chefs and restaurants which might like to be involved. Please email her at eka.morgan@oxfordinspires.org or phone her on 01865 810838.

Back to news archive...