For the love of the land

A NEW cookbook championing British farmers pays tribute to all that is potato, with a number of specialist recipes made with our favourite tuber.

Potato is the main ingredient for recipes such as the Shallot and Potato Cake recipe, a Roasted Cauliflower with Potato Purée, Hazelnut Picada, Rainbow Chard and Goat’s Curd recipe. It also features a Breakfast Potatoes recipe from a British potato farm called Colwith Farm and there are many more recipes featuring British potatoes.

The book, entitled 'For the Love of the Land II' has been compiled by Jenny Jefferies to celebrate the British farming community and its food and to aid a farming charity. It features introductions from local growers, producers and businesses and fully illustrated with photos of the local dishes, and is published by Sheffield-based Meze Publishing Ltd.

In her forward, Jenny states: "For The Love Of The Land II is a small but hopefully solid representation of our agricultural industry to give you at home, wherever you are, a warm welcome into the livelihoods of our amazing British farmers. It offers an important insight into our innovative and inspiring practices, covering sustainability, food provenance, agroforestry, rewilding,
community spirit, culture, organic farming, conservation and regenerative agriculture. 

"Our prime objective, though, is producing food. What we can do collectively is eat good quality produce. You only need to cook it and it will speak for itself. It’s the rhythm of the seasonal crops and livestock along with a simple style of preparation that allows the food to sing. For one to really enjoy food, one has to know how it’s produced.

"Whatever diet you choose to live by – whether you are vegetarian, pescatarian, vegan, omnivore, carnivore, flexitarian – we are so lucky to have this luxury of choice, when other people in the world are not so fortunate. We should all embrace and respect each other’s choices, be kind, and remember that starvation and food waste is a real problem in the world. A child dies from hunger every 10 seconds. That’s nearly half of all deaths in children under the age of five. There are currently 860 million people in the world who are undernourished and who do not have enough food to eat. 8.4 million people in the UK are struggling too, equivalent to the entire population of London.

"I’m sharing these rather startling statistics with you because I think it’s important to know that not everyone has the same basic needs when it comes to something so simple as food."

With global food systems at breaking point, Jenny believes we are on the brink of a food and farming revolution, what affects the UK can affect the world and vice versa. She encourages people to support local farmers’ markets and farm shops and to buy local, seasonal produce wherever possible.

"I endeavour to help educate all generations about where our food comes from, and I dearly hope that these books deliver the mighty and heartfelt voices of our farmers in what is clearly becoming a challenging time for British agriculture," she said.

Ten per cent of the book's net profits will be donated to the Farm Safety Foundation, which helps to support and prepare the next generation of farmers to be responsible, confident and safe while highlighting the importance of mental health.