By Deirdre Morley
Photographed by Colin McPherson
Retail Price £19.99
Home Grown is a magnificent new book on Northwest food published in November 2008. Home Grown looks at the revolution that has been taking place in our food – the way we grow it, cook it and eat it – and focuses on the people behind that revolution.
The chefs – Award-winning chefs from a dozen of the Northwest’s best restaurants tell their own personal stories. Paul Askew, Paddy Byrne and Tom Gill, Steven Doherty, Warrick Dodds, Paul Heathcote, Nigel Haworth, Robert Kisby, Gary Manning, Simon Radley, Simon Rimmer, Marc Verité and Marc Wilkinson have each provided recipes and cooked three signature dishes, prepared from the finest locally produced ingredients this rich agricultural region has to offer.
The producers – From the plains of Cheshire to the Lake District’s rugged fells, the people who work the land and make the products take us into their world. From hunting deer to shrimp fishing off the treacherous Lancashire coast: from shepherds to cheesemakers; from brewers to butchers, they take us through the charm and the challenges of their daily lives.
The outlets – We have greater choice than ever before in where to buy the best of Northwest food. We visit traditional city markets, a special sort of supermarket and farm shops. We explore the phenomenal growth of farmers’ markets, including Wirral Farmers’ Market in Merseyside, named Best in Britain in the BBC Food and Farming Awards.
Home Grown puts this quiet revolution in context – exploring the relationship between chefs, producers and outlets in 400pp of beautifully illustrated text. Writer, Deirdre Morley has written an epic work on regional food with specially commissioned photography by Colin McPherson.