Food poverty, plant power and the fight to clean up our rivers, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is still a man on a mission, 20 years after setting up his East Devon HQ. The celebrity chef, writer, broadcaster and campaigner sits down with Fran McElhone and reflects on the River Cottage legacy
Look online and you'll find there's as much about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s campaigning over the past couple of years as there are features about his latest cookbook, How to Eat 30 Plants a Week.
Some of his recent campaigns have been made for television, like The Great Climate Fight, which included calling for an end to a ban on onshore wind development (Labour ended the ban four days after winning July’s general election), and Hugh’s War on Waste, which called for mandatory food waste reporting (an ongoing fight). Although Hugh’s quick to point out that they’re not 'his' campaigns because of the other 'amazing' people involved.
Meanwhile, the rest make it onto our TV screens via the mainstream news - such as when he and Jamie Oliver clubbed together to lobby the government to do more about Britain’s childhood obesity crisis and ban junk food ads before 9pm. Or when the 59-year-old declared allegiance to the Green Party just before the election and called for a new government to do more to protect our waterways and seas from pollution.
As I stand surveying the wildflower meadow at the top of the lane down to River Cottage HQ, near Axminster, I envision Hugh and his strong moral compass as roots, sprouting up into the River Cottage tree - with its courses, cookery school, events and café as the blossoms. And we’re the bees.
After 15 years of covering the activities of Hugh and his crew (the likes of Gill Meller, John Wright and Tim Maddams), I wonder if River Cottage is still journeying or whether it has fulfilled its raison d’etre and has reached its pinnacle?
River Cottage is still on a journey, Hugh assures us, yet remains as true to its 20-year-old roots as ever.
'The journey is what makes it exciting and interesting,' he says, sipping tea (with the teabag in), not looking almost 60 at all. 'Our courses and the way we cook are evolving all the time, but if you took a slice of River Cottage 10 years ago, you’d see more meat on the menu than we have now. Although we’ve always loved our veg, we’re definitely more plant-led now.
'As well as trying to set the agenda, we also listen to what people are after. Our busiest courses now are about fermentation; we’re lucky enough to have brilliant fermentation guru Rachel de Thample and also our chefs Connor and Chiara are both really into fermentation, so there’s a whole lot more of that going on here than ever before.'
Fermentation features in Hugh’s new book which champions gut health. And a range of fermented goodies can be found in the fridges and shelves of the River Cottage café.
The book’s impetus is that eating a wide variety of plants is incredibly good for us and the planet. OK, so we already knew this, but the introduction by Professor Tim Spector OBE deftly presents the science behind the headline, followed by Hugh making the case for the deliciousness of plants.
This dovetailed approach is compelling. But can the die-hard meat eater ever be persuaded to eat less meat but more veg?
'It’s a great idea for people to eat less meat,' Hugh begins, refusing to ever tell anyone what to do. 'Meat and fish are tyrannical ingredients and hog a lot of attention, so if you’re going to make plants really delicious, we need to give some of the attention we lavish on meat and fish to plants. For example, barbecue them, grill them, caramelise them, add spices to them.
'We really shouldn’t be stuck on meat. If we are it’s because we’re making plants the afterthought and the "bit on the side". To make them the main thing it’s quite a good idea to get meat and fish out of the way and have a plant meal. It’s about leading by deliciousness!'
River Cottage is, and has always been, focused on inspiring us about healthy and ethical eating – for people and planet, through the joy of food. This includes food provenance, not just knowing where our food comes from but becoming closer to its source. Hence why foraging will always be held dear. 'Bringing people closer to the source of their food and inspiring them to eat healthily is in the introduction in the original River Cottage book, which is 20 years old now,' comments Hugh, who has ducked down by the pea pods and begun weeding, before handing me a couple of plump ripe wild strawberries and pausing our chat to catch up with the gardeners.
'I’m not saying we should go back to be hunter gatherers or even self-sufficiency, people don’t have time for that, but what people do have time for is to grow some of their food.
'You only have to go for a walk to find some wild ingredients to forage, for example nettles or blackberries. Even if you live in the city, you’ll find something along a tow path or other green space.
'The best food is food with a good story, and that story could be; I grew it myself, I foraged it myself, I got it from the farmers’ market. On my way here, I often take a detour to go past a little farm and buy bundles of broad beans or runner beans for a couple of quid, and then bring it here and show our guests that there are lots of different ways of buying food. Some of the food we cook on our courses will be from our garden, from our neighbours’ farms, and then I’ll throw in the veg I bought on the way here, and tell them "We’re going to eat those too".
'So in a way our mission is about reconnecting people with great stories about food because that contributes to how we feel about our food. For tens of thousands of years humans were hunter gatherers and I think this still speaks to us. That’s what it meant to be human - we have an emotional connection to knowing where our food comes from and if, instead, we only have industrialised, anonymous, "stick it in the microwave" food, we’re missing out on a huge part of human culture.'
Until this year, Hugh has only ever hinted at his political leaning, but he decided to come out in support of the Green Party because one of their signature policies is to renationalise the water companies and he, like many of us, is 'incensed' by water pollution.
The day after we meet, water regulator Ofwat announced how much water companies could raise bills by. It proposed a 13 per cent bill increase for people living in South West Water’s patch, to begin at the end of March 2025 until 2030.
I doubt Hugh’s impressed. 'The reason we’re in the mess we’re in is because they (the water companies) have taken insane profits, largely from borrowed finance, to pay shareholders rather than doing their jobs,' Hugh explains as his reason for backing the renationalisation. 'They should be getting fined and shouldn’t be putting further burdens on us to pay to clear up the mess they’ve made.'
So, Hugh, his campaigns, his cook books, and River Cottage are like a daisy chain - all distinct, all integral. And cooking is the link, the stems in between, because it’s an answer to food poverty.
'We have a massive situation of food poverty in many places in Britain,' Hugh asserts. 'That’s not going to be solved by a cookbook or anything I say, that’s about government policy, for example, making better food available to kids at school and promoting a better understanding about cooking from an early age, because, it’s really hard to eat healthily on a budget, if you can’t cook.
'Food is the first opportunity to keep people well. So, looking at the big picture, we need massive social change, we need to think differently about the culture of food. If there’s no help for people to find healthy solutions through policy or education then we are consigning another generation to worse levels of obesity.
'The idea that you can have a conversation about the future of the NHS and how it’s going to be funded without talking about food is wrong-headed; it’s fundamental to the future of our health.'
Because of its myriad benefits to gut health, fermentation has been championed by River Cottage for some time now. Fermentation is an ancient technique for preserving food and drinks; fermented foods contain live micro organisms, or probiotic bacteria, that are conducive to gastrointestinal health. Fermented foods include kraut and kimchi and drinks include kombucha and kefir. The impact of fermented foods on our physical and mental health is understood to be far-reaching, supporting our immune system and reducing the risk of heart disease and stress related illnesses. Led by fermentation guru Rachel de Thample, River Cottage offers a range of fermentation courses and there’s a range of River Cottage fermented goods available from both the shop and café. rivercottage.net
Nuts and seeds are very versatile and can be sprinkled over savoury or sweet dishes, or enjoyed as snacks. Frozen veg is often more nutrient rich than days-old veg; throw in a handful into your main dish rather than leaving it as the ‘bit on the side’. Don’t forget pulses, they can be added to most dishes. Make use of fresh or dried herbs to add depth of flavour. Hugh says: ‘We need to remind ourselves that there are lots of things we know and like but maybe haven’t tried in a while; people will find there are lots of familiar ingredients which have fallen off the radar and are probably in their cupboards somewhere.’ How to Eat 30 Plants a Week is published by Bloomsbury at £25
