Eating Albion

30 minutes, originally uploaded by Simon Davison.

A thousand pardons for the lack of updates on EA, but that’s because things are moving apace behind the scenes. I can now reveal that Channel 4 has agreed to publish the project! Suzy in our commercial team has worked hard to secure a sponsor (can’t quite say who that is yet) and the full might of Catherine and the editorial team on the Channel 4 food site has swung into action. So in April this site will pack up and decamp to the lovely shiny 4Food site, where 5 million+ people a week will look at it… gulp!

What’s more, the idea’s grown a bit. The original premise of my monologue as I travel around the UK is still there, but we’ve beefed up the dialogue element - a dialogue with you guys! We’ve been working really hard on making this a bigger proposition, so that I’m guided by the Great British Public as to what’s cool and interesting in your area. I’ve had a few ‘you must drop in on so-and-so if you’re in the area’ comments from both producers and readers, as well as emails inviting me to come and stay places. After all, you know where you live like the back of your hand, right? Well, it’s that local knowledge we’d like to share with the world. So there’ll be the obligatory Google Map mash-up, comments, recipes, stories, tips and advice, all woven into my narrative and hosted along side all the 4Food goodness.

We also want to seek out the little places - the obscure or hard to find - and maybe sometimes we shouldn’t always just go by the number of recommendations a place has. Thirty people may recommend Borough Market, but it’s not exactly terra incognito for anyone with even a passing interest in food. So it’s not just about the farms I’m planning to visit. We’re keen to explore growers, brewers, dairies, vineyards box schemes, producers, manufacturers, bakers, butchers, greengrocers, fishmongers, pubs, delis, cafés, and even greasy spoons if there’s a good story there. It’s about the people as much as the food in some cases. As my recent article about my local chippy showed, there are food stories everywhere.

Hopefully the tone will continue to be exploratory and inquisitive, and also have a sense of humour, wit, perception and insight running through it. But I’d like it to contain a few home truths and at times some stark realities. The 4Food readership is one of the most passionate, adult and intelligent out there. The Big Food Fight saw you empowered and keen to explore the issues surrounding food and its production.

It’s in no one’s interest for this to be a bucolic sojourn through a country idyll - if that was my aim, I’d have pitched it to Country Life. That’s not to say that everything has to be confrontational, and there’s definitely room for beauty in this project, but I think it important and healthy for the project to have some teeth and grit and stimulate debate. Channel 4 doesn’t shy away from the issues of the day, so let’s see what’s going on. It’s also my intention to keep in mind my job as narrator of the piece. To this end, though I may put my thoughts across, there must be room and the opportunity to allow different viewpoints, be they from interviewees, the public or users.

Above all, I just want to make something honest, interesting and genuine that I’m proud of, and I need your help to achieve that. As ever, if you’ve any thoughts or comments, I’d love to hear them. The first thing we need is a new name, as Eating Albion is a little esoteric. Any suggestions?