A selection of some of the world’s most famous chefs have come together to raise money to help fight Britain’s biggest childhood cancer.

Under the banner of Chefs Unite there is to be a series of online raffles featuring exclusive prizes donated by nine celebrity chefs.

You have the opportunity to win prizes including a one-to-one cookery lesson with Marcus Wareing and lunch at Marcus Wareing at The Berkeley, a morning with Heston Blumenthal, dinner with Marco Pierre White, a trip to Paris to have a banquet cooked by Ken Hom, a cookery lesson with Antony Worrall Thompson in your own kitchen or an Italian masterclass with Antonio Carluccio.

The chefs taking part have all been moved by the courage shown by children suffering from leukaemia, and anyone can support the charity by buying a ticket for just £10 from www.chefsunite.co.uk, where you will find details of all the superb prizes.

In the latest of a series of independent reports commissioned by the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber (RFG), farmshops in Yorkshire have been found to offer the best value when it comes to vegetables.

Yorkshire farmshops were found to be better value than major supermarkets for baking potatoes (an average 33% less expensive), tomatoes (an average 36% less expensive), loose leeks (an average 14% less expensive), onions, savoy cabbages and cauliflowers.

RFG’s Chief Executive Jonathan Knight said: “Farmshops can offer shoppers fantastic value on many products, and in the lead up to National Vegetarian Week I’m delighted to see that our research has highlighted that Yorkshire farmshops offer particularly good value when it comes to vegetables!

“Local food can benefit local economies in a number of ways, creating jobs and opportunities in the local community, which in turn will have a positive impact on future investment and opportunities in the area. Support for local food is good news for the environment, as well as the economy: local food production often means lower distribution and travel miles – and as we have seen with this latest research the cost savings are passed back to the consumer.”
Matthew Machin from The Balloon Tree Farmshop and Cafe, York, who took part in the farmshop research said: “We take part in RFG’s farmshop comparisons to help dispel the myths that farmshops are more expensive than supermarkets.

“Farmshops provide better value for money on a range of staple goods, not just vegetables. As a business we are transparent about where our products and ingredients come from and customers can feel reassured that they are helping to boost the local economy.”

The RFG research was conducted on a range of farmshops from across the region.

Just a quick post today - but what a goodie!

A free download of recipes from the Hairy Bikers. Are You Ready For The Big Cook Off contains 32 dishes inspired by the nations taking part in the 2010 FIFA World Cup tournament. The recipes, which all have star ratings to indicate how energy efficient they are to prepare, thanks to npower, can be downloaded from www.npower.com/smartcooking.

Download The Big Cook Off here.

For the first time, clever cooks will be able to rustle up 32 quick, simple and fun Smart Cooking dishes, each of which has been given energy rating stars to show how much power is used up in their preparation.

Whether you feel like serving up a German Bauernfruhstuck or an Algerian Couscous, watch the Hairy Bikers in action as they guide you through each step of the cooking process, ensuring that the dish you create is both delicious and energy smart.

We have 32 simple football themed dishes in our recipe book for you to try, inspired by 32 nations.

Don’t forget to fly your foodie flag by backing the boys and Back the Bid by serving up a slice of English Steak and Ale pie!

Mackie’s of Scotland is set to host its first ever open farm charity day in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign. Join the fun between 10am and 4pm on Sunday 6 June at Westertown Farm, Inverurie, Aberdeenshire.

Denis Emslie, Sales Director, Mackie’s of Scotland, who was diagnosed with the muscle wasting condition muscular dystrophy, , two years ago, said: “We want people to enjoy a great day out with their families and perhaps learn a little about what is involved in food manufacturing. Mackie’s of Scotland has diversified from being a traditional dairy farm to making one of the UK’s best selling luxury ice creams. We already attend farming events like the Royal Highland show but this event offers people the chance to come and see their local farm food producer in action and at the same time help us reach our £30,000 target for the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

Activities on the day include a charity auction held at 3pm which will feature a diamond daisy pendant, from Jamieson & Carry in Aberdeen, a children’s wooden wigwam handmade for Mackie’s by local craftsmen and a break at the Fairmont St Andrews Bay Resort. Visitors can take part in a guess the Mackie’s ice cream flavour competition which includes flavours such as Maltesers and mint, peaches and cream, mulled wine, geranium, chilli and even English breakfast! There will also be a treasure trail in the arboretum, face painting, a bouncy castle, bee keeping displays, pony and tractor rides, a vintage car rally featuring over 29 vintage cars and tractors and not least, the opportunity to see the Mackie’s cows and calves and the specialist milking robots which are used to milk the cow’s thus providing the world famous Mackie’s ice cream.

For those looking to relax and enjoy the culinary delights of the day, Mackie’s will be providing a tasting of its own special brand of Mackie’s Potato Crisps and a shop which will sell refreshments, home baking and ice cream which can be enjoyed in the many picnic areas located around the Mackie’s farm.

In addition, visitors will also be able to enjoy music from The Gaitherin, a voluntary organisation with charitable status which currently works with young people from Central Aberdeenshire. The Gaitherin hosts tuition festivals based on the musical and cultural heritage of the North East of Scotland and will perform as a band at the open farm charity day.

Phil Butcher, Chief Executive of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, said: “Mackie’s is a fantastic champion of the vital work that we do and the open charity farm day will help us raise awareness of muscle diseases and the devastating impact they have on 70,000 babies, children and adults in the UK. We rely entirely on voluntary donations to fund our work funding vital research into treatments and cures for muscle disease.”

Entry to the Mackie’s Open Farm Day is free. A £5 car park charge will be donated to the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.

Mackie’s of Scotland began making ice cream in 1986. Today they have 70 staff and 500 cows.
Mackie’s home is a 1600 acre farm in Aberdeenshire, where the wind, land and cows help produce fresh milk and power for the ice cream dairy. Mackie’s call the process a “design chain” – where the wind provides the power for the farm that grows the crops to feed the cows who make the milk (and cream) to make Mackie’s ice cream.

Mackie’s vision is to be a global brand from the greenest company in Britain created by people having fun. Mackie’s want to build its brand and increase export nationally and internationally, look after their environment and continually reduce the company’s carbon footprint, leaving nothing behind except ice cream!

www.mackies.co.uk

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We think about it all the time, turn to it after a bad day, sometimes we crave it and would even choose it over other pleasures in life – yes that’s right, we’re talking chocolate. And that’s just the men!

New research by Kellogg’s Fibre Plus shows just over 2 million women eat chocolate more than 3 times a day and a quarter of British ladies would rather give up a gossip or glass of wine than turn their backs on chocolate. A further fifth would even say goodbye to sex for a satisfying bite!

So what makes it such a good friend? It seems a bad day at work is the main reason us women look to chocolate for comfort, but despite this great love, we also feel terribly guilty when we indulge in a bar.

70 % of women said they felt the wrong kind of pangs eating chocolate, with health, weight and dirty looks from their partner the top reasons for guilt.

This long lasting love/ hate relationship with chocolate seems to be born out of the fact that eating the sweet stuff doesn’t give any benefit other than pleasure, but after all this time perhaps there is, at last, another option.

In this feature Angela speaks to chocolate expert Elise Thomassin and a selection of women to uncover more about this powerful relationship.

Click here to see why women have such a one track find when it comes to chocolate:

http://www.linkto.tv/iframe/show/uuid/zDZtBr9w3aE

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