November 30 – December 4, 2009
Andrew Whitley, Sheila Dillon
Participants on this course will look creatively at food through an exploration of the politics and policy around food, as well as the fulfilling, hands-on experience of baking in workshop sessions.
This course is part of our Winter Warmer Week at Schumacher College. We are therefore offering it to you at the special price of £495 for all teaching, workshops, food and accommodation. This is over £200 less than our normal short-course price. Click here to book your place online, now.
The other course taking place in our Winter Warmer Week: Darkness and Transformation with Tchenka Sunderland and Jules Cashford. Click here for more details
Download a flyer about our Winter Warmer Week
During this course, participants will have the opportunity to explore the process by which food has become an industrial commodity, find out about alternatives, learn how to bake a variety of delicious breads and hear about current issues in food policy from an award-winning journalist.
Sheila Dillon of Radio 4’s Food Programme will join the course for a day to discuss her investigations into various aspects of the modern food industry, and reflect on prospects for the future in light of a renewed interest in local, seasonal and quality food.
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Andrew Whitley will be exploring territory that he first mapped out in his award-winning book Bread Matters, in which he links the emergence of widespread intolerance to wheat, yeast and bread in general to changes in wheat breeding, milling and baking technology. Industrial bread is now produced very efficiently (in terms of labour input) but customers recoil from its hidden additives, flaccid texture and apparent indigestibility. What can be done? Andrew will present his Real Bread Campaign which aims to bring British bread back to life. And in his workshop sessions he will help participants to find out just how easy – and fulfilling – it can be to make bread by hand, using flours chosen for their vitality and combined with due deference to that key ingredient so fatefully abandoned by industrial baking – time. Specifically, students will make breads with organic rare-breed grains and natural fermentation methods, never forgetting that the end product always aims to be both enlightening and delicious.
It has exceeded my expectations due to the way in which the course design and the building facilitates the making of connections between people, and between ideas. Schumacher College, course participant, 2009
What’s in a loaf of bread? Flour, water, yeast, salt and maybe some seeds or flakes? Wrong… allow me to let you into a secret: there’s something else in your bread – and it’s not declared on the label. Read more of this article by Andrew Whitley, click here
Andrew Whitley founded and ran the Village Bakery, which is famous for its high-quality organic bread baked in wood-fired ovens. The bakery began to supply wholefood and organic shops in various parts of Britain and then, as the importance of an organic approach to food and health became more widely recognised, it was asked to supply Waitrose supermarkets. A chance invitation to revisit Russia where he had previously he had previously worked as a BBC producer, enabled Andrew to research traditional methods and he returned with a sourdough culture which was then used in a range of rye breads that really put the Village Bakery on the map. Various awards followed culminating in the Organic Trophy – the highest accolade of the Organic Food Awards – in 1998. In 2002, he founded a new company, Bread Matters, which runs bread-making courses and works to promote a sane and rational approach to food and health. Andrew is currently involved in launching, with others, the Real Bread Campaign.
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Sheila Dillon has worked for 20 years on The Food Programme, first as reporter, then producer and now presenter. Her investigative work has won many awards including the Glaxo Science Prize, Caroline Walker award and several Glenfiddich Awards, most recently for her documentary on the history of the American meat industry. In the late 1980s and 90s, she and Derek Cooper covered the breaking scandal of BSE, the rise of GM foods, the growth of the organic movement from muck and magic to multi-million pound business, the birth of the World Trade Organisation and irradiation at a time when those subjects were not even a gleam in a newshound’s eye. Recent programmes on the chocolate industry, fishing practices and food prices carry on the tradition. She is also the creator of Radio 4’s first interactive grocery show, Veg Talk.
At Schumacher, attention is given to ensuring that the learning atmosphere is as creative as possible. An important aspect of this is food – its preparation and consumption. All course participants on all courses prepare food in small groups, providing a varied vegetarian menu which reflects the international nature of the student group.
Being involved in the preparation of the daily food for the group, is often cited as one of the most enjoyable aspects of community life at the College. Over the years, participants have contributed to the College kitchen by bringing their enthusiasm, joy and their original recipes to add to the Schumacher collection. They have also provided the inspiration and momentum for the college cookbook Gaia’s Kitchen, compiled by our catering manager Julia Ponsonby.
You can find out more about the college, the learning environment and participants on other pages of our site. Click here
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This course is part of our Winter Warmer Week at Schumacher College. We are therefore offering it to you at the special price of £495 for all teaching, workshops, food and accommodation. This is over £200 less than our normal short-course price. Click here to book your place online, now.
Book your place now! – click here to access our on-line booking system
Book by fax or mail! – click here to find out how
(only one discount applicable per booking)
For further information about Schumacher College please see About the College
To provisionally reserve a place for 5 days, email us your contact details and the name of the course admin@schumachercollege.org.uk
We will hold the place for five working days for reservations – three weeks before a course or earlier. After five days we will automatically offer your place to someone else if we have not received your application.
