Andrew Whitley

Andrew Whitley has a first class honours degree in Russian from Sussex and Moscow Universities. He left a career as a producer in the BBC Russian Service in 1976 to found The Village Bakery Melmerby, which became one of the country’s leading organic bakery brands, specialising in artisan breads made by hand and baked in wood-fired ovens. In 1998 Andrew was the first winner of the Organic Trophy, the highest accolade of the Organic Food Awards. He stepped down from The Village Bakery in 2002 to concentrate on teaching real baking to individuals and teams as well as writing and campaigning on food and health.

Andrew Whitley is chair of the Soil Association’s Processing Standards Committee and has recently completed a Masters degree in Food Policy at City University, London. His book Bread Matters – the state of modern bread and a definitive guide to baking your own was published by Fourth Estate in September 2006. It won the André Simon 2006 Food Book Award and the bread category in the 2007 Cookbook Awards of the International Association of Culinary Professionals.

His company Bread Matters Ltd runs baking courses for enthusiastic amateurs and professional cooks and bakers. Its “Together We Rise” programme uses breadmaking as the focus of team development for groups from both the corporate and the not-for-profit sectors. Bread Matters Ltd combines practical teaching with the skills of articulate advocacy to promote a sane, inclusive and sustainable approach to food and health.

Whether he is up to his elbows in dough teaching enthusiastic amateurs and professional cooks to bake or washing the bread industry’s soiled whites in public, Andrew’s main concern is that farmers, millers and bakers should not forget that their product is much more than a commodity, a brand or a means to enhance shareholder value; it is, he reminds us, vital nourishment for our fellow citizens. Andrew thinks that changes in the way it is produced may have compromised its integrity and he is currently starting a national Real Bread Campaign to bring bread back to life.

Forthcoming and recent courses at Schumacher College

November 17 — 21, 2008: Real Food, Slow Food: Championing sustainable food - course details

Schumacher College is part of the Dartington Hall Trust, a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and as a charity (company no. 1485560, charity no. 279756). Registered office: The Elmhirst Centre, Dartington Hall, Totnes, Devon TQ9 6EL, UK.