Burton Race reveals fears for farming

By Jemima Laing
BBC Devon

Celebrity chef John Burton Race believes time is running out for the UK's farming industry.

"Someone has let farming go," said John, speaking to the BBC Devon website from Dartmouth's New Angel restaurant where he is now resident chef.

"You can't just blame one government, it's successive governments and if we're not careful it will be gone forever.

"Do people really realise where their food is coming from?"

"Do British people know that lots of the milk they drink is coming from France and Poland.

"What's happened to our milk, what's happened to our apples? Why aren't we more proud of what we've got?"

John says there is so much that's 'great about game'

Celebrating local produce

And celebrating "what we've got" is what the Dartmouth Food Festival - which is running from 21- 25 October 2009 - is all about.

John is going to be doing two live cooking demonstrations as part of the festival and a number of other high-profile chefs like Devon's own Michael Caines, Mitch Tonks and Fergus Henderson are taking part too.

"The Dartmouth Food Festival is a fantastic idea and year by year it grows - it's great for tourism and it's great for showing what we have."

Find out how to cook John Burton Race's Autumnwatch pheasant dish

It's not surprising someone who decided when he was just seven that he was going to be a chef speaks passionately about the issue.

He cites the French attitude towards their produce and longs for the same passion to be as much a part of the British psyche.

"If this was happening in France it would be a different story, they get behind what's French and that's what needs to happen here."

John is going to be doing two live cooking demonstrations at the festival

But at the same time he applauds the British tendency to be more open-minded when it comes to incorporating foreign influences into our cooking.

"The French can be very narrow-minded about their food," said John - who spent much of his younger life as a chef in France - and returned later with his family to film the television series French Leave.

"But in this country we are happy to draw on our ethnic influences and it's a melting pot."

As well as cooking in Dartmouth he has recently been appointed to head the development of a privately owned Kent-based restaurant and hotel operator and in January 2010 will start filming a new series called Country House Cooking.

And even though he says he still doesn't feel like a local -"I don't suppose I'll ever be considered a local - by the time I'm local I'll be dead!" - as an advocate for the produce of the county he couldn't be more enthusiastic.

"That's the reason I came here, " he said.

"We have fabulous shellfish, fantastic livestock, cheese, vegetables - Devon has the lot."

Wistman's wood - 'A magical place'

Almost all of what is served in The New Angel is sourced locally - like the pheasant dish he has just cooked for the BBC Devon website as part of Autumnwatch 2009.

And at the same time he bemoans what he sees as a widespread reluctance to cook with game.

"People are a bit scared to cook it, with this recipe I would just say 'pretend you're cooking chicken'!

"There is so much that's great about game, it's plentiful, it's low in fat and it tastes good."

And it's not just the produce which Singapore-born John loves about Devon but the landscape too - his favourite place is Dartmoor's Wistman's Wood.

"It's somewhere you can have total peace.

"Somewhere there is no phone signal," he added - somewhat wistfully.

"Just a magical place."

Dartmouth Food Festival
Various venues
21-25 October 2009