British Grocery Chain Appoints Three Poets as Food Laureates
British supermarket chain Morrisons has teamed up with The Poetry Society and has appointed three well-known British poets to be the world's first Food Laureates. The poets will set recipes to verse. The goal of the project is to get the British people to start cooking again, and not to rely so much on prepared, prepackaged foods.
Sainsbury's teamed up with Naked Chef Jamie Oliver and Asda went with Sharon Osbourne, but in an attempt to brand itself as the literary punters' supermarket of choice, Morrisons has employed the services of three British poets to help get the people of Britain cooking.
The unlikely collaboration, which the supermarket chain has dubbed the "food laureate", will see poets Ian McMillan, John Mole and Peter Sansom writing a series of poems about how to prepare different recipes. McMillan, a former poet in residence at Barnsley Football Club, has tackled the crumble. Mole, winner of an Eric Gregory award, has taken on batter – "What you're going to need for a dish that can't fail / Are a bowl, a deep fryer, flour and ale" – while Sansom has dreamed up verse about making a roast.
"Poets have always accepted shillings from patrons," said McMillan. "A lot of courtly poets were given financial backing by the king, and there's been a rise of poets in residence since the 80s. It's fine, as long as you don't write anything you're not happy with."
There are eight poems in all, including John Mole's "Curry in a hurry" and "Use your loaf", a bread recipe by Ian McMillan. The poems will be displayed in the 415 grocery stores all over the country. There are also video clips of the recipes with poetry voiceovers at the accompanying website, where you can send in your own family's recipe set to verse and win 500 pounds.
We think it's a marvelous idea. It brings poetry into the public arena in a new way and it's a fun way to get people cooking more. It's certainly easier to remember a recipe or some handy kitchen tips when they are set to verse.
