About Annette Gibbons, OBE...

Annette Gibbons is a well known professional foodie champion of real food in Cumbria. Her Food Safaris and cookery demonstrations are famous throughout the Lake District and she is a member of the Slow Food movement. She is a regular contributor to magazine and newspaper articles on food related issues and she has had two books published on Cumbrian food, the first being out of print and more recently "Home Grown in Cumbria" which is available at any book shop and through this website.

Her face is a familiar sight to all who watched Border Television and her t.v. series "Home Grown" has been shown on Sky's Horse and Country channel. 

In 2006 she was chosen to represent Cumbria at the Slow Movement at Terra Madre in Italy.

“My passion for Real Food began in childhood. My earliest memories are of brushing past tomato plants in the greenhouse and smelling the sweet scent of the growing leaves. This connection with food and the way it’s produced has stayed with me all my life.

I trained in Home Economics, after which I travelled extensively, enjoying the best of the world’s food along the way. My culinary adventures included working as an au pair in Geneva and many years living in South Africa and Rhodesia.

I eventually arrived in rural Cumbria and quickly identified the exceptional quality of Cumbrian food producers and felt there was a real need to showcase this culinary expertise to a wider audience – this became the initial inspiration behind Cumbria On A Plate and the introduction of my Food Safaris.

In 2006, I was awarded Cumbria Woman of the Year. This was a wonderful unexpected accolade celebrating my work with local food, as I was nominated by the food producers themselves.

I also run daytime cookery teaching sessions at my seaside home. They are for people looking for inspiration or reassurance of their own cooking skills. My aim is for everyone to enjoy real food and to support Cumbrian producers wherever possible.”

In 2009, again totally unexpected, for the Queen's Birthday Honours List I was awarded an O.B.E., for services to the Food and Farming Industries in Cumbria.   What a special day I had with all the family in London. 

From the left my son Alex who had travelled from Lithuania to be with us, my husband Paul, myself, Dorrie Pain my mum, then daughter Laura who lives in London.

I intend to continue to "show off" the best of Cumbrian food to as many people as possible and hope that there may be something of foodie interest on my website for everyone."