CUMBRIAN COOK AWARDED O.B.E.
Delight as Food Champion Annette Gibbons Receives Honour in Birthday List

Well-known Cumbrian champion of real food Annette Gibbons has been awarded an O.B.E. in the Queen’s 2009 Birthday Honours List for services to Food and Farming Industries in Cumbria.

Mawbray-based Annette is a familiar figure for her renowned Food Safaris, Fine Dining Club and cookery demonstrations through her business Cumbria On A Plate. A regular contributor to newspapers, magazines and BBC Radio Cumbria on food-related issues, she has also authored two books on Cumbrian food as well as starring in her TV series Home Grown, which has aired on Border Television and currently screening on Sky.

Annette’s philosophy is to consistently demonstrate the value for money that local produce can bring as well as providing a tastier, more filling, and nutritious alternative. Instrumental in bringing together a network of Cumbrian local growers, food producers and the general public, she works closely with and supports organic farmers, conventional farmers, growers, small producers of dairy such as butter and cheese makers, jams and preserves, and the flour miller in the area.

Her popular Food Safaris involve guiding guests on unique gourmet tours of the county, visiting farms and artisan producers to taste and buy directly from the best the Lake District has to offer. Regularly demonstrating her recipes at food festivals by using local sourced and fresh, seasonal produce, Annette works to consistently engage people directly with those who produce Cumbria’s finest food.
 
Cumbrian Woman of the Year 2006 Annette said: “It was such a thrill opening the OBE letter and I'm delighted to accept this honour on behalf of all those talented food producers and farmers who work so hard to bring us the wealth of incredible food we have here in Cumbria.

“As a professional cook and through my demonstrations, Food Safaris and Dining Club I am proud to connect people to what’s being grown locally. My business, Cumbria on a Plate shows off the best of our local food. I see my role as bringing these ingredients and produce to a wider audience both from within and without the county.

“I'm so proud of this recognition and wish I could thank whoever nominated me.”
The investiture will take place at St. James Palace in London within the next six months.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND INTERVIEWS
Annette Gibbons is available for comment and interview. Please contact her on 0773 4424 856 or Annette@cumbriaonaplate.co.uk and for further information, visit www.cumbriaonaplate.co.uk

EDITORS’ NOTES
About Annette Gibbons
Annette Gibbons has been living in Cumbria for 29 years and now regards the county as her home having raised her two children there.
At home Annette uses as many locally grown ingredients as she can and has her own organic vegetable garden with hens. Living by the sea she says that “all the veggies come to the kitchen ready salted!” She has been a member of Garden Organic for many years and is a founder member of Cumbria Organic Gardeners. Her gardening skills and experience are such that she has tutored an organic gardening course in her village, as well as courses at community centres in Carlisle culminating in cooking the grown vegetables. She worked with children, parents and staff on a healthy eating project to create an organic garden in an urban school setting.

In 1997 she started a Dining Club for Cumbria Life and hosted events around the county. In 2009 she set up her own independent Fine Dining Club and now has over 110 members. Annette runs a cookery school on the shores of the Solway Firth overlooking Scotland, where people of all ages come to watch her cook and eat the end result. Her kitchen is a converted stable and depending on the season she uses the vegetables, herbs and fruits from the kitchen garden.
Her first cookery book was published in 1997 and is full of interesting and uncomplicated recipes, inspired by what is growing in the garden. Her second book, Home Grown in Cumbria, was published in late 2005, earning her runner up in the Lakeland Book of the Year Awards 2006.
Annette Gibbons acts as a Food Ambassador on local issues and has appeared on local radio and national and ITV Border Television, on the latter presenting four series of Home Grown where she visits food producers and takes the ingredients back to her kitchen to cook. She is often asked to speak at functions including the Rural Women’s Network dinner, Westmorland Country Markets AGM and she demonstrates local recipes at county shows and festivals. Annette is actively involved with the Slow Food Movement.
She also uses her culinary skills to raise money for charities including the NSPCC, Age Concern and the Tuberous Sclerosis Association. She is patron of Hospice at Home, Cerebral Palsy Cumbria and the local RNLI group and works with West House, a charity for people with learning disabilities.
Annette Gibbons was awarded Cumbrian Woman of the Year in 2006. Accepting this award, she said, “I am delighted to have been recognised as a rural woman in Cumbria.  A the core of what I do are the artisan food producers, and all the wonderful work they do is also reflected in this award.”
About Cumbria On A Plate
Cumbria On A Plate is a celebration of real food created in the Lake District region and offers a number of opportunities to visit local artisan food producers, to learn how to cook seasonal ingredients, and to dine at some the county’s finest restaurants with the website featuring new recipes to celebrate great Cumbrian seasonal ingredients.

The Dining Club, running for the past 12 years, is an excellent way to dine out on Cumbria's finest food, learn more about the ingredients and wine from expert speakers and to meet new friends. The Food Safaris have become a ‘must do’ for both tourists visiting the Lake District, and resident Cumbrian food connoisseurs. Cumbria on a Plate also runs cookery demonstrations, designed to be inspirational and informative and to show how to create delicious recipes using high quality, locally produced and seasonal ingredients, many of which are grown on the premises. 

Annette's second book Home Grown in Cumbria is published by Zymurgy Publishing at £17 and available in all good independent book shops or from www.cumbriaonaplate.co.uk