Young Farmer Sharp - Guest post by Michael Sharp

As the son of Farmer Sharp, I sometimes find myself in food related conversations before I know it. 

I was in a pub the other night, and when I should have been dancing and chatting up the girls, I ended up sat at the bar talking to a farmer for half an hour about sheep, farming and food. Food must just run in my blood. 

These conversations don’t just happen just with food industry people either. I often find myself in debates with people - like in one instance, there was a girl at college determined she was going to be a vegetarian, using the justification of ‘killing animals is wrong’, but all the while walking around in leather shoes. Knowing what I know, this got my hackles up and we battled it out about the production of leather for the entire lunch hour. Can’t blame the lass as she was totally uneducated about food, and probably thought a potato came from a tree. 

I’m assuming that she can’t be and most certainly isn’t the only person in this group (uneducated about food), and obviously this needs to change if people are to lead better, healthier lifestyles. If I can learn, so can everyone else. They just need a good teacher.

Kids eat meat based pasta.

It has been reported that kids think among other peculiar things that pasta is made from meat, and tomatoes are grown underground like potatoes. 

This sounds unbelievable but in fact, this demonstrates how far we have become disconnected from the farmer and his products. 

It's admittedly a big job to start the reversal after decades of disassociating food and food products from the farm, and to begin countering the food industries relentless homogenisation and sterilisation of food. As we try to regain the respect and veneration for food and its producers, where do we start?

Back to the KIDS! I'm guessing it will take us one or two generations to gain momentum.......

I said to a music journalist when he said we'll never change it - "well its a bucket of water if we all put one or two drops in eventually it gets filled". 

A consolation with all this work we need to do in changing our food culture, is that it's great fun enthusing young people about food. Try it. ;-)