You won’t believe it,it’s not a joke or trying to sound very clever in my post title,there really is a Potato Council in the UK. And this so called Potato Council is at the moment running a campaign to make the spud more popular and raise its profile.
In this scope,Uyen from Fernandez and Leluu, Roast Potato,Never Enough Shoes (she blogged about it here) and myself were invited to an evening ‘in the name of the potato’held at the cookery school of the Michelin starred celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.
I was a bit skeptical to be honest,as I don’t really like potatoes,but I thought this event might be the perfect occasion to overcome my potato-related prejudices. Potatoes,as we were explained,wrongly have a bad reputation. They don’t only have loads of vitamins such as vitamin C and B and minerals but are also surprisingly low in calories (if you don’t put loads on butter on them or fry them in oil,which,however,is the only way –in my humble opinion –they actually taste good,but I should just shut up now).
There are 450 different varieties of potatoes in the UK alone and we got several of them to taste. There were a couple that I really quite liked,particularly the Marabel. The potato mash was so creamy and buttery,even though (they said) that there was no butter added. Here a list of the most popular potatoes in the UK and how to best use them.
The reason Jean-Christophe Novelli is involved in this campaign is that he grew up loving potatoes and still is very passionate about them. He is now searching for Britain’s best potato dish. For this Master Spud was launched,a competition were you can send in your favourite potato recipe. If you win,you unfortunately don’t win money,free food or kitchen appliances,but instead you will appear in a TV advert together with Jean-Christophe. As to be on a TV advert is one of my biggest nightmares and holds no attraction for me whatsoever,I personally will not enter,but if I could interest you,here is the link. The ‘Many Faces of Potatoes’website is also good when you enjoy cooking potatoes,as it gives you loads of information and inspiration about preparing potatoes.
Jean-Christophe Novelli also cooked a dish for us,sadly we only got a couple of spoon-fulls of it and I left very hungry (I know,it’s in the name!). In fact I came home from the potato evening at midnight eating 3 nutella toasts,that’s how hungry I was (and how desolate the state of my fridge,but this is another story).
Having said this,apart from my empty stomach,I really enjoyed this evening and learned a lot of interesting details about potatoes. Even though it did not fully convert me to a potato lover,I have changed my opinion and shall include them in my diet (in the non-chips form I mean 
It was also fascinating to listen to the stories and opinions of a top chef.
Anyway,I think I will not visit Jean-Christophe’s cookery school any time soon again,even though it’s a lovely building,and he,as we could taste from the small sample,an excellent cook and probably also teacher. Instead,I rather go for a two week holiday for the price actually. Sorry JC,nothing personal!
A thousand quid is rather dear,isn’t it? Michelin starred,yes,but still…Anyway,glad to hear that you’ve enjoyed yourself. Well,you can post your potato recipe on hungryinlondon instead.
@ London Chow –
yes one of the millions of potato recipes that I have…. I was a bit annoyed actually that they asked us all the way to Luton and then didn’t feed us. In the house of a Michelin starred chef! but well,maybe I’m just spoiled 
I can not beleive that you were invited for a potato demonstration and they didn’t feed you a proper meal made all with potatoes
We were Hungry In Luton!!! he he
@ Kelly –I know! it left me kind of unsatisfied I have to say…
@ Uyen –hahaha,love your post,so nice but there are clearly some hidden messages,well done darling! (Luton is NOT the best place to be hungry at!)