Experts

		Ian Gibbs Ian Gibbs has worked in some of the most respected establishments in the UK including Heythrop Park, Chipping Norton, and Renaissance, Cheltenham and has been awarded Chef of the Year 2009 by The Bournemouth and Poole College Chef's Forum. At The Coventry Arms, Wimborne, Ian has combined this experience with his passion for Dorset ingredients, to create seasonal food at its very best. Ian's philosophy is not to overcomplicate – but to allow an ingredient, which is perfect in both flavour and texture, to shine through. Very much part of the local food scene, Ian has demonstrated at the Hotel Expo and the Hotel & Catering Show in Bournemouth, gaining a number of accreditations along the way including a gold and silver medal at the NEC Birmingham and achieving a set of medals from live demonstrations at Hotelympia, Earls Court. With Ian's leadership The Coventry Arms has achieved an AA Rosette and judged as Dorset Magazine's Dining Pub of the year 2006 and 2007. www.coventryarms.co.uk

		Paul Keating Wimborne butcher, Paul Keating has been supplying restaurants and the general public with good quality, local, free range meat for the past seven years. Paul is recognised not only as an excellent butcher but also for his passion for good food and he is always on hand to offer advice and great recipes on seasonal cooking. His enthusiasm for meat is not to be missed and neither is his award winning Canford Magna Lamb! P. Keating, 39 East Street, Wimborne and Littlemoors Farm Shop, Ham Lane, Wimborne.

		John "The Fish" Bell Born to a family of fish mongers, John "The Fish" Bell of Bells Fish in Wimborne is a 4th generation fish monger following in the footsteps of his Great Grandmother, Grandfather and Father and mentor, Ernest. He has been in the fish business all his life and as such has a great respect for the delicate balance of the sea. Leading the way in stocking the very freshest and sustainable fish from the English Channel, he endeavours to make a difference by the way he runs his business. It is with this in mind that he has been highlighted as a Food Hero by Rick Stein. Johns feels very privileged to be doing a job that he loves and will offer his own kind of recipe advice whilst deftly filleting, scaling and pin boning the fish you have bought. Bells Fish, Rear of Number 1, High Street, Wimborne

		Mohit Kochar Mohit (Moe) Kochar's career has been a very short one but so far very successful. Moe's Passion for authentic Indian food started when he was just 17 years old. "When I started to go out with my friends for a curry after the pub I realised how un-authentic Indian food in the Dorset area was. I was also struck by the fact that restaurants had westernised and used colourings to change the look and taste of traditional dishes. At that point I decided to one day open a Indian restaurant that served real Indian food in my local area" says Moe. Moe's philosophy is simple – give the customer real Indian food like they do in India and when people taste authentic Indian food for the first time they will carry on eating it, as everyone who has eaten at the Red Fort will agree! With Moe's leadership The Red Fort has achieved critical acclaim locally and now nationally from Masala magazine, the leading magazine for Indian restaurants, and is the first Indian restaurant in Dorset to achieve this accolade. www.redfortrestaurant.co.uk

		Ian Butler Ian Butler has been the face of Traditional Butchery in Wimborne for over 25 Years, having been in the High Street for 22 years he has now setup in Sopwith Crescent, Merley. Ian Specializes in local free-range meat; Ruby Red Beef from Horton, Dorset Lamb from Canford Magna and Pork from Sturminster Newton. He hand grades the stock in the field before it is sent to market then the beef is carcass hung for a minimum of 21 days and the Canford Lamb for 14 ensuring the very best flavour and texture.

		Penny Harris Penny Harris believes that when we are mindful of the quality of food we eat, we will be mindful of life in general. She firmly believes that if you take the freshest of ingredients grown with care and sensitivity, and prepare it with love you cannot fail to produce that which will nourish your mind, body and soul. Penny feels it is to our detriment that some modern day gadgets and so called time saving devices actually rob us of nourishment, and the ritual of preparing and sharing food. As a working mother of three children she appreciates that with busy a household to keep going, time is of the essence. However, she is an advocate of preparing nutritious tasty food using seasonal ingredients without labouring all day in the kitchen, without the use of a microwave, preservatives and artificial flavourings. Penny runs vegetarian cookery classes at Alchemy Health Centre in Wimborne, Dorset and Tuscany, Italy and also provides catering for functions and private parties.

		Jayne Mugridge Jayne Mugridge is the co-founder of Yarty Valley Provisions Ltd Britain's premium hand made cordial. These delicious cordial recipes are handed down from Jayne's Grandmother Mable, who cooked for the nobility in the New Forest, from the Edwardian period through to the 1930s. Originally created to preserve fruit so it would last through the winter months, these delectable flavours can be utilised to add greater depth to foods, as a drink and, of course, in cocktails. Jayne's passion for cordial has lead to an enthusiasm for creating delicious recipes utilising this historic preserve. www.yartyvalleyprovisions.co.uk

		Adrian Beckingham The Man from Story Mountain Under the name of The Man From Story Mountain, Adrian Beckingham uses traditional stories of indigenous peoples to focus on sustainable use of earth's resources and community living. In 1996 he began a series of community storytelling projects entitled Stories That Crafted The Earth - a project which continues to this day teaching young people the benefits of recognising value in their own lives through the teachings of cultures which at first seem radically different to our own. He has received many international storytelling commissions for his work, among these being sponsors such as The Commonwealth Institute, The Millennium Commission, English Heritage, and The Duke Of Edinburgh Award. His commissions as a storyteller have taken him to countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, Australia, Bali, and Egypt and he was uniquely invited as a storyteller to the world's largest literary festival, Frankfurt Book Fair in Germany. Apart from his work as a storyteller, Adrian is also a teacher of storytelling and creative writing in colleges, community centres and schools.

		Mark Hartstone Chef proprietor Mark Hartstone initially trained as a Geologist (no rock cake puns) and Petroleum Engineer. On the first day of the millennium he had an epiphany and decided to follow his dream and passion of cooking. Over the last seven years he has trained at the Bournemouth and Poole College catering department with a world wide reputation. He has worked in the brigades and kitchens of Europe's top chefs. Stéphane Carrade at Chez Ruffet, Raymond Blancs' Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, with Shaun Hill and Scott McKenzie-Foy at the Montagu Arms, Alan Murchison from L'Ortolan, Luke Mathews and not least Pierre Chevillard at Chewton Glen. For the last few years Mark Hartstone has been Pierres' Sous chef at Pebble Beach helping him to win the Remy Martin South East restaurant of the year 2007 and other critical acclaim. Mark has reached the final in 4 national chef competitions. He has won both regional competitions and the 2006 prestigious National Seafood Recipe Challenge. The competition is the most popular and well-regarded chefs competition in the country. His prize was a gastronomic tour of Norway, working alongside Swedish chef Anders Blomkvist of the famous Store Norske Fiskekompani in the largest town of the Arctic circle. He is now chef/owner of La Fose at Cranborne, Restaurant with Rooms and focuses on traditional English with a dash of International, using local, seasonal, fresh and free range produce.

		James Coward James Coward, Chef and Patron at Les Bouviers Restaurant with Rooms, has been nurturing a reputation for fine food in Wimborne for nearly 20 years. Having gained a wealth of experience in Michelin rated establishments in both France and England he has maintained two AA rosettes since 1993. His achievements include; Winner of the Booker Prize for Excellence Best Restaurant UK and has been 3 times semi-finalist of the Garde d'Or National Chef of the Year Competition. Many live competition medals have also been achieved: 11 Gold Awards, 7 Silver Awards, 13 Bronze Awards, 5 Certificates of Merit and the E.P. Brown Trophy for Most Outstanding Candidate in Live Competitions. Regional accolades include the West Country Food & Tourism's Award for Dorset's Best Restaurant and Dorset's Best Outstanding Vegetarian Menu Winner.

Can you guess which one is Andy?		Andy Kelly Andy Kelly moved from Northampton to Dorset last year. In Northampton he ran his own cafe and Italian restaurant called Sophias. He is passionate about preparing fresh seasonal food from the finest local Dorset sources. He is now the head chef at the 'Barley Mow', where he serves classic pub food using the finest local produce. Andy has worked hard to reduce the pubs carbon trotter/hoof print by sourcing local pork from pilford farm (visible from the pub) and free range lamb and beef from Honeybrook Farm (about a mile from the pub).

		Matthew Cook After studying at Bournemouth and Poole College, Matthew Cook began a varied career in catering. Following a short period working in the Hotel Bretagne, Questembert, he worked as restaurant manager at some of the best hotels around the country. In Dorset, he worked at the Saltern Hotel and Marina, and then moved on Danesfield House in Bucks and Judges in Yorkshire. He returned to Dorset to work at Summer Lodge, as a restaurant manager, developing menus with the Head chefs. Following a stint as Senior Sous Chef at Branksome Beach Matthew headed for Australia, where he worked for Crowne Plaza Darwin, the Novotel in Palm Cove and then as Senior Sous Chef in Bel Mondo's in Sydney. On returning to the UK he took up the position Head Chef at the Talkhouse in Oxford, a Marco Pierre White gastro pub. More recently Matthew has held Head Chef positions at a number of establishments in Hampshire and Dorset including The Bull in Bridport. Matthew now runs his own catering company called Fishface where he excels in producing beautiful seasonal dishes from the amazing seafood and vast array of produce from the West Country.

		Amabel Clarke Amabel Clarke lived in Ireland for 25 years running a restaurant and drinking in the multiplicity of tales old and new, funny and tragic that swirl around in that magic land [and in all lands] and found herself telling them to audiences all over Ireland. Now Amabel has returned to her roots in Dorset, given up her pots and pans to go a' story-telling over here, there and anywhere.