Called Mission:Explore Food, it is described an activity cookbook that has been created to tantalise children’s taste for adventure and tests their understanding not only of where their food is from, but also of where it goes once they’ve finished eating.
One of the authors, Daniel Raven-Ellison, said: “A children’s book that asks them to question if the pig they are eating has ever seen the light of day, make scary soup and keep a poo diary might sound controversial, but it’s vitally important that children think about their relationship with food and have fun while doing it.
“We all appreciate that children should know how to cook and eat well, but these are just two chapters in the story of our food.
“Unlike most children’s cookbooks that ignore the rest of the food cycle, Mission:Explore Food includes activities that encourage children to learn about growing, harvesting, waste and soil as well.
“An essential ingredient is appreciating that their/our choices effect people and places around the world too.”
The book includes recipes and activities to try in and outside the kitchen developed not by famous chefs and cooks, but guerrilla geographers who are on a mission to encourage children to explore their local area, forage for food and play outdoors.
It has been humorously illustrated by award-winning artist Tom Morgan-Jones and each page includes a quirky mission to complete.
Children who complete missions from the book can visit the Mission:Explore website (www.missionexplore.net) to be rewarded with points and badges for their efforts.
This is the fourth in a series of Mission:Explore books, published by Can of Worms Kids Press. Mission:Explore won the National Trust Outdoor Book of the Year award in 2012 and was runner-up for the Society of Authors Education Writer of the Year 2012.
The Mission:Explore team is going on an expedition of its own around the UK over the coming year, starting this autumn. They will be touring in their Explorer Spaceship HQ (van) visiting schools, libraries and food festivals to complete missions and share a series of explorations from the book.