Register now for the Best Breakfast Awards!

The Best Breakfast Awards are returning for a second year, following a successful launch which saw over 250 foodservice venues enter their breakfast dishes. The awards take place as part of the celebrations in Breakfast Week 2015 (25th- 31st January).

With 104.7 million breakfasts eaten outside of the home, organiser HGCA is encouraging venues across the UK to register their breakfasts to be in with a chance of winning. Eateries can enter one dish within each of the two categories, hot or cold, by simply visiting www.shakeupyourwakeup.com (Open from 1st October 2014). The entries will be voted for by the public and winners will be announced during Breakfast Week. Public voting will run from 1st December 2014 through to 18th January 2015.

TV Chef, Phil Vickery, who is supporting Breakfast Week 2015, will join HGCA to present a special award for the most unique or innovative dish.

Keith Gurney from The Tavern Company, overall winner of last’s year’s awards, said: “We entered the Best Breakfast Awards after hearing about it on the local radio. It was a great way to get our valued customers to show their appreciation for our breakfast menu and we were delighted with the local support we had. We had some great media coverage after the event and we’ve now even extended our breakfast hours.”

Nik Little from Lancers House, the winner of the best hotel breakfast with their Eggs Mandeville added: “Entering the competition was not only great for staff morale but meant we had the opportunity to interact further with our customers. It drove us to take our breakfast offering to an even higher level. Our advice to potential entries for 2015 is go for it!”

Karen Levy from organiser HGCA said: “The Best Breakfast Awards were a great success and highlight the growing out of the home market for breakfast. We are excited to be running the awards for a second year and look forward to receiving entries from even more venues this year!”

Breakfast Week aims to celebrate and raise awareness of the importance of breakfast. In addition to the awards, foodservice companies can also get involved by running competitions and promotions, highlighting local suppliers, holding tasting sessions and arranging events in the local community in celebration of the week.
For more information about Breakfast Week, the Best Breakfast Awards and how to get involved, visit www.shakeupyourwakeup.com.

Rural Support, and wind energy company, Simple Power, are celebrating the success of its biggest ever ‘Christmas Hamper Scheme’, which aimed to help farming and rural families in need this Christmas.

Due to the support and generosity of 17 local agri-food businesses, the charity was able to deliver over 70 hampers to hard-hit families throughout Northern Ireland. Partners that signed up to help those in need included Ballyeamon Eggs, Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt, Comber Potato Company, Dale Farm, DJ’s Apple Juice, Karro Food Group, Mash Direct, Moy Park, Punjana Tea, Rural Development Council, South Antrim Community Network, Tayto, Tesco, Ulster Farmers Union and Dungannon Vineyard Church.

Rural Support Development Director, Jude McCann said, “We are delighted with the success of our second Christmas Hamper Scheme and have been overwhelmed once again with the generosity and support that has shown by the local business community. The hampers have gone some way to alleviate the financial burden facing many rural families this Christmas. We look forward to continuing with the Hamper Scheme in the years ahead and hope to build further on our success.”

Rural Support provides support for farmers and rural families through a helpline offering a listening and signposting service. It deals with a range of issues including emotional distress, physical and mental health, farming paperwork and bureaucracy. Rural Support has also recently launched a pilot project focusing on Financial Stress, providing one-to-one financial mentoring aimed at those experiencing debt or financial issues.

Simple Power Chief Executive, Philip Rainey, commented, “We are delighted with the success of our second Christmas Hamper Scheme in partnership with Rural Support. Christmas can be a very special time for many but it’s important to acknowledge that it can also be a difficult time of year for those in hardship, particularly within the rural community. With the support of the local producers, the hampers have gone some way towards providing a little Christmas cheer, alongside Rural Support’s very beneficial support service.”

Simple Power works in partnership with farmers across Northern Ireland and is committed to an on-going partnership with the local charity, providing financial support alongside fundraising activities.

Breakfast – the best way to start the day

With Breakfast Week taking place between 25^th – 31^st January 2015, award winning dietitian and nutritionist Azmina Govindji explains the benefits of eating a healthy, balanced breakfast and advises on the best breakfasts to suit different lifestyles and needs.

Azmina on breakfast: “A healthy, balanced breakfast can help set you up for the day, giving you energy, important nutrients and it can help to regulate blood sugar levels.  All of which can help you to feel healthier and happier. If you want to try and avoid the temptation of a sugary snack mid-morning or that tummy rumble in the office, then having a good breakfast can really help give you the best start to your day.”

 

Breakfast – fuel for the day

When you wake up you have gone for at least eight hours without food or water, this means your blood sugar levels will be low. Having something to eat within two hours of waking can top up your energy stores and blood sugar levels, which can help make you feel more alert, energetic and in a better mood[i]^,[ii]^,[iii].

 

A healthy weight

Research suggests that breakfast eaters are more likely to be slimmer because they tend to eat less during the day and are less likely to reach for high calorie snacks[iv].

 

Important nutrients

Many of the foods we eat at breakfast can be good sources of nutrients such as calcium, iron and B vitamins, as well as protein and fibre, which are all important for good health. People in the UK, particularly women and children, don’t tend to get enough iron, calcium and fibre. Calcium helps to build healthy bones, iron can help keep your blood healthy and fibre keeps your digestive system working efficiently.

 

So what breakfast is best?

There are options to suit all tastes and lifestyles when it comes to breakfast. It’s good to mix it up a bit depending on what you fancy, what you have in the cupboard and how you are feeling. But if you identify with any of the categories below, then these breakfast ideas can help kick start your day:

 

Commuters

No time for breakfast at home? Then grab and go. Pick up a smoothie, try one with oats for added energy or try a yogurt with some granola to enjoy at work or on the train. Or munch through a wholemeal sandwich filled with banana. The protein in the milk will help to keep you feeling full and the banana and wholemeal bread gives you slow release energy. You really should eat something so you can get your blood sugar up, ready for the day ahead.

 

Office workers

 

If the only time you get away from your desk is to visit the coffee machine, give your brain cells a nudge by feeding them some morning fuel. Before you set off for work, tuck into a wholesome bowl of wholegrain cereal and keep some dried fruit in your desk drawer to munch on during the morning. The starch in the cereal can keep your blood sugar levels steady, and can boost your serotonin levels, helping you to feel good. Some dried apricots will give you a healthy dose of iron, known to reduce tiredness.

 

Busy mums

 

Rushing around with no time for breakfast? Give your mental energy a top-up with a bran-based cereal powered by B vitamins. These energy boosters help to release the energy from food and keep your nerves healthy – a must for busy mums. Reach for a bowl of bran based cereal with semi-skimmed milk. If possible, the best way is to eat breakfast with your child so they grow up knowing breakfast is an important part of everyone’s routine.

 

Active / sporty adults and children

 

Protein is the buzz word when it comes to sports. You need protein to build and repair muscles. The good news is that dairy foods, which can be eaten at breakfast, are rich in a special amino acid (the building blocks of protein) called leucine, which is a master at muscle mass. So, try yoghurt or milk combined with a nutty granola which will help keep your energy levels up, whilst helping to keep your blood sugar levels nice and steady. Wait a couple of hours before exercising, so your body digests all the goodness before you hit the gym.

 

Dieters/people trying to lose weight

 

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that skipping breakfast means fewer calories so you lose weight. Research[v]^,[vi] shows that breakfast eaters are better able to keep to a healthy weight. Dieters tend to go short on B vitamins, so make sure you get your daily dose from cereal or wholemeal bread. Not eating enough can also mean your immune system is below par, so try to get a daily supply of anti-oxidants by eating lots of fruit and vegetables. A small bowl of muesli with semi-skimmed milk and some berries is ideal.

New Year blues-buster (mood booster)

Skipping meals such as breakfast can mean your blood sugar drops, which can make you feel low. Help combat the January blues by having a good breakfast with lots of B vitamins. Vitamin B-12 and other B vitamins help produce brain chemicals that affect your mood. Low levels of the B’s may be linked to depression. Get yours from fortified breakfast cereals – most cereal packets will tell you how much vitamin B they’ve added – choose the one with the most and team it up with semi-skimmed milk. Wholegrain bread and eggs give you B vitamins, so a poached egg on toast can also do the trick.

 

Winter colds

Help protect yourself from catching a sniffle by boosting your immunity with a berry good breakfast (forgive me)! Try some fresh mango for vitamin A and a handful of berries for vitamin C, which will give your immune system a helping hand. Mix them into porridge, or with your favourite breakfast cereal and milk.

 

Constantly tired

Eating gives you calories, which is another word for energy, so eat breakfast! As for what’s in it, choose a fruity start to the day, because vitamin C is known to help reduce tiredness and fatigue. Add fresh fruit to your porridge or cereal or try a glass of fruit juice with your brekkie. Iron can also help fight tiredness and you can get iron from foods such as baked beans, fortified cereals and dried apricots.

Breakfast Week is the UK’s biggest annual celebration of breakfast and is organised on behalf of UK cereal farmers and producers. Every year, hundreds of breakfast events take place around the country and the Best Breakfast Awards return for a second year to search for the UK’s best breakfast dishes being served in eateries around the country.

 

For inspiring breakfast recipes, to vote in the Best Breakfast Awards or find a local Breakfast Week event to you, visit www.shakeupyourwakeup.com.  

 

Keep up to date with news and activities on Twitter @breakfastweek and www.facebook.com/shakeupyourwakeup where you can share your breakfast moments in a photo competition.

[i] Breakfast Skipping and Health Compromising Behaviors in Adolescents and Adults, Helsinki University, published in the European Journal of Clinical Investigation July 2003

[ii] The Cognitive Effects of Breakfast Study, Mindlab Laboratory, Sussex Innovation Centre, Brighton (March 2012)

[iii] Cognitive Drug Research, in conjunction with HGCA (2004)

[iv] http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/loseweight/Pages/Healthybreakfasts.aspx

[v] A three-month trial at San Raffaele Rome Open University where two groups of women had identical diets but one group ate 70% of their calories at breakfast, morning snack and lunch; and the second group had 55% and the rest of their calories in the afternoon and evening. Both groups lost weight but the morning eaters lost more weight than the afternoon group. Reported in the Daily Mail in June 2014http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2653256/Why-big-breakfast-helps-lose-weight.html#ixzz38IlSJctx

[vi] http://www.nhs.uk/livewell/loseweight/pages/healthybreakfasts.aspx

The Little Big Broughgammon Cookbook is out! It’s chock-full of meaty treats like Rabbit Stew and Roasted Goat Kid as well as various vegetable delights. Published by the Cole family at Broughgammon Farm in Ballycastle, this is the perfect gift for forward-thinking foodies from the forward-thinking farmers. They specialise in free-range rose veal, cabrito goat kid meat and seasonal game.

Hero ingredients from local producers like Mike’s Fancy Cheese’s Young Buck and Bushmills whiskey are namechecked throughout. There’s a healthy mix of home-grown recipes from the Broughgammon folks and their customers as well as Food NI, Coppi and Jolly Pies.

It’s available now for £5 from www.broughgammon.com

Breakfast has a rich history and heritage in the UK and has long been hailed as the most important meal of the day.

To celebrate Breakfast Week (25^th – 31^st January 2015), here are some facts[i] to help whet your appetite…

Breakfast habits

• The average person sits down to breakfast at 7.31am during the week and 8.28 am at the weekend
• The nation’s favourite breakfast is a cooked breakfast, followed by porridge, breakfast cereal and then toast
• The breakfast foods we are most likely to eat during the week are wholegrain cereal (37%) followed by toast with spread (32%) and then porridge (27%)
• The most popular place to eat breakfast is at home at the table, either alone or with other members of the household, followed by on the sofa
• Taste, speed, filling, quick to prepare and health, are the most important factors when it comes to breakfast[ii]
• There is a growing trend for eating breakfast out of the home.[iii]

Breakfast skipping

• A worrying quarter (25%) of people are skipping breakfast once or more during the week, with more than one in ten (13%) never eating it
• Of women who skip breakfast, 29 per cent miss it because they are too busy getting ready
• 14 per cent of female breakfast skippers say they don’t eat in the morning because they are trying to lose or watch their weight
• Women are more likely to prioritise their hair and choosing clothes for the day than eating breakfast.

Breakfast food facts

• Bread is bought by 99 per cent of UK households and nearly the equivalent of 12 million loaves are sold each day – equivalent to 43 loaves per person, per year[iv]
• 124,000 hectares of oats are grown in the UK[v] – more than the area of Berkshire
• 1.9m hectares of wheat are grown in the UK^v – that’s almost the size of Wales
• Around 5.2 billion litres of milk are bought each year[vi]
• The UK produces 8,847 million eggs per year[vii] and more than a third of UK eggs are eaten at breakfast[viii]
• Kippers only became popular for breakfast in the UK after Queen Victoria ate them in Dalkeith in 1842^viii
• Every day, five million Britons will eat sausages[ix]
• Bacon is a £1.3 billion industry, with consumers currently purchasing 221.6 thousand tonnes per year. Rashers are the most popular form of bacon[x]
• British Bacon is part of our national heritage; there are records of the Romans salting sides of bacon as early as 200BC and Julius Caesar brought his own bacon with him when he landed in ancient Britain in 55BC.x

 

Quirky breakfast facts

• The celebrity people in the UK would most like to have breakfast with is Holly Willoughby
• The world’s first breakfast cereal was created in 1863 and needed soaking overnight to be chewablevⁱⁱⁱ
• The world record for the most people eating breakfast in bed is 289 and was set in Sydney, Australia on 2^nd March in 2012. It involved 85 queen size beds containing four people each[xi]
• Scientists have uncovered a statistical relationship between a person’s character, lifestyle and social class and whether they like their eggs boiled, fried, scrambled or as an omelette.[xii]

• Poached egg eaters tend to be outgoing, listen to upbeat music and have happy dispositions
• Boiled egg eaters are disorganised
• Fried egg fans have a high sex drive
• Scrambled egg lovers are more guarded
• Omelette eaters are self disciplined

• The world’s largest breakfast on record involved 27,854 people and took place in Germany on 29 May 2005[xiii]
• The largest bowl of porridge weighs 865 kg and was achieved in Tula, Russia on 10 September 2011.[xiv]

Breakfast Week is the UK’s biggest annual celebration of breakfast and is organised on behalf of UK cereal farmers and producers. Every year, hundreds of breakfast events take place around the country and the Best Breakfast Awards return for a second year to search for the UK’s best breakfast dishes being served in eateries around the country.

 

For inspiring breakfast recipes, to vote in the Best Breakfast Awards or find a local Breakfast Week event to you, visit www.shakeupyourwakeup.com.  

 

Keep up to date with news and activities on Twitter @breakfastweek and www.facebook.com/shakeupyourwakeup where you can share your breakfast moments in a photo competition.

 

 

[i] Unless stated otherwise, the majority of the breakfast facts have come from a survey conducted on behalf of Breakfast Week by One Poll. 2,000 UK adults were surveyed online between Friday 29^th November and Monday 2^nd December 2013

[ii] Kantar World Panel Breakfast July 2014

[iii] http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/trends/rise-and-shine-its-breakfast-time/4006806.article

[iv] http://www.nabim.org.uk/statistics/flour-and-bread-consumption

[v] DEFRA Census of Agriculture and Horticulture, June 2011

[vi] http://www.thisisdairyfarming.com/discover/dairy-farming-facts/how-much-milk-do-we-drink-in-the-uk/

[vii] http://www.thepoultrysite.com/articles/855/poultry-production-in-england

[viii] http://www.express.co.uk/fun/top10facts/372254/Top-10-facts-about-breakfast

[ix] http://www.lovepork.co.uk/pork-products-cuts/sausages/sausage-faqs/

[x] http://www.lovepork.co.uk/pork-products-cuts/bacon/bacon-facts/

[xi]  http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/records-1000/most-people-eating-breakfast-in-bed/

[xii] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/9573822/A-persons-way-of-eating-eggs-can-predict-personality-type.html

[xiii] http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/1000/largest-continental-breakfast-(attendance)

[xiv] http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/4000/largest-bowl-of-porridge

Christmas is coming to Inns Market on Saturday 13 December at 10am-3pm with 28 stalls in total, 23 of which are local, fresh and artisan food producers.

Inns Market continues to grow from strength to strength each month since it was established in June of this year. Joining the market on Saturday will be the Krazi Baker, baking his specialty hotplate breads right on site and newcomer to the market scene, Cheeky Bakes with their range of gluten free and paleo friendly treats.

Regular stallholders such as Passion Preserved, Broughgammon, Still Waters Fishing, Go Yeast Breads, Cheese-makers – Kearney Blue and Young Buck, will be in residence as well as artisan bakers, Man Made, Mange Tout, Little Treats, and Doughzy Donuts. We are privileged to have 2 indigenous award winning rapeseed oil producers, Broighter Gold and Harnett Oils, both of which make excellent gifts for the foodies in your life.

As it is Christmas, we couldn’t be without a turkey, and specialist Turkey farm, Buchanan Turkeys, will be providing tastings of their delectable turkey and taking orders for delivery directly to your door, or for collection at the Inns on 23 December.

Indeed a number of our producers will be taking orders on Saturday for a special pick-up service at The Inns on 23 December, 9am-11am. In addition to Buchanan Turkeys, Cherry Valley Farm will be taking orders for all your vegetable needs and Mange Tout for your freshly baked Christmas goodies.

Inns Market is all about keeping it local and ensuring that each market is a pleasurable and social experience for everyone, including the small visitors to the market, so especially for Christmas, Gemini Faces will be back offering face painting. To complete the Christmas package, local businesses, Lecky & Golden will be selling Christmas garlands, table arrangements and wreaths, with Pat’s Newsagent selling Christmas Trees and turf.

We hope to see you there, Saturday 13 December, 10am-3pm.