Future food icons: Part two

From the chief executives of trade bodies who help shape policies to the famous faces sharing recipes on our televisions and phone screens, the food and drink industry is chock full of influential voices. Here, we shine a light on the people who are set to shape the future of the sector.

Download our new report, A Taste of the Future, to read about all our future food icons and get up to speed on the future of food and drink.

Read part one of our future food icons.

Minette Batters: PRESIDENT OF THE NFU
Minette Batters has a rich history in the world of food and farming. Alongside running a tenanted family farm in Wiltshire, which includes a 100-cow herd, as well as sheep and arable crops, she has been president of the National Farmers’ Union since 2018. In her role, Minette has faced no shortage of significant twists and turns in politics and policy, from her influencing voice in Brexit negotiations to the Covid-19 pandemic, where she championed British farmers at some of their most dire moments.

In 2020, she led a hugely successful petition, bringing together a coalition of chefs, including Jamie Oliver, farmers, environmentalists, consumer groups and animal welfare experts – resulting in over one million people signing the NFU food standards petition. Campaigning on behalf of NFU members about the critical role of British food and farming in health, sustainability and food security has been central to Minette’s role since becoming president of the organisation.

In her message to members at the start of the year, Minette said, “The importance of British farming to deliver food and energy has never been clearer.” This year, she has prioritised putting British food security on the agenda and setting the pathway to reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2040. “I am hopeful that 2023 will be the year that the government gets serious about British food and farming,” she said.

Michael Thomson: CHEESEMAKER AND OWNER OF MIKE’S FANCY CHEESE
Belfast-based Michael Thomson has been making Young Buck, a raw milk blue cheese, in Newtownards for nine years, but he’s more than a farmhouse cheesemaker: he’s a proper champion of great cheese. After learning his trade at the School of Artisan Food, Mike worked for David and Jo Clarke on Sparkenhoe Farm, the team behind Leicestershire Handmade Cheese Co.

He returned to Belfast to start making his own cheese in 2013, and in 2019, he opened his shop, Mike’s Fancy Cheese, inspired by the growing local cheesemaking scene. From his shop, he works directly with producers selling Irish cheese with a focus on Irish raw milk cheese and small farmhouse producers. “I came from a retail background and really enjoy having a shop in the centre of Belfast,” he says.

The shop has become a hive of activity: “We run beer and cheese pairings and work with lots of local businesses around us to try to create a vibrant community in what would be seen as quite a neglected part of Belfast,” Mike tells Speciality Food. He enjoys building connections with producers, many of whom can’t keep up with demand. He feels this start-up phase is the trickiest for producers in the region. “Cheesemaking has such high start-up costs for equipment, and a lot of legislation and paperwork to get started and can be a daunting task and definitely a reason that puts off home makers getting any bigger,” he says. He sees a gap in the market for a forum connecting farmers who want to be start-up cheesemakers – but in the meantime he is happy to take on this role himself: “We try to be that in the shop.”

Jamie Oliver: CHEF, AUTHOR AND CHILD HEALTH CAMPAIGNER
As one of Britain’s foremost celebrity chefs, Jamie Oliver has played a huge role in shaping Britain’s food and drink industry in recent decades. He has authored more than 30 cookbooks and fronted dozens of TV programmes following the success of his 1999 debut, The Naked Chef. Going beyond his role as TV chef, he took up the baton for raising awareness about processed foods in school lunches, and in 2005 he campaigned to improve standards.

Following his success in highlighting this issue, he’s still fighting to make progress in child health today, with his organisation aiming to halve childhood obesity in the UK by 2030. However it’s not only his work in schools that earns him a place on this list. Jamie Oliver is a true champion of British food and drink, and when the country faces challenges, he doesn’t shy away from the limelight. In the midst of the Covid-19 lockdowns, he started a new TV programme, Keep Cooking and Carry On, which showcased flexible, simple meals and even involved filming on Jamie’s and his family’s phones.

More recently, Jamie’s £1 Wonders has highlighted budget-friendly meals during the cost-of-living crisis. “We just responded to what you guys were asking for,” he said of Keep Cooking and Carry On. Indeed, listening to the public and quickly responding with just the right thing is what Jamie Oliver does best.