First look: The Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook

One of the highlights of this Fairtrade Fortnight is the launch of The Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook, put together by the Fairtrade Foundation and famous chef and food writer, Sophie Grigson.

In true Fairtrade Foundation-fashion many of the recipes come from celebrities such as Sir Steve Redgrave, Sheherazade Goldsmith, Natasha Kaplinsky and Fairtrade Foundation patron, George Alagiah, plus celebrity chefs like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Antony Worrall Thompson, Allegra McEvedy, Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers.

The rest have been carefully selected from mountains of recipes sent in by Fairtrade fans across the country. The people behind the recipes make the cookbook interesting, but it's the revelation of how many different dishes you can incorporate Fairtrade ingredients into, that's the really exciting bit.

While old favourites such as dark chocolate, bananas, pineapples, coffee and rice take centre stage in many of the recipes, less well-known ingredients like white rum, Chinese five-spice powder, brazil nuts and vanilla pods are also slipped in here and there. The idea is to show how we can use Fairtrade ingredients in our everyday cooking, but we are slightly disappointed to see that some of the recipes only sport a few Fairtrade ingredients. It would have been great fun to have a couple of dishes which could be made using just Fairtrade ingredients.

This didn't stop us from loving the cookbook, though. We know it inside out now and have tried some of the recipes, including the Grilled Ginger Salmon with Oriental Spicy Rice; the Beef, Mango and Celery in Red Wine; and the Spiced Pineapple Cake with Rum. They were all delicious -- even though the cake didn't turn out exactly as it should have done. It also inspired us to create our own Fairtrade Banana Bread with Divine Chocolate, Mango and Pineapple recipe, which wasn't scrummy enough to write home about. It should be noted this was due to our cooking skills rather than the ingredients.

Overall, this is a really inspiring, well-designed cookbook with exciting and exotic recipes and great photos. It makes us think of the story behind the ingredients we use and about the principles behind Fairtrade in general every time we cook from it. The combination of producer stories, which are dotted around in the book, and the fact most of the recipes come from people like you and me, bring it all down to earth and makes it easy to make it part of our everyday lives.

Bon appetit!

Antony Worrall Thompson's Fairtrade ceviche

We thought you should have a little taster of what The Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook has to offer and Antony Worrall Thompson's Prawn and Mango Ceviche seems like a yummy place to start. Worrall Thompson says: "I use their [farmers from Burkina Faso] mangoes in this delicious recipe and I find that knowing a little more about the people who grew the mangoes makes them taste all the sweeter."

Prawn and Mango Ceviche

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:
12 raw peeled prawns, diced
2 tbsp coriander leaf, whole
1 tbsp shredded mint
1 Fairtrade avocado, peeled, stoned and diced
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 Fairtrade mango, peeled, stoned and diced
3 spring onions, sliced
1 red chilli, deseeded and thinly sliced

Dressing:
3 tbsp Fairtrade lime juice
1 1/2 tbsp Thai fish sauce
1 tbsp caster sugar
3 tbsp thick coconut milk

Method:
Combine the prawns with the dressing and allow them to marinate for 20 minutes. Combine the remaining salad ingredients with the prawns. Serve in a Martini glass or on baby gem salad leaves.

Tip: You can garnish this recipe with chopped coriander.

The Fairtrade Everyday Cookbook is published by Dorling Kindersley Books and is available now at £16.99. 

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