Back in 2012, we launched our Mission:Explore Food book, and I went to Heffers in Cambridge to help launch it in the Childrens' Book area downstairs...
Our book is still available on CC license for the most part (as a PDF)
We will hopefully be working on other books in the future, but all of us in Explorer HQ have increasingly busy schedules and it's been hard to get together for a while.
Mission:Explore Food is billed as one of the most controversial and yet important cookbooks ever written for children and families.
Mission:Explore Food is an activity cookbook that challenges children to go cannibal, cook in acid, make chocolate poos (including nuts and sweetcorn), ask the Queen for a swan and work out the best way to slaughter a lamb. Mission:Explore Food 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.
“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.” explains Daniel Raven-Ellison, one of the authors.
There are loads of 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. Humorously and provocatively illustrated by the award-winning artist Tom Morgan- Jones, each page includes a quirky mission to complete.
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 series has also won accolades from Pink Stinks for its balanced portrayal of boys and girls from different backgrounds.
“The leading lights of guerrilla geography.” ~ Hay Literary Festival
“A must have book for any adult wanting to grow their own well-balanced child!”
~ Huw James, Science Junkie.
“Oh blimey this book is brilliant!” ~ Emma Freud
Probably the only book I will ever recommend to undergrads, buy for my kids & use as a plate.” ~ Professor Ian Cook, Food expert
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