Tour of Britain

Calling all food fans and fellow horizon chasers!

I'm getting ready to take Jimmy round Britain on that tour I've been twirling round in my head for so long.

The desire to keep moving is as strong as ever - it bubbles away in my belly, distracting me with promises of new possibilities. Sometimes I can walk or run it off but nothing can substitute that feeling of actually leaving the city and hitting the road. London's great and provides a funk in the thigh that's golden, but it can be hard to truly breath, to hear yourself.

So I've had Jimmy's clutch renewed for a lighter drive and the preparations are underway. This is the plan: I want to spend three months exploring Britain, selling my wares and investigating what people are eating. We're a nation full of so many different groups and communities and yet sometimes, with our new 'foodie' obsessions, it can seem as though all roads lead only to the deli or the farmer's market. I want to discover what all else it going on!

I want to use this blog to document what makes Britain exciting to me. What are we eating? What do Morris dancers eat? Bingo fanatics? Gamekeepers? Turkmenistan communities? What goes on in the kitchen of a greasy spoon on an industrial estate in Leicester? How wild do the wild foodies really get? And is it true that many Poles would rather just eat potatoes than go near any of our stuff?

I wonder if I can test out our nation’s hospitality. I wonder if the universal ‘MMMmmmmmmm’ factor of chocolate can help open some doors. Could I swing it so that during my tour I can find people to invite me into their homes for dinner? A secret supper party if you like, where the last minute surprise finds me rolling up in the van with a delicious chocolate pudding onboard: flourless chocolate cake, Negres en Chemises, chocolate Bavorois, brownie fudge sundaes…

Choc Star has become known for serving great chocolate treats and for doing it with a sense of style and fun. It’s hard for people not to get excited when Jimmy comes calling. All those endorphins flying around the place do special things to people…

This is the kind of safari I’ve been dreaming of and which I think would prove truly fascinating. I’m open to anything and anyone that I don’t know about – which is most people – just as long as it’s in Britain somewhere.

I’m planning on leaving in April and going on until June/July. I will be opening up the hatch and selling hot chocolate, ice cream, milkshakes – whatever the weather promotes – along the way. This in itself will be an interesting exercise. Sometimes friends will join me and I can pick them up from train stations around and about. The rest of the time it’ll just be me my camera and my laptop.

What do you think? Can you help me by forwarding this link to anyone who might be keen? Please mull it over if nothing springs immediately to mind – there’s always some brainwave, however tenuous seeming, that could result in the most classic of suppers. It needn’t be chi-chi or foodie, just some facet of life in Britain today where food can be involved.

I’m looking forward to hearing back from you…or friend’s of yours…or friends of theirs. Please pass it on!

Many thanks and maybe see you soon!