A CELEBRITY chef joined local farmers in a Suffolk town yesterday to promote the benefits of potatoes.

Anthony Bond

A CELEBRITY chef joined local farmers in a Suffolk town yesterdayto promote the benefits of potatoes.

Simon Rimmer, BBC2's Something for the Weekend presenter and chef, was at Ipswich Market yesterdayto show just how versatile and economical potatoes are.

Recent research shows that young people are choosing pasta and rice over potatoes. But Mr Rimmer said he was getting positive feedback from people on the streets of Ipswich.

“The nice thing from today is that everyone says 'I love spuds'. There is no-one who has said that they do not like them or who thinks they are a bit dull.

“Everyone has something to talk about with potatoes - whether that is the way that they mash them or how they cannot resist a nice chip. They are part of the British heritage.”

And Mr Rimmer was also keen to highlight how important potatoes are in Suffolk. “Potatoes are grown two miles out of the centre of Ipswich right along to the coast so it is a big potato-growing county. They are very cheap, which is important as food prices rise, and many varieties are British and we have a very long growing season in Britain.”

Also on hand to defend the potato was 32-year-old Orford potato farmer Gordon Paice, who said potatoes were an important business for the region.

“They are a very important crop because we have got light land and can produce early crops and late season crops. From my point of view you can eat them straight out of the field and it just shows how much better they are than the ones from the supermarket.”

For potato recipe ideas visit www.britishpotatoes.co.uk.