The Yes Peas! campaign is calling on consumers, retailers, manufacturers, chefs and farmers to back Great British Pea Week and help boost sales of the little green veg.
Great British Pea Week is returning for the third year from 9-15 July in celebration of Britain’s annual pea harvesting season. This summer, two billion portions of peas – approximately 337 billion individual peas – will be harvested by 700 UK-based pea growers. The UK is the largest producer and consumer of frozen peas in Europe, with the average person in Britain eating nearly 9,000 peas per year.
This year for the first time British pea growers will be bringing a taste of the harvest into the city with a yet-to-be-revealed event in London, which organisers say will bring 'unique behind-the-scenes experience of the harvesting process to the heart of the city with a variety of creative dishes and interactive activity'.
Chef and campaign ambassador Rachel Green said: “It takes a great deal of dedication in a relatively short six to eight-week pea season to get billions of peas from field to fork. Farmers work 24 hours a day, seven days a week harvesting, shelling and transporting the peas from field to frozen as quickly as possible – the majority in just 150 minutes.
“Great British Pea Week is a great opportunity to celebrate the hard work of the farmers and to inspire the nation to take a fresh look at peas. The locked-in freshness of frozen peas means we can enjoy British peas, bursting with nutrients and taste, all year round, and they’re so versatile. Hopefully we can encourage everyone to get peas on the menu this week and provide some inspiration with new recipes and ideas. Give peas a chance!”
