Swap your burger for a bag of nuts

The UK is being urged to go nuts by swapping burgers for bags of nuts on Friday October 22nd to celebrate Britain’s first National Nut Day.

National Nut Day in the UK is being launched by Liberation Foods, the farmer-owned Fairtrade nut company which has pioneered Fairtrade nuts. Its successes include launching ‘Harry’s Nuts!’, the snack brand created by comedian Harry Hill to showcase the delicious nuts produced by small-scale famers in Africa, India and Latin America .

October 22nd is well-established as National Nut Day in the USA and the farmers and staff at Liberation don’t want British nut fans to miss out any longer.

National Nut Day will celebrate all that is great about eating nuts. As well as being a delicious snack and cooking ingredient, nuts are:

• Highly nutritious – a source of vital fatty acids, omega fats, protein and many vitamins and minerals.

• Good for the environment – switching our main source of protein from meat to nuts whenever we can helps to reduce carbon emissions. In addition the trade in Brazil nuts helps to preserve the Amazon rainforest.

• Good for our health – the Government’s Chief Medical Officer says 18,000 premature deaths from heart disease would be avoided every year if we cut our meat consumption by half. Nuts are a good value form of protein which can help us do this.

• One of the least well-known items in the Fairtrade shopping basket - yet UK nut lovers can buy Fairtrade Brazil nuts, cashews, peanuts, walnuts and almonds. This means the farmers and gatherers are protected by the guaranteed fair deal which comes with Fairtrade.

Restaurants in the UK will be asked to include at least one ‘nutty’ meal on their menus for the day and Liberation will use specially created recipes to inspire foodies to cook with nuts more at home. Some people are unsure about the many ways they can use nuts in their cooking and so leading chefs and food writers will be offering top tips to get people started.

Kate Gaskell, Managing Director, Liberation Foods CIC says: “We are approaching like-minded organisations and high profile nut lovers to work with us to make sure the message is heard loud and clear for the good of British nut eaters and nut farmers and gatherers across Africa, India and Latin America including those who co-own our company.”

The National Nut Day website in the UK will be: nationalnutday.com