BEST OF BRITISH FISH is a collection of recipes and stories from fishermen, chefs, fishmongers and food writers all around the British coast.
The book was written to support an important fishermens’ charity, the Fishermens’ Mission, which is represented in more than 70 British ports. Best of British Fish came about through a meeting Camilla Sacchi, who worked for the Mission and went out on a deep-sea trawler to experience and photograph life at sea.
She wanted to help the men and families of this dying trade and raise awareness of the plight of the British Fishing Industry. Camilla and I worked together from concept to publication.
We secured Rick Stein to write the forward, we then recruited some of Britain's most acclaimed cooks and chefs, including Gary Rhodes, Richard Corrigan, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Marco Pierre White to provide recipes.
We then secured the publisher Mitchell Beazley, who supported our idea of juxtaposing the pleasures of British fish alongside an account of the harsh realities of life at sea.
The book raised funds for Royal National Mission for Deep Sea Fishermen, selling over 20,000 copies on the first print run.
Concept & Photography: Simon Impey / Camilla Sacchi
Authors: Hatti Ellis and Camilla Sacchi
Winner, Guild of Food Writers Michael Smith Award for Work on British Food
The photos shown below are from a body of work I shot, going around the coastline of England, Wales, Scotland and northern Ireland over an eight week period.
