Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall

In 2018, he filmed Britain's Fat Fight with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, a documentary for BBC One, where he explored the obesity crisis in Britain, asking food producers, restaurants and the government to confront the crisis. 97,869 people signed Fearnley-Whittingstall's letter to the government, who responded, and on 25 June, launched a new childhood obesity strategy. Also in the programme, Fearnley-Whittingstall, in partnership with Newcastle City Council, launched Newcastle Can (newcastlecan.com), an initiative and experiment aimed to encourage the citizens of Newcastle to work together to get healthier and fitter.

In 2018, he filmed Britain's Fat Fight with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, where he explored the obesity crisis in Britain, asking food producers, restaurants and the government to confront the crisis.

In August 2015, alongside Lindsey Chapman, he hosted a series of five daily programmes on BBC One, linked to three evening programmes Big Blue Live. The series concentrated on marine wildlife around the UK coast.

In November 2015, Fearnley-Whittingstall presented Hugh's War on Waste on BBC One, campaigning against waste by food producers, retailers and consumers.

In November 2015, he filmed Hugh's War on Waste. with the BBC and began a campaign to reduce consumer waste in the UK. The two programmes focused on food and clothing waste, both by supermarkets and by shoppers in their own homes.

Fearnley-Whittingstall hosted the River Cottage series on the UK television channel Channel 4, in which audiences observe his efforts to become a self-reliant, downshifted farmer in rural England – Fearnley-Whittingstall feeds himself, his family and friends with locally produced and sourced fruits, vegetables, fish, eggs and meat. He has also become a campaigner on issues related to food production and the environment, such as fisheries management and animal welfare.

A new series of River Cottage, entitled Hugh's Three Good Things, aired on Channel 4 in December 2012. Accompanied by a cookbook, the series was based on the notion that a great meal can be prepared from gathering three good ingredients – in the first episode, Fearnley-Whittingstall uses beetroot, egg and anchovies to make an open sandwich. Fearnley-Whittingstall also competed against guest chefs in each episode and viewers were invited to challenge the television host with a superior recipe.

In 2012, Fearnley-Whittingstall filmed a Channel 4 series, Hugh's Fish Fight. The series was broadcast in three parts on Channel 4. The campaign's website said it had received over 700,000 signatures by 2012.

In 2012, his barn at River Cottage was damaged by fire.

In Autumn 2011, a new series, River Cottage: Veg Every Day, was launched and is based on Fearnley-Whittingstall's developed awareness regarding the problematic way in which meat is produced and consumed in the modern era. During the series, the food activist addresses the challenge that he defines in the series' first episode: "A whole summer without flesh". Fearnley-Whittingstall explains further: "In the weeks ahead, I'll be expanding my vegetable horizons, seeking out new flavours and textures, and cooking up a whole raft of vegetable dishes with the same excitement and gusto that I've always bestowed on meat and fish."

Fearnley-Whittingstall also appeared on BBC Two's satirical music panel show, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, on an episode recorded in 2008; airing was delayed until 19 January 2011, due to the scandals surrounding Russell Brand that led to his resignation from the BBC.

Fearnley-Whittingstall published Cuisine Bon Marché in 1994. Fearnley-Whittingstall wrote the cookbooks, The River Cottage Year, The River Cottage Fish Book, The River Cottage Cookbook (winner of the Andre Simon Food Book of the Year Award, the Guild of Food Writers’ Michael Smith Award, and the Glenfiddich Trophy and Food Book of the Year) and The River Cottage Meat Book (the last two books with photographs by Simon Wheeler). His most recent book, published on 29 March 2011, is River Cottage Every Day.

In September 2010, a new series of River Cottage episodes, entitled River Cottage Every Day, commenced. The series encouraged viewers to cook from scratch more frequently and was accompanied by a book of the same name.

In 2010, Fearnley-Whittingstall made an appearance on the BBC One comedy panel show, Would I Lie to You? – host, Rob Brydon, awarded him the "Liar of the Week" prize.

On 19 October 2009, a new series of four episodes aired on Channel 4: River Cottage – Winter's on the Way. In one of the episodes from the winter series, Fearnley-Whittingstall captures, prepares and cooks rabbits that he finds on his property and introduces viewers to salsify—according to the host, salsify was popular during the Victorian era.

In 2009, Fearnley-Whittingstall became a permanent team captain, opposing a different guest captain each week, on a food-based panel game, The Big Food Fight, which began on Channel 4 on 8 September; this is not to be confused with the earlier project of the same name. On 12 June, he was a guest on BBC One's Have I Got News For You and he recorded a guest spot on BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs that was broadcast on 26 July and again on 31 July 2009.

In 2009, he became a patron of ChildHope UK, an international child protection charity working in Africa, Asia and South America.

In 2009, 'The River Cottage Summer's Here' programme promoted the Landshare project that seeks to bring together people who wish to grow fruit and vegetables, but have no land, with landowners willing to donate spare land for cultivation. The online project was commissioned by Channel 4.

From 2008, Fearnley-Whittingstall filmed magazine-style food programmes, produced at River Cottage HQ, based on the seasonal themes. River Cottage Spring ran from 28 May 2008 to 25 June 2008 on Channel 4 and in one of the episodes, Fearnley-Whittingstall demonstrated his "holistic" approach to cooking by slaughtering, preparing and cooking the entirety of a lamb.

In late 2008, River Cottage Autumn was broadcast from 16 October to 6 November 2008. In one of the autumnal episodes, Fearnley-Whittingstall, together with his friend, John, embarks on a mission to catch crustaceans at a nearby beach with the use of pots. The pair seek to catch prawns, crabs and lobsters, in addition to the blue velvet swimming crab that is commonly found at the particular coastal location where they are based.

At the start of 2008, Fearnley-Whittingstall – along with fellow celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Ramsay – was featured in Channel 4's Big Food Fight season; his contribution to the season was Hugh's Chicken Run, which was shown over three consecutive nights. Fearnley-Whittingstall created three chicken farms in Axminster (one intensive, one commercial free-range and the third, a community farm project staffed by volunteers), culminating in a "Chicken Out!" campaign to encourage the eating of free-range chicken. In 2008, based on the success of the project, further discussion occurred among Channel 4 executives regarding the filming of another season.

In January 2008, Fearnley-Whittingstall called on hospitality and food service operators to use less intensively farmed chicken:

In 2007, Fearnley-Whittingstall presented, River Cottage: Gone Fishing, a short series that is the concept's tenth overall, in which he examines some of the lesser-known fish to be caught around the British Isles.

Another Fearnley-Whittingstall project was the conversion of an old inn in Axminster to an organic produce shop and canteen which opened in September 2007.

During 2006, Fearnley-Whittingstall moved River Cottage HQ from the original barn near Bridport to its new premises, Park Farm, a 66-acre (27 ha) farm near Uplyme on the West Dorset/East Devon border. A new series called The River Cottage Treatment was filmed there and was broadcast on Channel 4 in November 2006. This premise of this series involved guests described as "urban-dwellers, fast food lovers and convenient food-mongers" to spend a week with the host on the new property, the guests being required to undertake farm duties and to eat according to the River Cottage philosophy.

In 2005, a series called The View from River Cottage was produced using extracts from the four previous series, accompanied by newly recorded narration.

Fearnley-Whittingstall appeared on the first series of Channel 4's The F Word in 2005, advising Gordon Ramsay on the rearing of turkeys at Ramsay's London home; the turkeys are eaten in the last episode of the series. Further appearances on The F-Word in 2006 and 2007 involved Fearnley-Whittingstall advising Ramsay on the rearing of pigs and lambs, respectively; again, the consumption of the livestock occurs in the last episodes of the series.

Fearnley-Whittingstall established River Cottage HQ in Dorset in 2004, and the operation is now based at Park Farm near Axminster in Devon. An organic smallholding, HQ is also the hub for a broad range of courses and events, and home to the River Cottage Cookery School. Fearnley-Whittingstall continues to teach and host events there on a regular basis. He also oversees the menu and sourcing in the River Cottage Kitchens - restaurants in Axminster, Bristol and Winchester

In 2004, Beyond River Cottage followed Fearnley-Whittingstall's progress as he set up a new business, River Cottage H.Q., on a 44-acre (18 ha) property close to Dottery (near Bridport), Dorset, together with his family. Underpinning his new enterprise is the selling of the produce cultivated on his property at the local marketplace and audience bear witness to the host's experiences as a produce seller, while also intermittently receiving the recipe lessons traditionally seen on food shows. The series concludes with a Christmas special in which a feast is brought together, consisting of a ten bird roast using Fearnley-Whittingstall's own geese and ducks.

In 2002 he presented the six-episode series, Treats from the Edwardian Country House.

He has written articles for The Guardian and The Observer since 2001. A collection of his short articles was published in October 2006 under the title Hugh Fearlessly Eats It All: Dispatches from the Gastronomic Frontline. He edited The Big Bento Box of Unuseless Japanese Inventions, written by Kenji Kawakami.

Hugh married Marie Derome in 2001; the couple live in East Devon with their four children. Fearnley-Whittingstall also runs the River Cottage Canteen and Deli in the centre of Axminster and, in 2011, launched a second River Cottage Canteen and Deli in Plymouth (since closed) and a third in Winchester. He supports the Green Party of England and Wales.

In 1997, Fearnley-Whittingstall moved into River Cottage, a former game-keeper's lodge in the grounds of Slape Manor in Netherbury, Dorset, UK, which he had previously used as a weekend and holiday home. The lodge became the setting for three Channel 4 series: Escape to River Cottage, Return to River Cottage and River Cottage Forever, all directed by Garry John Hughes. He has become an ardent supporter of the organic movement.

Hugh Christopher Edmund Fearnley-Whittingstall (born 14 January 1965) is an English celebrity chef, television personality, journalist, food writer and campaigner on food and environmental issues.