LONDON, February 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

- Just Five Weeks Left to Win the Chance to Star on TV

Budding chefs have just six weeks left to win the chance to star on TV with celebrity chef Jean Christophe Novelli.

The Master Spud Competition - a nationwide search for Britain's best potato recipes - will close on the 20th March, with five shortlisters winning the chance to star in a feature length TV advert with celebrity chef, Jean-Christophe Novelli.

To enter the competition keen cooks should upload their favourite potato recipe to a special website, http://www.manyfacesofpotatoes.co.uk. The website has been set up to allow people to share their own potato creations and as such already contains a wealth of recipes for anyone looking for quick, easy and healthy meal ideas

After the competition closes, lucky finalists will have the chance to cook their potato dish in front of a live audience at one of five roadshows across the UK before going to the public vote. Five overall winners will then have the once in a lifetime opportunity to star alongside Jean Christophe Novelli in a three minute TV ad, aired next June.

Jean Christophe comments: "There will be people in this country with their own potato based recipes to rival any that come out of a professional kitchen and I for one would love to taste them. Potatoes are such a versatile ingredient - they're always on my restaurant menus. Food trends come and go but potatoes are an important part of British life. They are the perfect base for any healthy and delicious meal and are extremely quick and easy to cook.

"This competition offers budding chefs all over the UK the chance to not only show off their cooking skills to the nation but also hopefully inspire even more people to cook with potatoes."

Potatoes cooked with minimal fat and salt are a healthy choice as well as a good source of vitamin C. Many potato dishes also take under 20 minutes to cook and prepare - perfect for busy working mums or professionals.

To find out more about Master Spud, upload your recipe and learn more about potatoes and recipes visit http://www.manyfacesofpotatoes.co.uk.

    
    Potato Facts and Figures

    - There are around 80 varieties of potato grown commercially
      in the UK

    - The first food ever grown in space was a potato in 1995

    - 6 million tonnes of potatoes are grown in Great Britain
      every year

To see what our fans are up to search for Many Faces of Potatoes on Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com/pages/Many-Faces-of-Potatoes/155455107823083) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/manypotatoes#) or visit Jean's page here . (http://www.facebook.com/jcnovelli)

Notes to Editors

The Many Faces of Potatoes campaign is a European programme for the generic promotion of fresh potatoes across Great Britain, France and Belgium which has received EU co-financing with the following organisations:

    
    - AHDB, Potato Council division, for United Kingdom (Great
      Britain)
    - CNIPT for France
    - VLAM for Flanders (Belgium)
    - APAQ-W for Wallonia (Belgium)

Master Spud is a national competition fronted by Jean Christophe Novelli. Five lucky finalists will appear in an extended TV ad, to be broadcast later this year in which one chef will be crowned Master Spud Champion. Consumers can enter the competition at http://www.manyfacesofpotatoes.co.uk; an interactive website dedicated to sharing quick, healthy and tasty recipes and information on potatoes.

Potato Council, supporting the British potato industry, is funded by potato growers and potato trade buyers and is a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (http://www.ahdb.org.uk).

For further press info, please contact: Tom Henry or Gareth Streeter at Clarion Communications: thenry@clarioncomms.co.uk / gstreeter@clarioncomms.co.uk, +44(0)20-7343-3117 / +44(0)20-7343-3222

SOURCE Potato Council