Planet Organic founder Renée Elliot on her guilty pleasures, daily routine and clean eating

Renée Elliot opened the UK's first organic supermarket in the Nineties 

Kashmira Gander
Monday 18 September 2017 11:19 BST
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Renee Elliot was into organic food before it was cool. She was knocking back smoothies and experimenting with spirulina decades ago, while the rest of us were still coming to terms with the idea that ready meals aren’t the best way to feed ourselves.

Kale, avocado, chia seeds: they were all on her radar back in 1995 when she opened the UK’s first organic supermarket, Planet Organic. After moving from Mississippi to the East Coast of America she was blown away by Bread & Circus: the organic store near her new home that is now a part of Whole Foods. When she settled in London with her British husband, she noticed a gap in the market for upmarket organic produce.

Inspired by what The Body Shop founder Anita Roddick did for skincare, she decided to revamp the image of health foods in the UK. After working in a health food store for two years, she felt confident enough to open her own in 1995. The shelves were packed with meat raised in the UK on Soil Association certified land and featured the country’s first organic juice bar. Elliot's empire currently stands at seven stores and an online shop. By 1998, the GM crops scandal had hit headlines and Elliot was poised to reap the rewards.

Having played a part in transforming how we eat, she recently co-founded Beluga Bean, which runs courses to empower women with business and life skills. We spoke to Elliot about clean eating, her guilty pleasures and having an entrepreneurial spirit.

Seasonal Vegan - Renee Elliott

What do you think of the ‘clean eating’ trend? Do you think it’s useful to label foods as wholly ‘good’ or ‘bad’?

I think it’s funny that ‘clean eating’ is a new trend. Clean eating is just a more cool phrase for ‘health food’, which has been around forever. But I’m always excited about any trend that is a route for more people to improve well-being and vitality.

Some foods are wholly bad like junk food and fizzy soft drinks. Others should be avoided and eaten as little as possible like white flour, white sugar, bad fats and others. But most important is which ingredients are worth avoiding, which are good to include in your diet – and how to prepare and use them correctly. This is why I have written a Very Useful book called ‘What to Eat & How to Eat it’.

What food do you eat infrequently, but you really enjoy when you do?

If you mean wicked treats, I infrequently enjoy a croissant or an Italian gelato. If you mean luxurious treats, I occasionally have the pleasure of grilled artichokes, which is one of my favourite four foods.

Renée Elliott founded the UK's first organic supermarket 

What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner on an average day?

Ah, pretty impossible to say as I eat such a wide variety of foods. I have an astonishingly healthy and delicious diet, and I cook from scratch every day for me and my family. My three children and I are pescatarians and my husband is a vegetarian. My focus is seasonal, abundant and varied vegetables plus whole grains, great fats, good protein, beans, nuts and seeds. Meals must be organic, nutritious, delicious and quick.

A normal day may look like this. Breakfast: overnight soaked American-style whole grain spelt and oat pancakes with blueberries and soaked pecans. Lunch (I have a no-cook lunch rule): Hummus with mixed crudités such as carrots, cucumber, fennel, raw beetroot, heart of Romaine lettuce boats and a mixture of wholegrain spelt and gluten-free crackers. Dinner: brothy one-pan noodles with broccoli, mushroom and leeks simmered briefly in a large frying pan with Japanese wholegrain noodles, toasted sesame oil and nori flakes - and jumbo prawns on the side.

What is the biggest change we need to see in attitudes towards food? Acceptance of organic food? Less food waste? Better education? Something else entirely?

The problem is the complexity of all of these issues. It’s a huge ask, but the solution would be for people to have a real understanding of three things: conventional farming practices, food waste, nutrition and health. If these were taught and understood, I think the world would change.

How have your own attitudes towards food shifted and developed over the years?

How long do you have?! It has been a long journey with occasional radical changes and ongoing minor adjustments along the way. Creating healthy eating doesn’t happen all at once and is easier as a stepped process. I suggest that people commit to one healthy change at a time – like swapping white flour products for wholegrain. Embed that for a month or more and then make another change. By the end of the year, you could have 12 or so great new habits!

What is the biggest mistake people make when trying to lead a wholesome, organic lifestyle?

People often set themselves too great a task and it becomes hard work instead of some great adventure. They try to eat the right fats, cut out sugar, bake with wholegrain flour, reduce gluten and eat more raw food, become overwhelmed, get paralysed and give up. I don’t advocate this as I say that the stress will probably kill you before the sugar does.

What item can you not live without in the kitchen?

In truth, there are too many essential things in my kitchen. If I had to choose a food item, it is my Clearspring Organic Matcha Green Tea Powder. I trust the quality, love the flavour and celebrate the health benefits and goodness. If I had to choose a cooking item, it is the Kamata Japanese chef knife that my husband bought for me in Japan. It enhances my chopping and cooking pleasure.

What is your advice for someone looking to set up a food business?

My advice is follow your dream, paint the vision, write your business plan, take care of yourself and have fun. It’s what we teach at Beluga Bean. Our new programme “Launch” is an 11-month journey with myself and my business partner Sam Wigan, where we educate those on the programme in how to business plan, whilst also encouraging personal discovery with a group of powerful entrepreneurs.

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