Morrisons has commissioned three poets to turn recipes into rhyme in a bid to encourage shoppers to get cooking.

Professional poets Ian McMillan, John Mole and Peter Sansom have been appointed to write a series of poems for the supermarket chain.

A selection of eight poems penned by the trio will go into Morrisons’ 415 stores today. Video clips with poetry voice-overs will be posted online.
 
McMillan, a former poet in residence at Barnsley football club, has written a poem called ‘use your loaf – bake better bread,’ aimed at teaching consumers how to make bread from scratch.

The ingredients list states: “flour salt water yeast will make you a feast.” The method goes on to say: “Add yeast to the water: let’s go! Mix salt in the flour. Make dough.” It then explains the rest of the bread making process.

McMillan claimed there was a long history of poets being paid to write for specific purposes. “Poets have always accepted shillings from patrons,” he said. "A lot of courtly poets were given financial backing by the king, and there's been a rise of poets in residence since the 80s,” he added.

Topics