2024-09-30-accounts

Charity Registration No. 1100956

THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY ANNUAL REPORT AND UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

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THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Trustees

Name	Role	Role Date of appointment	Role Date of appointment
Richard Warren Shepro		Chair	18-Dec-2023
Voltaire Cang		Trustee	18-Dec-2023
Cameron Stauch		Trustee	07-Jul-23
Jane Levi		Trustee	07-Jul-23
Priya Mani		Trustee	22-Aug-22
Kenneth Bruce Albala		Trustee	22-Aug-22
David Henry Matchett		Trustee	22-Aug-22
Naomi Hilary Duguid		Trustee	22-Aug-22
Jake Tilson		Trustee	05-Aug-21
Harold James McGee		Trustee	05-Aug-21
Dr Scott Alves Barton		Trustee	05-Aug-21
Dr Elaine Mahon		Trustee	05-Aug-21
Professor Mark Bradford McWilliams		Trustee	05-Nov-20
Carolyn Elizabeth Steel		Trustee	06-Aug-20

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THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY

CONTENTS

	Page
Trustees' report	3 - 6
Independent examiner's report	7
Statement of financial activities	8
Balance sheet	9
Notes to the financial statements	10 - 15

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THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY

TRUSTEES' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2024.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's [governing document], the Charities Act 2011 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019).

Objectives and activities

The charity's objective is to promote research and advance education in all aspects of food and cooking for the benefit of the public. The charity interprets the words food and cookery in their widest sense to include, among other things, consideration of agriculture, climate, history, culture, politics, and social justice as these issues relate to food and cookery. This interpretation is reflected in the charity’s mission to “change the conversation, expand the table, and improve the plate.”

The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake to achieve its objectives. The main focus of the charity is the organisation of an annual symposium on a specific theme exploring food and cookery. In keeping with the charity’s mission to educate the public, there are no academic prerequisites or other formal qualifications for attending the symposium or any of the other activities of the charity described below. The symposium is open to the public on a first come, first served basis, on payment of the required fee to cover expenses. Attendance at St Catherine’s is subject to the physical limitations of the College and is capped at 220; an unlimited number of online-only symposiasts may attend at a modest fee. Many of the online-only symposiasts are from Asia, the Global South, or have personal reasons that make travel challenging or impossible.

Following the charity’s tradition, the 2024 symposium theme was chosen by vote by the 2021 symposiasts. The theme selected for 2024 was “Gardens, Flowers, and Fruits.” As the 2021 symposium was conducted exclusively online due to the lingering concerns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the theme of “Gardens, Flowers, and Fruits” captured the optimistic outlook that symposiasts would be returning to in-person gatherings, as happened in 2022 with the first two-part symposium, with a three day event at St Catherine’s followed by an extended online discussion period.

The 2024 symposium

The 2024 symposium continued the model established in 2022, although the charity faced unanticipated challenges in planning for 2024 due to the closure of significant parts of the St Catherine’s campus in the autumn of 2023 because of the discovery of unsafe reinforced autoclave aerated concrete (RAAC) in the roofs of main buildings. The trustees considered several alternatives, including postponement of the symposium, alternative venues, or returning to an exclusively online format. In January 2024, after the College was able to present models showing temporary structures that would be in place in time for the July symposium, the trustees voted to return to St Catherine’s temporary spaces. These spaces amply addressed the needs of the symposium, allowing the in-person meeting to be held from 5-7 July at St Catherine’s College, Oxford. Online discussions of the various presentations continued from 14-28 July via Zoom meetings. Following the charity’s past practice, draft papers, video presentations, and other materials were distributed to all registered symposiasts via the symposium website.

The 2024 symposium had 205 symposiasts from 24 countries attending the in-person event at St Catherine’s, with an additional 100 symposiasts joining the online portion from 18 countries. 25 students attended, and each was given a 50% reduced rate. The symposium also offered free places to the keynote presenters, guest chefs and other invited plenary presenters, and the four competitively selected Young Chefs, practitioners with less than ten years’ experience in the field. The 2024 Young Chefs were chosen from a pool of 35 outstanding applicants.

2024 symposium activities included:

• [Plenary keynote presentations ]

• [Ms Carolyn Steel, “Gardens: how our modification of nature expresses our evolving place in the world”; ]

• [Professor Annalisa Marzano, “Rome’s horticultural ‘revolution’: ideology, display and the economy”; and ]

• [Professor Cristina Mazzoni, “Love, magic, and the bittersweet flavor of oranges in Italian culture.” ]

• [A plenary roundtable discussion at St Catherine’s explored cultural and political definitions of gardens. ]

• [ A plenary presentation about the heritage and science of local ciders by Barny Butterfield of Sanford Orchards and Dr ] Amanda Burridge, University of Bristol

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• [Fourteen panels explored forty papers at St Catherine’s on themes ranging from “the cultural politics of preservation” ] and “upsetting the conventional apple cart” to “stories of resilience” and “symbiosis: plants are actors, too.” An additional four papers were presented by exclusively online symposiasts during the 14-28 July continuation. Papers for delivery were selected from the 118 proposals submitted to an anonymous committee.

• [Two lunches and two dinners prepared by guest chefs, with the support and assistance of St Catherine’s chef Tim Kelsey ] and his staff, were an integral part of the curriculum. Whenever possible, we selected foodstuffs and products from local vendors to support the community. The chefs and growers introduced each meal in plenary sessions:

• [Chef Arthur Potts Dawson of Omved Gardens, “Rhapsody of greens: from the gardens of Oxford,” accompanied ] by Sanford Orchards ciders;

• [Chef Debbie Peters of Wolves Lane Centre Cafe, with Paulette Henry, Head Grower at Black Rootz, “From the ] Caribbean to North London: a tincture of resilience”;

• [Chef Thomas Zacharias, founder of Locavore (India), “The forest as garden”; ]

• [Young Chefs’ “Root to Bloom” lunch, mentored by Chef Cordula Peters, Glyndebourne Opera House. The Young ] Chefs program was in its fifteenth year in 2024, and offered early-career professionals unique opportunities to meet with other chefs and to participate in the symposium's intellectual content.

• [Other activities and workshops included: ]

• [a workshop on cordial-making led by symposiast Gerhardus Geldenhuis ]

• [a workshop on saffron led by symposiast Nader Mehravari ]

• [a workshop on Wikipedia editing techniques led by Roberta Wedge ]

• [a workshop on The Sifter research tool led by symposiasts Gary Thompson, Joe Wheaton, and Kate Saines ]

• [a botanical painting session led by symposiasts Elisabeth Luard and Birgette Kampmann ]

• [a virtual botanical garden tour of the FoodMuseum led by symposiast Linda Roodenberg ]

One unusual feature of the symposium is that all paper presenters prerecorded a short (15-20 minute) talk about their paper. The videos were posted online at the conclusion of the weekend at St Catherine’s to allow all symposiasts to listen to every presentation, a benefit to both the exclusively online and St Catherine’s attendees. Following a brief travel break, the symposium reconvened for its online portion from 14-28 July. During the travel break, Over those two weeks symposiasts could join live Zoom Meetings for extended Q & A sessions with each of the keynote presenters, chefs and growers, paper panelists, Wikipedia and The Sifter experts, as well as an exploration of growing herbs to attract bees for honey and pollination with master gardener Barbara Segall and Sarah Wyndam Lewis, founder of Bermondsey Street Bees, a sustainable beekeeping practice. The final day of the symposium culminated in an online summary of “our garden’s harvest” by Board of Trustees chairman, Richard Warren Shepro, followed by a vote on the topic for 2027, with “Food and Time” garnering the winning total.

How the charity achieves its educational mission: moving beyond the July symposium

1. Post-symposium review, publication, and public release of papers

After discussion at the symposium, authors may reconsider their drafts and submit a revised version. Papers are edited professionally and published in hard copy for sale by Equinox Publishing. After a several years hold-back to allow the publisher an opportunity to recoup costs, the papers are uploaded to Google Books and are freely available to the public. Proceedings through the 2019 Symposium are currently online.

2. Continuing online activities

The significant investment in our web-based capabilities in 2020 borne of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to reap rewards through year-round activities. In 2024 these included numerous Zoom Meetings, ranging from Kitchen Table Conversations, Wikipedia editing sessions, The Sifter “Ask” sessions, and, in partnership with Birgitte Kampmann, hosting Kitchen Lab cookalongs. All of these sessions are free and open to the public upon advance registration.

A. Kitchen Table Conversations are monthly, 90 minute Zoom Meetings with invited international guests to discuss topical food-related subjects and facilitated by OFS trustees. 8 Kitchen Table Conversations attracted 564 attendees for the 2023-2024 academic season, with topics ranging from educating children about food in schools, queer food, and the contemporary foodzine world. There is no charge to attend these sessions, although the charity encourages donations to help support its mission and has been gratified by the number of contributions.

B. Wikipedia Editing. The charity also partnered with representatives from the British Library to hosted 54 attendees in nine 60 minute Wikipedia editing sessions via Zoom, designed to increase and improve food and cookery related entries, especially concerning women, who are underrepresented on Wikipedia.

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C. The Sifter “Ask” sessions. Another continuing initiative are monthly 60 minute Zoom sessions devoted to helping develop The Sifter database. 172 participants in 8 sessions learned about a unique tool under development for researching food and cookery, is part of the growing field of digital humanities.

D. The Kitchen Lab and KL Techniques. The charity also hosted Danish cookery writer Birgette Kampmann for monthly Kitchen Lab sessions, 2 hour interactive cook-alongs that add an expert guest to provide cultural and gastronomic context to the featured recipes. Complementing the Kitchen Lab are KL Techniques organized by Kampmann, shorter Zoom sessions devoted to a particular culinary technique. 96 attendees took part in 6 events.

E. Digital and Social media serves as another public forum for the serious study of food and cookery. Our Facebook page provides a lively international discussion forum with more than 7,436 followers, many of whom are experts in their fields. Our Instagram account has nearly 5,700 followers. We send a bimonthly newsletter to 2,7500 subscribers out of a total 3,600 signed up symposiasts on our website.

Fund-raising, sponsorships, grants, and tuition support

The charity does not have significant grant-making abilities nor capital to invest. Grant-making and funding for special projects such, as digitisation of our past papers, is currently supported by donations to the charity from the general public , Japan’s RINRI Institute of Ethics, and by The American Friends of the Oxford Symposium, a United States-based charitable organisation. Student places and Young Chefs places are supported by The American Friends. Keynote presenters, guest chefs and invited plenary speakers had their symposium tuition paid by the charity. Tuition assistance for hardship applications was reviewed on a case-by-case basis. In 2024, the charity and The American Friends subsidised an additional 4 places.

The trustees continued to build an expanding network of food and beverage sponsors, donors, and helpers whose contributions at or below cost are critical to the success of the symposium. In 2024, sponsors included Sanford Orchards, and Bloomsbury Online Food Library.

Administration of the charity

The trust has no employees, and the trustees themselves, plus vetted volunteers, run most of the trust’s activities. Auditing services are provided by Bradbury Stell and website design and upgrades are handled by Igloo.

Non-trustee volunteers assist in the organisation of the annual symposium and included, in 2024, Lucia Santos and Annelise Dennis. Certain trustees assumed duties well beyond the supervisory obligations of all trustees.

In 2024, the following amounts were paid to trustees for the following efforts:

• David Matchett for website development, registration and administration duties beyond the scope of Treasurer’s responsibilities £9,000

• Mark McWilliams, for professional editing of the symposium papers £4,000

• Cathy Kaufman for services of director of symposium £2,000

• Free places at the symposium were taken by

• David Matchett, registrar

• Jake Tilson for design services

• Cameron Staunch for meals coordination

• • Carolyn Steel as keynote speaker

Mr David Matchett Treasurer and trustee

12[th] June 25

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT

TO THE TRUSTEES OF THE OXFORD SYMPOSIUM ON FOOD AND COOKERY

I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery (the charity) for the year ended 30 September 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

• 1 accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the 2011 Act; or

• 2 the financial statements do not accord with those records; or

• 3 the financial statements do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

Bradbury Stell Chartered Certified Accountants

Unit 2 Beverley Court 26 Elmtree Road Teddington Middlesex TW11 8ST

Dated:

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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

The statement of financial activities includes all the gains and losses recognised in the year. All

income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

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BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on

David Matchett Treasurer

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AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

Accounting policies

Charity information

The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery is an unincorporated charity established by a Deed of Trust made 14 March 2003.

1.1 Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Deed of Trust, the Charities Act 2011 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.

The financial statements have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a true and fair view. This departure has involved following the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities applying FRS 102 rather than the version of the Statement of Recommended Practice which is referred to in the Regulations but which has since been withdrawn.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

1.2 Going concern

At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

1.3 Charitable funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Endowment funds are subject to specific conditions by donors that the capital must be maintained by the charity.

1.4 Income

Income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

Legacies are recognised on receipt or otherwise if the charity has been notified of an impending distribution, the amount is known, and receipt is expected. If the amount is not known, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset.

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AS AT 30 SEPTEMBER 2024

Accounting policies

(Continued)

1.5 Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.

1.6 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Derecognition of financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

1 Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.

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