M&S Farm to Foodhall — Ibérico ham, Spain

For M&S Farm to Foodhall, I travelled to the hills of southern Spain with chef Tom Kerridge to document the people, landscape and traditional processes behind M&S Ibérico ham.

The story follows Tom as he meets Reuben, discovering a process deeply connected to the landscape and one that can take almost four years from start to finish. From raising the distinctive black Ibérico pigs through to the careful curing and maturation of the ham, time, knowledge and patience are fundamental to the finished product.

An important part of the story was photographing the Ibérico pigs roaming among the Spanish oak trees, where acorns form an important part of their diet. This traditional way of rearing the pigs contributes to the characteristic marbling of the meat and the rich, distinctive flavour for which Ibérico ham is known.

Photographing in the hills was essential to showing that connection between animal, landscape and food. Rather than concentrating solely on the finished ham, the aim was to capture the entire world behind it: the pigs in their environment, the landscape that sustains them and the people responsible for their care.

Tom's meeting with Reuben provided the human thread running through the photography. Following their conversations and interactions allowed me to work in a natural, observational way, capturing Tom discovering the process first-hand while documenting Reuben's knowledge, experience and connection to the land.

The resulting photography formed part of M&S Farm to Foodhall, tracing Ibérico ham back to its source and revealing the extraordinary combination of landscape, animal, time, craft and human knowledge behind a product eventually found on the Foodhall shelf.