Miles Collins

To be or not to be, that’s the question.

Much has been made in the media of late about the importance of using local produce be it in the home or your nearby restaurant. Television chefs have endeared themselves to the cause and now it would seem that food is only any good if it has an old fashioned English name to it. Now I am all for traceability in the food chain, it provides a vital safety net for the hotelier and restauranteer alike in the event of an outbreak of food poisoning but how many of you really, honestly care about the name of every pig farmer or asparagus grower? I was reading a menu yesterday from one of the highest rated restaurants in my county and everything on the menu has a name attached to it, including the butcher and the fruit and vegetable distributor-middle men!

I have long been honest with my customers and in interviews with the local media whenever I am asked about using local produce. My answer has always been “Yes, but only if it is good enough, provides me with full traceability, is cost effective and relevant to what I am doing, if not then I don’t use it.”

Last year I attended a seminar given by a major good food guide which was designed to help the local hotel and restaurant trade better understand the inspectors criteria when judging an establishment. I asked what their stance was on using produce from further afield and they told me that nowadays I could buy food from Scotland and call it local, as could a chef in Dover who buys food straight from his French neighbours. So basically anything which could be delivered in a short time frame could be considered local.

Now I am all for supporting our local food suppliers and I do it when I can but what I object to are those establishments jumping on the bandwagon and doing the exact opposite. Take for instance the chef who is highly regarded in the national organic produce arena, apparently his restaurants use only organic fruit and vegetables much of which is grown by himself, talk to a former head chef of the organisation and he finds it hilarious. Then you go to a Farmer’s market, did you go to the one that was caught out for using supermarket bought goods?

This is were the French and Italians get it right, they recognise and respect the work of the independant traditional producers and have laws protecting their name and work which in turn protects the customer with a guarantee of quality.

Local producers need better protection and the advertising of using local produce needs better policing. Honesty is always the best policy even if it doesn’t always comply with the latest city driven trends.