_____________________________________________________________________________________________ Mindful
Chef
“ Another great example would be our commitment to MSC accredited fish ; more customers today are looking for the blue label than they were ten years ago , well at least I hope they are . Blue Planet did wonders for how the nation thinks about packaging , maybe we need someone to produce something similar for sourcing standards .”
Seasonal sourcing
Another of the company ’ s efforts , in the name of sustainability and ethics , is to primarily base its recipes around seasonal products . “ During the winter , a lot of the fresh produce that people like to eat doesn ’ t grow in this country ,” Rob states .
“ So , we try to utilize the ingredients that do , but obviously have to divert somewhat , as we can ’ t write 40 recipes per week based on turnips , swede , and kale . We typically go to the European partners of our UK farmers , such as Tomato Stall on the Isle of Wight , who has a partner farm in Spain that can tide us over until the British season comes back in .
“ The transition between seasons is always a tough period to manage . It requires great flexibility , as there ’ s no set date for one region finishing and another starting up . However , we still strive to buy locally where possible and to constantly bring new tastes and ingredients to the menu for our customers .
“ It just means we have to be super conscious about where we can make suitable and easy recipe changes based on the season ; if green beans were originally planned in the recipe for example , but purple sprouting broccoli is locally available , we ’ ll make the change .
foodchainmagazine . com 99