yby1
05-09-2008, 02:43 PM
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay says British restaurants should be fined if they serve fruit and vegetables which are not in season.
He told the BBC that fruit and vegetables should be locally-sourced and only on menus when in season...
..."Fruit and veg should be seasonal," he said. "Chefs should be fined if they haven't got ingredients in season on their menu.
"I don't want to see asparagus on in the middle of December. I don't want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home grown."
...
Following the chef's comments, Oxfam's head of research, Duncan Green, said he was sure "the million farmers in east Africa who rely on exporting their goods to scrape a living would see Gordon Ramsay's assertions as a recipe for disaster".
Canned insult
Mr Green added: "He [Ramsay], like all of us, wants to tackle climate change, but it is vital that we ensure that poor people who are already hit hardest by climate change are not made to suffer even further."
Meanwhile, Terry Jones from the National Farmers Union (NFU) said that, while he agrees with the chef's complaint, legislation would be going too far.
He said: "We've almost got too much legislation in food and farming as things stand.
"Really what we need to see is that passion and that commitment to seasonality being pushed into consumer education and into this commitment on menu transparency."
And the Soil Association's Food for Life Partnership director Emma Noble said the celebrity chef was right to suggest that "seasonal menus are a key step in cutting the environmental impact of our food".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7390959.stm
This is a really interesting topic because while a ban on out of season produce while help local economies and the environment, it can cause a economic disaster to countries that rely on their produce exports.
I agree with Terry Jones of the NFU, that says that there should be a commitment to consumer education.
He told the BBC that fruit and vegetables should be locally-sourced and only on menus when in season...
..."Fruit and veg should be seasonal," he said. "Chefs should be fined if they haven't got ingredients in season on their menu.
"I don't want to see asparagus on in the middle of December. I don't want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home grown."
...
Following the chef's comments, Oxfam's head of research, Duncan Green, said he was sure "the million farmers in east Africa who rely on exporting their goods to scrape a living would see Gordon Ramsay's assertions as a recipe for disaster".
Canned insult
Mr Green added: "He [Ramsay], like all of us, wants to tackle climate change, but it is vital that we ensure that poor people who are already hit hardest by climate change are not made to suffer even further."
Meanwhile, Terry Jones from the National Farmers Union (NFU) said that, while he agrees with the chef's complaint, legislation would be going too far.
He said: "We've almost got too much legislation in food and farming as things stand.
"Really what we need to see is that passion and that commitment to seasonality being pushed into consumer education and into this commitment on menu transparency."
And the Soil Association's Food for Life Partnership director Emma Noble said the celebrity chef was right to suggest that "seasonal menus are a key step in cutting the environmental impact of our food".
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7390959.stm
This is a really interesting topic because while a ban on out of season produce while help local economies and the environment, it can cause a economic disaster to countries that rely on their produce exports.
I agree with Terry Jones of the NFU, that says that there should be a commitment to consumer education.