Last night, I attended a dinner held by British Pig and Poultry Fair sponsor ABN and it was an excellent advert of British food at its finest.
They hired Berkshire-based celebrity chef Mike Robinson to cook the four-course meal and between each course, he told diners how he constructed the dish. This was followed by a short video featuring the supplier giving a glimpse of how the animals are reared.
For example, the starter was smoked duck salad made with duck supplied by Cherry Valley. Main course was chicken, reared by Hook 2 Sisters with a clip of James Hook explaining his production methods.
What a brilliant advert for British farming and the enthusiasm of the chef and farmers alike gave diners confidence that the animals had been treated well and reared to very high welfare standards.
Just imagine if pubs and restaurants took on some of this by giving customers more information. I'm convinced the public wants to know more about where their food comes from, especially on the back of the recent BBC undercover investigation which revealed that some unscrupulous pubs were passing imported oxen off as British beef.
Supermarkets have done much good work in recent months promoting British chicken, but now it is the turn of the catering/hospitality sector. It's in their interest to reconnect with consumers too.
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