Local Food News (Jan 27, 2008)
Some local-foods-type news stories from the past week:
Compulsory Cooking Lessons for Schoolchildren
This was the Government-related food story of the week – the announcement by Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families Ed Balls that from 2011, every 11-14 year-old will be given practical cookery lessons. This measure is part of the Governments strategy to cut obesity which was in turn launched on on Wednesday this week by Alan Johnson.Of the new cooking plan, Ed Balls said:
“Simple cooking is a fundamental skill that every young person should master – it is at the heart of tackling obesity and will enable future generations to understand food, diet and nutrition; and put together healthy meals for their entire lives” (Press Release).
The announcement drew plenty of comment (examples here and here), and prompted an open letter from the Food for Life Partnership, the Soil Association, Focus on Food Campaign, the Health Education Trust, and Garden Organic, which was published in the Telegraph on Thursday. The letter welcomed the announcement, but emphasised that “obesity is just one symptom of a wider crisis in our food culture”. Of the Food for Life Partnership, they stated:
Schools across the country are signing up to transform their food culture with the Food for Life Partnership. This is not about classroom theory: it’s about practical experience of food from the field to the plate.
“Young people are growing, cooking and eating fresh, seasonal, local and organic food, and visiting the farms where their meat is produced. Food is becoming real for them. School will set them up for life with the knowledge and practical skills to take control of how they eat and its impact on their health, animal welfare and the climate” (Letter in Telegraph).
You can learn more about the Food for Life Partnership from its homepage, and from the press release which accompanied its launch.
Scotland’s Farmers sound the Meat Shortage alarm
- an alarm which apparently hasn’t been sounded for some time. The meat shortage referred to by NFU Scotland’s Livestock Committee is facing suppliers in the UK and Ireland following a period of sustained low livestock prices, coupled with high fertiliser, feed and duel prices. Farmers are concerned that another price drop is imminent to reflect rising costs, and NFU Scotland warns that some farmers may be forced to sell breeding stock unless market prices improve. The warning follows reports last week that Sainsbury’s had been forced to source “emergency beef” when usual UK suppliers ran short.
Local Souring for Organic Bread Grain
This project was reported by the Farmers’ Guardian last week and commented on by the Soil Association on Monday – a joint project between DEFRA and the Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association to source sustainable organic UK-produced wheat for organic bread production. At present, more than 50% of the wheat used in UK organic bread baking comes from overseas, because the domestic crop does not consistently provide flour that meets the standards and needs of organic bakers in the UK. Field trials are testing different spring wheat varieties as we speak…
Local Food Well Represented in Best UK Restaurants
Writing for the Guardian, Sam Jones revealed that “Britain has tired of the exoticism of fusion food and rediscovered a taste for simple, seasonal and locally sourced dishes”, citing the 2008 Michelin guide to restaurants in the UK and Ireland. The guide’s editor, Derek Bulmer, is quoted saying:
“Informal dining, greater use of locally grown produce and seasonality are the trends evident in this year’s guide … Customers are demanding more information about food provenance and sustainability, and chefs are responding by rediscovering local ingredients” (Bulmer, quoted in the Guardian).
Although the Guardian restaurant critic Matthew Norman later accuses the Michelin Guides of being a bit too pretentious for most of us (or something like that), even he admits they may have caught on to a new trend this year, observing “I think there’s a lot more provenance mentioned in menus”.
