Buy Local - we do!

Dozens of restaurants, cafes and hotel kitchens in the county opt for fresh, seasonal food and their attitude will help spread the message that it is better to buy local.

At the Pepper and Oz brassiere, Abbey Road, Malvern, people have a wealth of Worcestershire delicacies to choose from, from local cider to organic Herefordshire beef.

Owner Pete Browne, who runs the restaurant with his wife Lynne, said: “We buy all our meat from Cridlan & Walker, the organic butchers next door.

“We get cider from Much Marcle, ales from the Wye Valley Brewery and wine from Upton-upon-Severn.

“Most of our vegetables are from Pershore producers and we, obviously, get our asparagus from Evesham.

“We tailor all our menus to include seasonal foods.

“The Buy Local campaign is an excellent way of promoting what we’ve got here in Worcestershire and the more we can do to support local producers the better.

“I think more and more people like to know where their food is coming from.”

Felice Tocchini, chef and patron of the Fusion brassiere, Stoulton, works closely with Heart of England Fine Foods to promote local produce.

“A chef is only as good as the ingredients he uses,” said Mr Tocchini.

“Some of the food you buy in the big supermarkets has travelled half way around the world. It may look fresh on the shelf, but it’s been around for two or three weeks.

“I believe England has the best produce in the world.

“If we let supermarkets take over, all the people who produce specialist foods for niche markets will disappear. All those local flavours will be lost forever.”

The list of chefs with a passion for Worcestershire produce goes on – there is the ecoCafe at the Fold, Bransford; Little Ginger Pig Café, above Worcester Library in Foregate Street, the Elms Hotel in Abberley, where head chef Daren Bale is committed to using local foods and, just last week, held a St George’s Day gourmet evening to celebrate home grown foods.

Pub landlord Andy Brown, of the Bush Inn, St John’s, Worcester, is a strong supporter of independent business and believes more people are becoming aware of local producers.

He said: “If I spend my money in St John’s it’s helping the local economy.

“From my point of view, that’s vital. It’s so important to buy local if you want to be part of the local community.

“We’ve got real ale from Herefordshire and the Wye Valley.

“We use the Blue Bear Brewery in Kempsey and there’s Weston’s cider.

“Customers would much rather buy something with a local flavour than something they know can be bought all over the UK.”

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