|
|
 |
| |
Lloyd Blake, the man behind Jura Wine, at the London Food Festival |
Farmers’ markets come off shelf to fight the big stores
Many shoppers may appear to be ready to turn their backs on the
supermarket giants, but the battle is a long way from being won
This paper’s excellent culinary columnist Clare Latimer has urged us all to spurn the supermarkets and shop at farmers’ markets.
The national press too, spent last week bashing these demon retailers. Dangerous additives in foods intended for children, unnecessary packaging, food miles and cheap “throw-away” consumer durables were just a few of their grumbles.
This wave of criticism is backed by a growing disillusionment among shoppers. London is alive with farmers’ markets, while vegetable stalls, fresh-fish shops, bakeries and butcher’s shops are reappearing after years of closures.
Another mushrooming trend is the food fair. This year we have had, among many others, the Taste of London extravaganza and the Innocence jamboree, both in Regent’s Park.
The latest event in this crowded calendar, The London Food Festival, ran for three days last weekend at the Business Design Centre, in Islington.
It was organised by DEW Events, a company specialising in trade exhibitions of all kinds, including footwear and sandwiches. It was billed as the first in a series – with the next one coming in May 2008 – and its declared aim was to provide a platform for the very best in rustic, locally produced food and drink.
It was therefore a surprise to find Australian wine producers Brown Brothers – a big international company – and Britain’s first organic dairy company, Rachel’s Organic, in attendance. Rachel’s, once a family-owned small business, is now big and part of giant American food conglomerate Dean Foods, which has come under fire in the US over its industrial-scale organic dairies and factory-farm milk production.
Both of these companies would claim to be regional producers (but rustic?) and are well represented on the supermarket shelves. Exhibiting too, was Moti Mahal, the Bloomsbury-based Indian restaurant , part of an international restaurant group, credited with inventing chicken tikka
At the other extreme was Jura Wine, a one-man-band company set up by former British Airways employee Lloyd Blake, specialising in organic wines from the little-known French region.
More upmarket were Les Clos Perdus, yet another Languedoc
winery owned by Anglos.
This time the dream is being lived by Australian ballet-dancer- turned-winemaker Paul Old and Wiltshire farmer Hugo Stewart. They have bought several Languedoc vineyards containing old vines, which they prune ruthlessly, reducing the yield.
They make modern wines that leading wine-writer, Jancis Robinson, claims, “sing out with fruit and confidence”.
Also in attendance were Royal Berkshire Pork, a farm producing products from pigs raised in the traditional way on the Berkshire Downs.
Allowed to roam and forage, the pigs, who live in family groups, mature naturally and this improves the flavour of the meat.
The pigs are slaughtered in a local abattoir, reducing food miles.
The farm is owned by Russell and Catherine Kilvinton who state that their philosophy is to provide “great tasting, great value, fully traceable free-range bacon, sausages and chipolatas, in a natural way.”
Royal Berkshire Pork encapsulates the philosophy of the farmers’ market movement, but their products are not on sale at any such market. Instead they adorn the meat shelves at selected branches of Waitrose, Sainsbury and Budgen. The supermarkets may be under the cosh but they are fighting back. |
 |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
