London Food Link to launch online directory
The London Source, 9th October 2007.
Maria Bracken
The London Food Link is launching an online directory tomorrow to help businesses locate food produced in and around London.
The ‘local food finder’ will provide London buyers with information on a wide range of local and sustainable producers that are all local to London.
Businesses will now be able to search for products around the capital without having to search one county at a time.
Ben Reynolds, from London Food Link, said: “One way for businesses to edge ahead of the competition is to use distinctive, local produce and communicate this to customers.
“This is backed up by market research – both Mintel and the Institute of Grocery Distribution report increasing consumer demand for seasonal, local and sustainable produce. There is a gap in the London market which businesses could be filling.”
London Food Link runs Ethical Eats, a network of restaurants and caterers keen to improve their sustainability, and is also a partner on the Greener Food project, which offers free environment business support to London’s restaurants and caterers.
Source: http://www.thelondonsource.co.uk/
Diners want to see local food named on menus
Caterer and Hotelkeeper , 16th May 2007
London restaurants that don’t source produce locally and ethically risk being “left behind”, according to a report by sustainable food organisation London Food Link (LFL).
Three quarters of London diners want to see local foods named on restaurant and café menus, LFL’s One Planet Dining report states.
Customers are particularly keen to vegetables, meat and poultry locally sourced.
The report recommends that restaurants and cafés in London train staff in how to find, buy, and cook local and seasonal foods, co-ordinate with suppliers and conduct environment audits to improve the sustainability of their food supply.
London Food Link, a division of food and farming charity Sustain is also calling for the industry to develop a "Local to London" brand and establish a green restaurant association.
The company recently established Ethical Eats – a network of restaurants committed to environmentally friendly business practices.
Ben Reynolds, co-ordinator of London Food Link, said: “We rarely came across examples of restaurants or suppliers that had been offered professional support to promote sustainability.”
Diners want local food on the menu
New Consumers, 10th May 2007
Gemma Taylor
A report published this week found that almost three quarters of customers want to see local foods in restaurants and cafés.
One Planet Dining, published by London Food Link, also found that restaurants are missing out by not meeting the demand. With UK consumers now spending more on eating out than on grocery shopping, there are huge possibilities for restaurants who put environment on the menu.
While places like the Duke of Cambridge in Islington have already done so, others need to be jostled in the right direction.
As Geetie Singh, Duke of Cambridge’s founder, recognises: ‘In the coming years, more and more people will be interested in the provenance of restaurant food - local food and sustainability will be key. . .Restaurants that don’t recognize this will be left behind.’
To help others catch up One Planet Dining recommends developing a ‘Local to London’ brand, which would coordinate and support local suppliers.
Also on the menu is the scope for establishing a ‘green restaurant’ association, which would follow on nicely from London Link’s Ethical Eats network.
Source: http://www.newconsumer.com/news/item/diners_want_local_food_on_the_menu/
London's eateries are missing out on a booming market for local and ethical food, according to a new report.
Morning Advertiser, 8th May 2007
Lucy Britner
One Planet Dining was published by London Food Link - group of organisations dedicated to increasing the availability of sustainable foods. The report suggests that operators are not communicating sustainability to their customers.
Geetie Singh, founder of the world's first organic certified pub, the Duke of Cambridge in Islington, said: “In the coming years, more and more people will be interested in the provenance of restaurant food - local food and sustainability will be key."
Interviews with customers show that they would welcome more information and almost 75 per cent of customers say they want to see local foods named on menus, particularly vegetables, meat and poultry.
Oliver Rowe, who runs Konstam at the Prince Albert in Kings Cross, buys about 90 per cent of its produce from inside the M25. He said: "Konstam’s customers have become more and more engaged with what we’re trying to do. It’s clear we’re not only getting the message across that local produce is delicious and ethical, but also that there’s a growing desire to change the way we think about food.”
But a spokesman for London Food Link said there is a lack of training and guidance to help operators introduce such measures.
London Food Link co-ordinator Ben Reynolds said: “We rarely came across examples of restaurants or suppliers that had been offered professional support to promote sustainability."
The report recommends four measures to drive the idea forward. They are:
- Training for caterers in how to find, buy and cook with fresh, local and seasonal food.
- Coordination of suppliers, and marketing support for food produced in close to London, with improved local food infrastructure and possibly a ‘Local to London’ brand.
- Free environmental audits for restaurants to help them identify ways to improve the sustainability of their waste, water, energy and food supply.
- Establishing a ‘green restaurant’ association.
Source: http://www.morningadvertiser.co.uk/news_detail.aspx?articleid=34512&categoryid=9007
Better resources for ethical restaurateurs
The Ethical Careers Guide, 23rd April 2007
Trina Wallace
Entrepreneurs who want to open "green restaurants" will benefit from a recently launched network promoting the ethical approach to catering.
"Ethical Eats" was launched in early April by London Food Link, part of food and farming charity Sustain. It aims to provide restaurant owners in the capital with more information about ethical sourcing of ingredients, dealing responsibly with waste and putting sustainability at the heart of catering.
Restaurateurs and chefs who attended the first Ethical Eats meeting said the initiative will make it easier for entrepreneurs to set up more ethical restaurants in the future.
"If you want to set up your own ethically-sourced restaurant, you have to be resourceful, determined, a bit of an idealist and have a strong vision," says Allegra McEvedy, owner of the Leon chain of healthy fast food restaurants.
"You need to talk to as many people as you can who are doing something you admire. Come and talk to us and see the bits we are doing right. Glean information out of anyone who has got it. Keep trying and don't compromise."
Caroline Bennett, founder of Japanese sushi chain Moshi Moshi, says anyone interested in opening an ethical restaurant must also do their homework. She says that even though it's becoming easier to open a “green” restaurant, it takes much longer and can be confusing.
She says: "You have to learn to know what to ask your suppliers. It's a minefield. A supplier might tell you: 'Yes, it's 100% biodegradable cornstarch.' But the next question you'd need to ask would be: 'Is the cornstarch GM-free?' Unless you know a little bit about the subject, you'll be given answers that sound great but you won't be getting the whole picture."
Bennett says Ethical Eats will help new restaurateurs to be more ethical and have more time to concentrate on running a successful business.
The network meets every two months and is attended by London restaurateurs and representatives from campaign groups like Greenpeace, the Marine Stewardship Council and other environmentalists.
"The restaurant business has a bad reputation ethically in terms of the working conditions of chefs and waiters and how much waste is produced," says McEvedy. "Hopefully Ethical Eats will help to change this."
Ethical route needs guidance
Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 19th April 2007
Kerstin Kühn
Supermarkets have wooed customers for years now by pushing sustainable policies, and now an organisation has been set up to help restaurants do the same. Kerstin Kühn looks at how Ethical Eats will get its message across.
While many of the UK's retailers and supermarkets have responded to their customers' concerns regarding both sustainable and ethical business practices, restaurants, until now, have largely escaped scrutiny.
But with UK consumers now spending more money eating out than buying food to cook at home, it seems the time has come for restaurants to follow the lead set by the retail sector and develop more environmentally sustainable practices.
A new organisation has been set up to promote green issues among London's restaurants. Ethical Eats is a group established by London Food Link, a division of the food and farming charity Sustain, which aims to help restaurants adopt environmentally friendly business practices and help them provide diners with information on how they are working to achieve this.
Expert advice
It is essentially a network of restaurants that brings its members together to discuss how they can become more sustainable, providing both expert advice and support on green issues.
Charlotte Jarman, project officer for London Food Link, explained: "Our aim is to enable restaurateurs to make their businesses more sustainable, and we hope that our existing partners will be able to inspire others to join the network and do the same."
She said that, although the organisation is still young, the response from the industry has been positive.
"A lot of restaurants are already doing a lot to become more environmentally friendly, but there is a general sense of a lack of advice and assistance, which Ethical Foods aims to address," Jarman said.
This lack of support expressed by hospitality businesses was highlighted in a survey by purchasing consortium Beacon, which suggested that two-thirds of operators in England and Wales felt there was not enough help or advice from government on ways of making their business more environmentally friendly.
Beacon utilities and services buyer Ben Waters said: "The majority of businesses in the hospitality industry are making efforts to change the way they operate. But there appears to be a general feeling that more advice and support should be available, and businesses are not sure where to go to find this."
Allegra McEvedy, co-owner and chef at healthy fast-food chain Leon, agreed, adding that she warmly welcomed the support Ethical Eats will bring to the sector.
"It's amazing how little support there has been until now for chefs and restaurateurs who care about the environment," she said. "I cannot stress what a difference Ethical Eats will make by helping us and other like-minded businesses to get the right information and advice."
Hands-on help
However, not everyone's response has been as positive. Caroline Bennett, founder of Japanese sushi chain Moshi Moshi, said that, while the initiative looks great on paper, it needs to provide practical support to make a difference.
"I have had meetings where they send around experts to identify areas of your business that need to be improved to make it more environmentally friendly," she said.
"But while it's a positive step to look at these issues, there needs to be practical, hands-on advice, and I haven't received any of that yet. For Ethical Eats to work it is vital to provide hands-on advice on how to adopt sustainable business practices."
Bennett points to the use of more environmentally friendly energy, recycling, and finding suppliers providing sustainable produce as the main issues facing restaurants wanting to make changes.
"It's not easy to implement changes, and simply switching to green electricity or recycling your waste isn't always practical," she said.
So while Ethical Eats seems a positive step towards a more environmentally friendly restaurant industry, it needs to provide practical support to ensure restaurants can follow its advice.
If it can provide hands-on solutions as well as a platform for restaurants to communicate their efforts with customers, Ethical Eats could well make the difference the industry needs to follow the supermarkets' lead.
Ethical Eats
Restaurants and other catering businesses interested in joining the Ethical Eats network can contact Charlotte Jarman on 020 7837 1228 or by e-mail at charlotte@sustainweb.org.
Source:
http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/2007/04/19/313201/ethical-route-needs-guidance.html
Green restaurants get together with Ethical Eats
Hippyshopper: your guide to ethical consumerism, 12th April 2007
Ever wondered if your favourite restaurants are doing their bit for the environment? Until now, many of them were committing every sin under the sun, but a new breed of eateries like Acorn House in London and Carpe Diem in Bristol are blazing a trail in sustainable eating that's now generated enough buzz to form a new network of its own.
Step in Ethical Eats, a new association for sustainable restauranteurs devised by London Food Link.
The project is still in its early stages, but has already gained the support of Greenpeace, the Marine Stewardship Council and other environmental groups. The groups founders are looking to promote all aspects of green catering among the capital's restaurants, with the ultimate aim of setting up a more formal association of green restaurants being mooted. There are certainly changes afoot in this field, and I'll be watching this one with interest; the group's next meeting is due to take place during London Sustainability Week in June.
Source: http://www.hippyshopper.com/2007/04/green_restauran.html
London Food Link introduce Ethical Eats
Newconsumer.com, 12th April 2007
Gemma Taylor
A unique new organisation has been launched to promote green issues among London restaurants. ‘Ethical Eats’ is a network of the capital’s eateries brought together by sustainable food experts London Food Link to promote an ethical approach to catering.
At its first meeting, representatives of restaurants including Leon, Moshi Moshi and Sausage & Mash Café met with Greenpeace, the Marine Stewardship Council and other environmentalists to discuss the slippery issue of sustainable fish.
Charlotte Jarman of London Food Link said: ‘We are hugely encouraged to see restaurant owners take the environment seriously. As far as we know this is the first attempt to unite caterers to take action on these vital issues.’
The network will meet several times each year to discuss ethical and environmental issues affecting the restaurant trade.
The next meeting of the network will be a ‘meet the producer’ event on 5 June, to take place during London Sustainability Weeks, at which restaurant owners and chefs will be given the opportunity to see and taste seasonal produce from local suppliers.
London Food Link is considering the feasibility of setting up of a more formal association of ‘green’ restaurants. If and when that happens we’ll let you know. Until then perhaps consider asking the restaurants you eat at how they source their food - it could give them food for thought.
Source: http://www.newconsumer.com/news/item/london_food_link_introduce_ethical_eats/
Ethical Eats
Treehugger.com, 11th April 2007
Bonnie Alter
Britain’s retailers and supermarkets have been responding with great speed to their customers’ demands for organic and fair-trade clothing and foods. But the comparable provenance of restaurant food has been ignored so far.
Except for the much-lauded few such as Acorn House, the Duke of Cambridge Organic Pub and Konstam, the majority have not made much effort to develop sustainable and environmentally friendly business practices. Which is odd, considering that UK consumers spend more money on eating out than on buying food to make at home. And they are obsessed with labels showing where the food is flown from, produced, grown and under what conditions.
A new group, Ethical Eats, has been started to bring restaurateurs together to discuss how they can become more sustainable and at the same time let customers know that they are working hard to do this. Some of the members of the group have already made in-roads: Leon is a little chain that has organic foods on the menu, tries to get 70% of its ingredients from the UK and serves free range chicken.
Moshi Moshi, a sushi chain, gets almost half their fish directly from fishermen in south-west England.
Everyone acknowledges that there is much more that could be done. A standard logo could be displayed by restaurants that use sustainable practices. These could include recycling, using environmentally friendly packaging, and reducing food transport distances. But it is hard for small restaurants that can’t afford organic and don’t have the time to do all the research.
So far they have discussed sustainable fish with Greenpeace and the Marine Stewardship Council. Next meeting is a chance to meet the local producers. :: Ethical Eats Via :: Financial Times
Source: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/04/ethical_eats.php
Restaurants urged to put Ethics on the menu
Financial Times, 10th April 2007
Jenny Wiggins
Both restaurants and diners say they want ethical food. Yet few have achieved it.
While Britain's leading retailers have been quick to address consumers' concerns by parading their ranges of organic, Fairtrade and locally sourced produce, restaurants have largely escaped scrutiny. But with UK households now spending more money eating out than buying food to eat at home, a new organisation is prodding the 12,000 restaurants in London into following the lead set by retailers in developingmore sustainable business practices.
Ethical Eats, a group established by London Food Link - a division of the food and farming charity, Sustain - has started bringing together restaurant owners to discuss how they can make their supply chains more environmentally friendly and how they can educate diners to ask questions about what they are eating.
Charlotte Jarman, project officer for London Food Link, says that while consumers have become more particular about what they buy in supermarkets, checking food labels to see where and how goods are produced, they are far less discerning when they eat out. "People don't want to be seen to be making a fuss," she says.
A report prepared by London Food Link suggests creating "a recognisable standard, logo or award" that could be displayed in restaurant windows to indicate use of sustainable practices.
These could include sourcing ingredients from "environmentally benign" farming systems; minimising food transport, energy and waste; recyling; and using environmentally friendly packaging.
Allegra McEvedy, co-owner and chef of Leon restaurants, a London chain of five restaurants that has items such as organic porridge and "superfood" salads on its menu, says she would like to have some way of letting consumers know that Leon serves free range chicken. "This idea of a green guide could really go far," she says.
Leon says that it engages in some sustainable practices; it sources food close to home - it tries to get 70 per cent of its ingredients from the UK - and uses fish such as mackerel, which is not endangered. It also sells Fairtrade chocolate. But Ms McEvedy points out that other practices are difficult for a business that tries to provide relatively cheap meals: "Organic puts the price up. We have to pick and choose our organic battles."
She adds that as a small business, it is hard to find the time to research more sustainable ways of doing business. "Time is money."
Caroline Bennett, founder of Japanese sushi chain Moshi Moshi, says that she would also like to change some of her suppliers. The restaurant group already buys some 40 per cent of its fish directly from fishermen off boats in south-west England, and aims to increase this to 50 per cent by the end of the year. But her sourcing of tiger prawns, which come from mangroves in India and Bangladesh, is "a deep embarrassment", she says.
Growing tiger prawns causes environmental damage as mangroves are destroyed to make pools for shrimp to live in. Moshi Moshi would also like to use fresh, rather than farmed, sea bass.
Ms Bennett welcomes the formation of Ethical Eats. "Most people care hugely . . . they just don't know how to go about getting their supply chain better," she explains, pointing out that the likes of Tesco and Sainsbury's have a clear advantage over restaurants because they can afford to "throw money" at the issue. "A tiny little restaurant just goes, 'er, help!'"
Source: Financial Times Tuesday, April 10 2007
London Restaurants put the environment on the menu
Garden Organic, 10th April 2007
A unique new organisation has been launched to promote green issues among London restaurants. Ethical Eats is a network of the capital’s eateries brought together by sustainable food experts London Food Link to champion the ethical approach to catering.
At its first meeting, representatives of restaurants including Leon, Moshi Moshi and Sausage & Mash Café met with Greenpeace, the Marine Stewardship Council and other environmentalists to discuss the slippery issue of sustainable fish.
Allegra McEvedy, co-owner and chef of the Leon chain of healthy fast food restaurants, said, “It’s amazing how little support there has been until now for chefs and restaurateurs who care about the environment. I cannot stress what a difference Ethical Eats will make by helping us and other like-minded businesses get the right information and advice and meet the right people – in short, by just being there to help. Having this as a resource to draw on is an all-round good thing for any caterers with a conscience.”
Charlotte Jarman of London Food Link added, “We are hugely encouraged to see restaurant owners take the environment seriously. As far as we know this is the first attempt to unite caterers to take action on these vital issues. We’re delighted with the passion and commitment of the restaurateurs involved.”
The Ethical Eats initiative follows on from London Food Link’s research into restaurants, which will soon be published in the One Planet Dining report. The network will meet several times each year to discuss issues affecting the restaurant trade such as ethical sourcing of ingredients, dealing responsibly with waste and putting sustainability at the heart of catering training. Farm visits and other educational trips will also be organised.
The next meeting of the network will be a ‘meet the producer’ event on 5th June, to take place during London Sustainability Weeks, at which restaurant owners and chefs will be given the opportunity to see and taste seasonal produce from local suppliers.
Restaurants and other catering businesses interested in joining the network should contact Charlotte Jarman on 020 7837 1228 or charlotte@sustainweb.org.
Source: http://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/research/news/story.php?id=1018
Raymond Blanc-Exclusive Interview
Chefs on the web, 4th April 2007
Elena
Raymond Blanc first talked about sustainability 18 years ago; now, it’s all the rage. We caught up with the original ethical chef for an exclusive interview about the current trend for all things sustainable.
While other chefs are now jumping on the greenwash PR bandwagon, Blanc developed his passion for food and quality ingredients many years ago. Where does his enthusiasm come from?
“It’s my culture. I was born in a tiny little village in a very rural part of France where, basically, there were about 25 peasants – each with six or seven cows called Margarite, probably,” he reminisces.
“We would partake in the running of the house, at the age of five or six – getting the wood from the forest, helping at the time of the harvest. And of course lots of wild hunting, too. At the age of seven my father had already taught me to hold earth in my hand, he’d say, taste it, look at it, and tell me if it’s good earth or bad earth – ask a chef that now!”
“So there was a deep knowledge of food, not just on the aesthetic side but on the growing side.”
He laments the state British farming has plunged into over the past 60 years.
“I wanted to work with farmers 20 years ago but they’d completely lost their craft. Now, at last, farmers are reconnecting with their craft…but it’s going to take a long time. At the moment, the quality of produce we have is often much less than it would be in France or in Italy because, of course, over there they have kept their food culture.”
It seems intensive farming has lost about 90% of all food varieties, and we’ve lost any notion of seasonality or reagionality. And the varieties that have disappeared are often the ones with the most ‘character’ - but they simply don’t fit into the industrial mould.
It’s taken a long time for Le Manoir, Blanc’s signature restaurant, to become predominantly organic, and not for a lack of trying.
“Now, about 80% of our food is organic. It took me a year – a whole year’s work with my team to have everything tested. We tested about 80 butters before we decided to go for that one.”
“Every producer sent a complete technical sheet which tells me, exactly, the technique, any additives there would be, everything about that milk, about that cow. And of course, no producers want to do that, because often they’ve got something to hide.”
“I know, within five years, each consumer will demand some kind of proof of provenance. So, effectively, every one of our produce now on the breakfast menu – which is about 150 items – I know exactly where they come from.”
Within 6 months there’ll be a book available by the side of each table at Le Manoir if customers want to know exactly where their food came from. Blanc also hopes to include anecdotes about how each product was found – stories fraught with difficulties, no doubt.
“I had to change suppliers about 10 times because nobody, still today, wants to give this kind of element of traceability because a great deal of people are cheating or hiding something. The moment it’s written down you’re accountable – so, believe me, it has been a bloody nightmare.”
His aim is to make all his restaurants and training kitchens at least 50% organic by the start of next year. In fact, Blanc favours a more flexible attitude to farming, whereby ‘organic’ ethics are preserved while allowing some degree of treatment in some situations. He’s worked with the Animal Farm initiative - “a fantastic farm, very clever” – which translates the philosophy and values of the Soil Association into a commercial grant. Their methods are not totally organic but “as close to organic as they can be”.
He accepts that you can’t go the whole hog – “unless you’re a bistro serving turnips and parsnips to your guests for 8 months of the year”.
“Of course there are problems. I’m the first to talk about regionality – I’m a Frenchman – but here in England you’ve got only one and a half climate zone. In France, you’ve got 12, in Italy – 12.”
So, no more strawberries in the middle of winter, apples in May (because they’ll be coming from China), no seabass or cod, and many other endangered fish varieties. Accepting these values will have huge implications for what’s on the menu.
“Imagine if you were living only on local produce – what would you cook? It’d been a nightmare. So you’ve got to accept that. Our locality, effectively, is Europe.”
“I try to cut down the food miles as much as possible.”
But transforming Britain’s kitchens isn’t just about ingredients – it’s also about the chefs.
“We need to educate all these young chefs about taste and textures. Right now, they will most likely go for the more aesthetically-pleasing fruit or vegetable.”
“There will be a tremendous amount of workshops in our kitchens. There’s a huge education platform going on in these kitchens.”
“I think chefs now are going to get far more responsible, they’re going to get to know a bit more about their food because there’s been so much missing. I see it every day, the lack of knowledge of seasonality. Ask a chef which fish is in season now, and they say, “what bloody season, what are you talking about! I get oysters all year round, I get sole all year round, seabass…” So we’ve got a long way to go.”
“Lots of people will jump on the bandwagon of marketing. My first book was written 10 years ago, but a lot of chefs do it for the PR side of it. But there is a great deal of people who are doing it because they believe in it. And that’s exciting - you’ve got to start somewhere.”
“Jamie, at first, didn’t give a damn about health and so on, he didn’t mention it in any of his programmes, for the first years. But now he’s got two children, he has learned a great deal and now of course it’s at the core of his buying policy. And that’s good. That means people change, people get more knowledge and that’s exciting, that’s why at least it gives us hope.”
“And now he’s one of the very best advocates for sustainability, traceability, seasonality, regionality.”
“We need to put our house back in order, in a big way. Now that we’re reconnecting more deeply with our food I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for chefs to play a stronger media role in helping the whole population – whether it’s a TV programme, through writing, to reconnect with food.”
“The consumer is going to be far more aware and far more demanding. They’ll know we’ve behaved like hooligans these last 60 years. We’ve been separating food from our culture and reducing it to a commodity. So, what you see in restaurants are the first signs of revolution.”
“What chefs are doing at the moment, here at Le Manoir for example, is to work much more with our food farms. To achieve total purity of ingredients. And that’s where the new consumer is going to go.”
Blanc’s dream project is creating his own farm at Le Manoir – which is slowly becoming a reality. The 27-acre farm will take another year to finish, and will include some varieties Blanc has perfected over the years, with some surprising additions.
In a specially-built south-east Asian garden Blanc will try to grow high-altitude varieties of herbs and vegetables that are not indigenous to UK such as soya beans, Vietnamese mint, basilik and lemongrass. There will also be two orchards producing 60 tonnes of fruit and around 200 herb varieties.
Le Manoir is also hoping to become entirely energy efficient in the next 3 years by buying only green energy and embarking on a dedicated recycling programme.
Raymond Blanc’s tips for sustainable eateries: Club Gascon, Le Caprice, Quartier Vert, The River Café, The Square.
This month, sustainable food experts ‘London Food Link’ - who have worked with Raymond Blanc in the past - launch ‘Ethical Eats’, a network of the capital’s eateries brought together to champion the ethical approach to catering.
The Ethical Eats initiative follows on from London Food Link’s research into restaurants, which will soon be published in the One Planet Dining report. The network will meet several times each year to discuss issues affecting the restaurant trade such as ethical sourcing of ingredients, dealing responsibly with waste and putting sustainability at the heart of catering training.
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