Masterchef's Gregg Wallace encourages pubs to Eat Seasonably
Eat Seasonably is a practical campaign that aims to inspire consumers towards a more sustainable diet by emphasising the three key benefits of seasonal eating:
• better value - in-season produce is cheaper
• better taste - the less distance food travels, the better it will taste
• better for the environment - eating food that is in season reduces energy consumption.
The BBC's Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace, who is involved in the campaign again this year, admits that he gets nervous when food campaigns are "hijacked by the middle classes" and end up sounding "preachy" or "evangelical".
Gregg hates the terms "food lover" and "foodie", and is just as comfortable eating fast food as he is in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
"Show me someone who doesn't like food, and I'll show you a corpse," he says.
The point of the campaign should be for people to "celebrate and enjoy food", says Gregg, and this is why Eat Seasonably focuses on making it easier for people to get involved.
Last year's campaign
Last year the campaign pushed the idea of 'growing your own' through TV appearances and magazines. With more than 100 business and charity partners signed up, the results were impressive:
• An estimated two million people participated in The Big Lunch, where people were inspired to grow food in time for the big event on July 19.
• Retailers such as B&Q and Tesco launched Grow Your Own ranges that included all you needed to start growing your own food.
• The National Trust, Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and Garden Organic collaborated to develop a top 10 easiest fruit and veg to grow guide that was used by a number of retailers and charities.
• The National Trust donated 1,000 plots of land for use as allotments and encouraged other big landowners to do so.
This year, the campaign is focusing on reaching consumers via the food-service industry - including pubs.
How pubs can get involved
For pubs, the campaign represents a great opportunity to inspire customers with the provenance and quality of what's on the menu.
Plenty of useful resources are available, such as the Eat Seasonably Calendar, which makes it easy to see which fruits and vegetables are in season. It can be downloaded from Eat Seasonably's website (www.eatseasonably.co.uk) in A4 (available on the right of this page), A3 and A1 poster sizes.
The site also includes logos that can be displayed in the window to advertise your participation. You can sign up to receive monthly news-letters to help plan your menu, and find out about how to make the most of harvest festival, which Eat Seasonably hopes will be a big part of the campaign this year.
Celebrity greengrocer Gregg Wallace offers his seasonal tips
With 20 years of experience as a greengrocer, Masterchef's Gregg Wallace brings some down-to-earth, entrepreneurial spirit to the Eat Seasonably campaign. He also has a professional interest, having been involved in growing food at Secretts Farm for the past seven years.
What advice do you have for pubs that get involved in the campaign?
Inspire customers with your seasonal menu, push the provenance of your food and use your waiting staff to help really sell it. Tell them the variety and where it has come from.
You don't have to buy everything locally - only buy the things that will stand out on your menu and make the most of them. Offer daily or weekly specials to give them a push.
Simple recipes and bar snacks are the key. Try tomatoes on toast; asparagus with a soft-boiled egg; or even cauliflower fritters.
What advice would you give to pubs that are looking to get the best value from their fruit and veg suppliers?
Share suppliers with other businesses in your area.
Ask your suppliers if they would like to participate in a 'meet the grower' event at your pub. If you can guarantee the grower a decent volume of sales, they will be keen to come down and show your customers what they have to offer.
What about in winter when all you have to work with is some root vegetables you might not be used to preparing?
Soups are always an excellent way of using root vegetables for a warming meal. You can also use them in your Cornish pasties, what better pub food than a decent pasty?
Or perhaps a winter vegetable frittata or a curry? Experiment and see what works.
As a well-known pudding fan (Gregg's Twitter name is @puddingface) what would be your ideal seasonal dessert?
My favourite pudding of all is crumble. Stewed fruit with crunchy sugar on top. So simple to make, and yet so delicious. There's no need to make your own custard, Bird's will do just fine.
Strawberries are also an excellent and simple dessert. Keep it simple, just let them go warm and soft, and then serve.
Got any fruit and veg related jokes for us?
A man walks into the doctors with a strawberry on his head. The doctor says: 'I've got some cream for that'…
• For more information on how to get involved, visit: www.eatseasonably.co.uk
