Readers get a taste for North-East food

Feb 4 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

SUPPORT for The Journal Taste North East England Campaign food charter is coming from far and wide.

Scores of you have put your name to the pledge since it was launched on Friday as part of The Journal Taste North East England Campaign to get more people buying, using and eating local.

From individuals to producers, retailers, hotels and restaurants, more than 50 have so far added their name to the roll call. But we want hundreds more of you to play your part in a campaign that’s not only healthy for the North-East economy – but healthy for you.

The charter calls on consumers, producers and businesses across the North-East to show support for the production, retail and enjoyment of the wealth of regional food and drink on offer between the Scottish Border and North Yorkshire.

The pledge – which can be found online at www.journaltastene.co.uk or you can cut out and post the form on this page to register your backing – is a simple statement that signals to others you intend to support local food and drink by buying, using and eating more of the goods produced, grown and raised on our doorstep.

Among early adopters of The Journal Taste North East England Campaign charter have been Andy Hook who runs Blackfriars restaurant – which last week beat stiff competition to be voted the best in the region at the prestigious Hi-Life Dining Awards – and Chris Slaughter of the Grainger Rooms, both in Newcastle. Both outlets have built their reputation on using and promoting local produce.

Mr Slaughter, 28, said: “I signed up to the charter as I feel very strongly about supporting local producers in the North-East.

“I would urge other restaurants to follow my lead not only for the purpose of supporting small producers and independent merchants in the region, but also because sourcing foods and ingredients from local sources offers you full control over what you are buying. I know where my meat comes from and the conditions in which the animals are kept and wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Grainger Rooms currently sources its food from local producers including Blagdon Farm (meat and poultry), North Shields Fish Quay (seafood), Northumberland Heather (honey), and Northumberland Pedigree (milk and cheese). Among others who have taken the pledge to buy, use and eat local have been Heighley Gate Garden Centre which stocks a huge range of North-East produce in its food hall; and Meldon Park Kitchen Garden, both near Morpeth; Team Valley-based JR Holland Food Services which sources and delivers produce from across the region to restaurants, shops, hotels, schools, universities and hospitals; Wilson Brothers from Powburn near Alnwick, whose award-winning Ingram Valley Blackface lamb has put Northumberland on the national food map; and Weardale Organic Soup Company from Westgate-in-Weardale, County Durham.

Individuals who feel passionately that North-East food and drink is the best, like Collette Fellows-Smith from Hexham, Northumberland, who is featured on this page, have also been signing up to show their support for The Journal’s Taste initiative to get you thinking about what you eat – and where it comes from.

The campaign, launched last week, aims to encourage more shops to stock produce from our region, more restaurants and hotels to use and champion local food and more people to buy North-East goods.

This area is home to some of the UK’s best small and large craft food and drink producers. Yet the North-East has the lowest number of established artisan food and drink companies of any English region, and is the poorest performing in terms of annual turnover.