NORTHUMBERLAND food producers are expecting a surge in sales after being championed this week by two of the country’s top chefs on the BBC’s popular culinary competition, the Great British Menu.

Millions of viewers have this week watched the kitchen-based battle unfold between fellow Newcastle-born chefs Kenny Atkinson of Seaham Hall’s White Room in County Durham and Ian Matfin, who has made his name at Manchester’s acclaimed Abode restaurant.

At stake is the honour of cooking for Britain’s returning war heroes at a glittering summer banquet in London.

The public will find out tomorrow night who has impressed the judging panel the most after five days of televised competition and made it through to the final in May.

The public will then be asked to vote on which four dishes from the final eight chefs should be cooked and served by the winners to the troops and their families.

Now in its fourth series, the Great British Menu has this time tasked the 16 chefs taking part in eight regional heats to come up with food to give our men and women returning from Afghanistan a real taste of home.

Local ingredients have to be to the fore. And both Kenny – the only Michelin-starred chef based in the North East – and Ian haven’t disappointed this week as viewers have seen them both out and about visiting their suppliers in-between cooking their four course menu.

Kenny, 32, who joined the White Room last August after earning the Scilly Isles off the coast of Cornwall their first Michelin star, has used both Aberdeen Angus beef and Blackface lamb from Steve Ramshaw’s Northumbrian Quality Meats based at West Woodburn; Craster kippers, mussels from Berwick; Carroll’s Heritage Potatoes from Tiptoe Farm near Coldstream and chillies from Trees Can’t Dance at Coanwood.

Meanwhile, Ian’s menu includes amongst other ingredients, Lindisfarne oysters, lemon curd from Coquet Valley Preserves based at Eshottheugh near Felton, honey from Chain Bridge Farm at Berwick and beef from Steve Ramshaw.

Now the chosen producers are gearing up for a massive boost in demand.

Like many premium meat producers, Steve Ramshaw admits his business has been hit by the economic downturn, but he’s hoping the fact that both Kenny and Ian have chosen to use organic beef and lamb reared at his farm near Otterburn, will drive custom his way.

“We have been feeling the pinch lately,” he said. “When we won the UKTV Local Food Hero 2006 award we did see an increase in our sales, so we would expect our exposure on the Great British Menu to do the same.

“The programme is a great opportunity for us and I would hope it would certainly push our internet sales up. We are producing a prestigious product that sells at a premium price. It’s perhaps not the best thing to be doing in the current climate, but I’m hoping this week’s TV coverage will help us.

“It’s a great flagship for the North East and won’t do us any harm at all both in terms of our business and the way the region is perceived. It will give us an opportunity to sell both nationally and hopefully internationally.”

Christopher Sutherland of Lindisfarne Oysters agreed that his business is “bound to benefit” after Ian Matfin spent a day filming with him.

He said: “Any publicity is good publicity and this will certainly help our name get out there.”