Tasty facts go online

Feb 23 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

THE butcher, the baker and the artisan cheese-maker are just some of the local retailers, producers and caterers that have signed up to the new Journal Taste North East England Campaign online business directory.

Forty-one firms that are passionate about local merchandise and already make, sell and use the wealth of fine vegetables, meats, fish, dairy items, cakes, preserves and beverages available in this region, have so far contacted us to be included in the directory – a version of which goes live today at www.journallive.co.uk/ north-east-taste/directory/

But with at least 159 artisan food and drink companies operating between the Scottish Border and North Yorkshire, we want scores more of you to play your part and tell the world what you are doing to champion North East food and drink – thus boosting the region’s economy. The aim of the directory is to encourage more consumers to support regional food by pointing them in the direction of the shops, businesses and restaurants and hotels that buy local, use local and eat local.

We also hope growers, retailers and producers will use it to not only source new suppliers, but find new outlets for their goods. Early regional food heroes who have signed-up include sisters Christine Jackson and Catherine Armstrong, of Sunny Hill Free Range Eggs, from Detchant Farm, Belford, Northumberland; Stephen Wanless, of Northumbrian Gifts, which stocks a wide variety of bottled ales from micro brewers across the region which he distributes to specialist and independent retailers and online to individuals nationwide; craft bakery Thomsons, of Westerhope, Newcastle; Rugley Meats, of Alnwick, which supplies home-reared beef and lamb; Hexham-based Fentimans, which produces a range of botanically brewed beverages; and Honeybush & Butterbum of Sunderland, importers of loose leaf tea from China which they re-package in the North East under their own name and sell through delicatessens and direct on their website.

Journal editor Brian Aitken said: “The region’s independent shops, farm stalls, artisan producers and small businesses are helping to change for the better the food map of the North East. Unfortunately, many are not very good at standing up and shouting about their successes.

“The business directory will not only give them a much-needed voice by championing those small-scale producers, sellers or restaurateurs who show remarkable commitment to quality, flavour and manufacturing, but allow consumers who are equally passionate about where their food comes from to make a more informed choice.”

The online business directory can be found by logging on to www.journaltastene.co.uk. Here retailers, producers and restaurants, hotels and cafes can add their name and say what regional foods they are supporting or producing.

As soon as names are added, we will publish them online.

Consumers can access the information by clicking on ‘business directory’ on the tool bar and choosing one of three listings categories to browse through: retailers, including farmers’ markets, farm shops, high street shops and online; producers, including farmers, growers and manufacturers; and caterers, including restaurants, cafes and hotels.

A more detailed online directory will be launched at  www.journaltastene.co.uk later in the year.

You can also sign up to The Journal Taste North East England Campaign charter online.