Britons 'lacking food patriotism'

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Britons 'lacking food patriotism'
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Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:28 am Post subject: Britons 'lacking food patriotism'

From BBC News website

Britons 'lacking food patriotism'

Britons care about taste, but not where the food comes from
Patriotism alone is not enough to sell British food, according to new research conducted by food think-tank IGD. Researchers found 87% of people consider farming to be important to Britain, but only one in five will go out of their way to buy British food.

The study was conducted for food suppliers and the government to find out how to bolster British produce.

It comes as the EU's farmers move from production subsidies towards producing what customers will pay for.

Country of origin seems to be low on the list of what shoppers look for, according to the findings.

The findings suggest customers care primarily about taste, price, and sell-by date.

Where food was produced came a lowly 10th on the list of importance, as rated by consumers.

Consumers' attitudes

However, around two thirds of those interviewed expressed an interest in seasonal and local food.

Sir Don Curry, Chair of the Sustainable Farming and Food Implementation Group said: "Reconnecting the public with the food they eat and how it is produced is one of my key challenges for 2005 and beyond.

"It is essential that we have a better understanding of consumers' attitudes if we are to develop an effective communications strategy."

His sentiments were echoed by Lord Bach, Food and Farming Minister, who said the findings "will provide a valuable evidence base enabling food producers throughout the food chain to develop their communications effort in order to reconnect with the public".

He added: "Our key policy statement on farming and food issues remains the Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food and reconnection is a major theme of the strategy."

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:29 am Post subject:
Good news then, 20% of shoppers go out of their way to buy british food. I reckon that's an improvement on the last decade at least.

Northern_Lad

Joined: 13 Dec 2004
Posts: 14210
Location: Somewhere

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:30 am Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

Good news then, 20% of shoppers go out of their way to buy british food.

I reckon that's an improvement on the last decade at least.

Exactly. And how many will buy British given an easy choice?

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:33 am Post subject:
Yep, and don't forget that the supermarkets have a lot to answer for. Try buying british apples during the growing season, it aint easy unless you like Bramleys every day.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28234
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:40 am Post subject:

I think it is another of those chicken and egg situations

Go round a supermarket and see what is being promoted with vigour and it probably will not be local.

I get the impression in France from the Rick Stein series on at the moment, that local specialities are served with pride and the suppliers compete on the quality of the product.

I have seen a small Spanish market where this sort of process was in evidence.

But around here, there is nothing but crap in the supermarkets, and with all due respect to the people selling produce at the couple of small farmers markets there are. The level these are operating at, lacks the number of customers to create the turnover and competetion that would make them really sizzle. Which is again I suppose a chicken and egg thing

So I will say for myself, my interest in "local" food is not half of what I wish it was.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:40 am Post subject:

... and where did the statistics come from?

When studying statistics I recall being shown various types of errors one of which was 'never trust what people say', the specific example they gave was a survey of how many people bought free range eggs - ask people in a survey and 60% bought free range eggs, survey supermarket sales and only 20% of eggs bought were free range (NB the figures may be misremembered but you get the point)

Lozzie

Joined: 25 May 2005
Posts: 2595

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:40 am Post subject:

Not only supermarkets, Johnnyboy - but celebrity chefs and TV programmes celebrating weird and wonderful ingredients from all over the planet. Their enthusiasm (and blatant overexposure) has sparked off people's curiosity to such a degree that many "foreign" foods take pride of cupboard-place in many people's kitchens, just as they do on supermarket shelves, at the expense of more "traditional" ingredients.

I think that for some time in the 80s and 90s, British cooking was simply not seen as "cool". I am grateful for TV chefs and restauranteurs who do now pay attention to the British scene. It seems to be all about what is trendy and what is not!

Thanks for the post, Behemoth.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:44 am Post subject:

Lozzie wrote:

Not only supermarkets, Johnnyboy - but celebrity chefs and TV programmes celebrating weird and wonderful ingredients from all over the planet.

Fortunately there does seem to be a slight move away from that with the likes of HFW and JO.

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 8:52 am Post subject:

Although I do go to some lengths to get local food, especially vegetables and some fruit, and I only ever buy meat that is UK produced I don't think I am really very patriotic at all when it comes to buying food.

Like most people in the UK these days I like eating pasta, dried fruit, rice, spices, pulses etc which by necessity come from abroad. If overnight I ate like my Grandparents did with practically 100% of food being from the UK then I admit I'd be a bit sad about the lack of variety.

bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 9:22 am Post subject:

There is a current trend in both TV cookery and chefs to move towards locally produced goods

I am staying here with friends for a longweekend in January

https://www.eatonmanor.co.uk/

An one of the things they offer is a chef to come in a cook a 3 course meal for you with local produce!

It is definately is becoming more trendy

The problem is most people by most of their produce from supermarkets who make it quite difficult to actually tell where most of its fresh produce has come from and next to impossible for the meat. The source of produce needs to be brought into the public eye before the majority of people will actually start changing the way they shop on that basis and unfortunately supermarkets currently seem to have no intention of doing that

One of the things that does irritate me about this is when people think of local food and what people ate in the good old days is that they forget we have been shipping spices and coffee and tea a long way for a very long time. Eating locally doesn't necessarily mean not using these things but what is does mean it eating the stuff which can be produced in this country when availible and trying to eat more seasonally

I am getting very good with meat, only buying english meat and most of that from farmers markets or farm shops so it tends to be relatively local, the rest of my shopping I am less good given my veg mostly comes from tescos very little of it is likely to be british. I keep contemplating veg boxes but then reminding myself that there is no way 2 of us would eat a kilo of potatoes a week and bemoaning the fact that most of them don't guarente peppers!

ele

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 814
Location: Derby

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 9:48 am Post subject:

bagpuss wrote:

I am getting very good with meat, only buying english meat and most of that from farmers markets or farm shops so it tends to be relatively local, the rest of my shopping I am less good given my veg mostly comes from tescos very little of it is likely to be british. I keep contemplating veg boxes but then reminding myself that there is no way 2 of us would eat a kilo of potatoes a week and bemoaning the fact that most of them don't guarente peppers!

In a city like Cambridge I'm guessing that there are quite a choice of people doing organic and or local food (unlike a backwards place like Derby

) Maybe there's some that can give you a small box or a non-potatoes box with optional add ons?

These links might be useful if you've not already tried them;
https://www.bigbarn.co.uk/producers/index.php

https://www.cam.net.uk/home/Nimmann/eco/SHOPPING.HTM

https://www.soilassociation.org/web/sa/saweb.nsf/Resources/directory.html

twoscoops

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1924
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 10:14 am Post subject:

The ingredients championed by TV cooks such as Nigella or Delia don�t make people move away from British food as such. The desire for exotic ingredients which can�t be produced here, such as coconut milk or vanilla (!!!) is nothing new. If these types of produce are becoming more popular because of their exposure on TV then surely the same should be the case for seasonal, local food because of Nigel Slater, River Cottage and Rick�s Food Heroes. The bigger problem is that most people don�t think about it � if the supermarket is selling asparagus, lamb or tinned runner beans then people will just pick them off the shelves.

Also, who�s to say that yer man up in Lancashire with his black pudding is using blood from local free-range pigs? Just because somebody is producing traditional regional specialities doesn�t necessarily mean they are using local produce. Note: There are many people in this country who make a good living from adding value to seasonal, local, produce.

bagpuss

Joined: 09 Dec 2004
Posts: 10507
Location: cambridge

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 10:25 am Post subject:

ele wrote:

In a city like Cambridge I'm guessing that there are quite a choice of people doing organic and or local food (unlike a backwards place like Derby

I certainly have spoken to people about this my generally impression though it would be no potatoes not less potatoes which I don't necessarily want!

The issue I have never seen a way round with the box schemes while it will probably provide most of what I need it will rarely provide everything which means I still have to go out and buy veg elsewhere which kind of makes it lose its incentive!

Penelope Anderson

Joined: 21 Sep 2005
Posts: 326
Location: london

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 10:46 am Post subject:

I LOVE buying good food from this country- but where can I get really proper tasting veg? i find that most of it, with the exception of perhaps leeks and celery is pretty tasteless. I grow my own tomatoea and sometimes peppers (not really successful) in pots, with limited space, but I would really like to find a source of veg that is similar to the stuff my father used to grow without pesticides. I think in those days we were completely organic (1940s) I live in London now, and buy foreign peppers, spanish onions, little beans from Kenya, and feel horribly guilty about it!

twoscoops

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 1924
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Thu Oct 06, 05 10:56 am Post subject:
There's Borough Market, if you've got the wedge.

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