Cooking Up a Storm at South Lodge

Can editor, Melissa Love, cut it in the pro kitchen at Sussex’s premier fine dining restaurant?

You can keep your X-Factors and your Strictly Come Ice Dancing in the Jungle. In our house, it’s all about Masterchef. Not only do I tune in to every episode, it’s the only reality TV show that I am secretly convinced I can win. I know that I could be the one to reduce shouty John to an awed silence and bring a tear to the eye of dessert-loving Greg, as I unmould the perfect chocolate fondant, the pudding which has seen off many a lesser contestant.

And of course the very best bit, is when the hapless contenders are packed off to a hot, busy professional kitchen where they either thrive or dissolve into a puddle of sweaty despair. So when the call comes to spend the day in the kitchen at Sussex’s premier fine dining venue, The Pass at South Lodge, I’m out the door, apron in hand, quicker than you can say ‘Yes Chef!’

Thinking to get a sneak preview of the task ahead, I secretly ate in the restaurant the night before and, if I am being honest, I have rather intimidated myself. Plate after plate of carefully crafted morsels passed before us and it was proper fiddly high-powered food. Stunningly presented, explosive flavours; in short, I had no idea how any of it was conjured into being and faced with the prospect of trying to cook at this level, quite frankly, I’m a bit nervous.

Head Chef, Matt Gillan, sits me down for a chat before we get started. He’s been at South Lodge for three and a half years and running The Pass kitchen since it opened a year ago. Previously he was cooking in the hotel’s Camelia Restaurant; perfectly turned-out country house-style fine dining – but nowhere near as exciting as masterminding the menus at The Pass, I would imagine.

He explains how he constructs such complex dishes. “First of all, I find the initial ingredient and build the dish around it. It’s always seasonal and usually local and then I start to experiment, making lists of things that will definitely work, things that might work, and things that probably won’t work but might just be genius. We use a few fancy bits of kit - foams guns and pacojets - but we don’t do fancy just for the sake of it.”

Blimey, it all sounds a bit Heston Blumenthal. Matt admits that the groundbreaking cuisine at The Fat Duck has been a big influence. “A visit there earlier in my career really got me thinking and at The Pass, we put a lot of thought into understanding why certain ingredients work well together. Of course we’d love to get a Michelin star one day – who wouldn’t? - but I know our audience and I want people to enjoy their meal and feel it’s great value for money.”

Enough chat. It’s time to get down to some cooking and when Matt pushes me towards a big bowl of miniature carrots I sense I am being put to work where I can do the least damage. I expect Matt to swan off to make some foam or something, but he picks up a peeler and gets stuck in right beside me. It takes just a few minutes to give the tiny carrots a close shave (I should point out that I managed to do about six whilst Matt polished off the rest of the pile) and I am moved up to the meat section. Along with Chef de Partie (or Head of Section) Steven Edwards, there is a line of whole quails waiting for my attention. Steven shows me how to break the legs of the tiny quails with a sickening crunch, peel back their skins and slice off the breast meat with a wickedly sharp knife.

I manage not to disgrace myself and merrily hack my way through six quails as Steven makes short work of the remaining twenty-four. I’m starting to get into my stride now, but what fresh horror is this? A huge tub of live langoustines are put on the counter before me. Aha! They are probably about to be boiled or frozen or despatched in some other non-confrontational but humane way? “No”, says Steven, “That would be cruel. The quickest way to kill them is to sever the spinal cord.” He calmly rips the head off one of them and pushes the tub over to me.

Quite a crowd has gathered now, so not wanting to look like the girlie amateur I secretly am, I grasp a smallish one firmly with both hands and twist its head off. It’s horrible. Not the twisting part – that’s easy – but both bits keep squirming for a few seconds afterwards and embarrassingly, I drop the tail part on the floor and let out a little squeal. Oh dear, but they’re tasty little things and my desire to acquit myself well outweighs my squeamishness and soon Steven and I are companionably beheading the langoustines and lining up their plump bodies ready for the stove.

They will become part of a deconstructed prawn cocktail which currently features on one of the Christmas menus. By now, I’ve realised this isn’t going to be any ordinary prawn cocktail and when it’s time to plate it up, Steven puts no less than nine tiny pans on the hob to prepare the various elements which make up the dish.

It’s time for me to step up to the pass and deliver my plate. Admittedly, it’s Steven who has stirred the various concoctions, cooked the piece of salmon and brought everything together with impeccable timing, but hey, what else are the kitchen brigade for if not to answer the every whim of the master chef. I am ready to fulfil my destiny.

It’s fiddly. I put the beautiful cube of salmon in the wrong place and have to start again. I apply streaks of seafood reduction, shellfish froth and balance a stack of teeny tiny micro leaves on top of the froth-covered salmon cube. And now the moment I’ve been waiting for - Matt hands me the foam gun. From the crowd of chefs gathered around the hot plate, I gather this is the moment they’ve been waiting for too. I am poised, ready to deliver a perfect sphere of prawn-flavoured foam to complete my work of culinary art. I release the trigger and whoosh, a foamy mess the size of a tennis ball erupts onto the plate. Disaster. Humiliatingly, Steven has to replate everything and at this point I admit defeat. He deposits the perfect amount of the dreaded prawn foam and voila, my dish is finished.

I admire it long enough to take a photograph and then scoff the lot. So would Matt pick me if I was a Masterchef nobody? Of he would, he says gallantly, gently ushering me out of his gleaming kitchen. John, Greg, I couldda been a contender….!

Village Living November Edition

The November edition of Village Living is now available online.
Read your copy at www.villageliving.biz.

South East Seafood Website (July 2009)

Click on the image to view the South East Seafood website, containing recipes and other content which I have recently created.

Put on a Sussex Spread (Sussex Life - August 2009)

Last month, we finally took the plunge and moved out of Brighton to the lovely old Sussex villages of Bramber and Upper Beeding. For our family, it’s a step closer to the good life and whilst I’m enjoying planting our raised beds and choosing our new chickens, it’s the opportunity to support traditional high street shops, local markets and village events that’s got me really excited.

We dipped a toe in the water last weekend, heading off to the Bramber & Upper Beeding village fete and it didn’t disappoint our family of keen foodies. As well as tables full of homemade scones and cakes, stalls selling home-grown plants & herbs and a whole suckling pig roasting away merrily, it was a great chance to stock up on some locally-made jams and preserves.

In Sussex, we are particularly blessed with a talented selection of condiment makers, whose tasty preserves, sauces and chutneys provide the perfect accompaniment to a traditional British summer spread. More importantly the success that Sussex companies are enjoying means that their products are widely available across the county, from city delis to country farm shops.
For the traditionalists among you, look no further that the amazing array of products made by Ouse Valley Foods, near Uckfield. Set up x years ago by Violet Hancock and Julian Warrender, two great cooks with a passion for fresh local ingredients, many of the products they make are seasonal and foraged and, when particular wild ingredients are available, the whole team can often be found out in the fields near their kitchen, hunting and gathering. I was particularly lucky, earlier in the year, to get my hands on a pot of their famous wild garlic pesto and I’ll be first in the queue next season.

Relative newcomers to the field are Mark & Barbara, the talented couple behind the Arundel-based brand, Relish in Spice. This year’s worthy winners of the Sussex Food Awards’ Producer of the Year title, they make several of the staple items you’ll always find in my cupboard – their fresh and tangy tomato ketchup, a traditional Sussex Ploughman’s Pickle and my favourite condiment, a Dijon-style Champagne & Tarragon Mustard.

If you fancy trying your own hand at making your own wild bramble jam, the end of August marks the beginning of blackberry season. A hot start to the summer should mean a bumper crop so head for the hedgerows earlier than normal to secure the pick of the crop.

Products from Ouse Valley Foods and Relish in Spice are available at www.we-love-local.com or in delis and farm shops throughout Sussex.

Eat Your Sussex Greens (Sussex Life - July 2009)

Sussex has long been a centre for salad growing in the UK. Clustered around the coastal plains of Chichester, salad farms in that area produce nearly one third of the country’s salad crops. As with grapes grown for wine in the county, the sandy soil and mild micro-climate in that part of West Sussex suits the production of delicate leafy crops and vine-ripened tomatoes.
Many of the larger growers were established before the Second World War, and were among the first producers in Europe to pioneer growing under glass. Whilst growers then used to concentrate on traditional varieties of lettuce, like iceberg and gem, these days you are just as likely to find exotic leaves like rocket and mizuna or micro herbs and cresses grown on hydroponic mats.

In truth, much of the produce from large-scale growers ends up being distributed across the UK, but there are many small salad nurseries in the county whose amazingly fresh leaves and vine fruit end up in box schemes and at farmers’ markets handy to all of us.

One of the most exciting growers in Sussex, Fletching Glasshouses, is a relative newcomer, setting up in 2006 on Fletching Common near Newick. Isobel, Alan & Emily Rae initially bought the property to house their rapidly expanding online business which sells plants over the internet. Finding themselves with over 2 acres of working but dilapidated greenhouses, the family set about reclaiming the productive growing space slowly, and now have 3 out of 4 houses back in production and are working on rehabilitating the 4th and final house.

The variety of leaves and exotic vegetables they produce is truly staggering, from baby courgettes and bushy-topped fennel to okra and tomatillos. However, they are rightly renowned for their salad leaves which they grow throughout the year. During the summer months, I always have a bag of their loose salad to hand and guests never fail to comment on the weird, wonderful and intensely flavoured leaves and shoots they find on their plates.

You can get hold of their produce from We Love Local but the Fletching team also appear at many farmers’ markets around the county. Find out more at www.fletchingglasshouses.co.uk.

Public Sector Food Procurement brochure (June 2008)

Click on the image to read through a brochure which I wrote and designed for the South East Food Group Partnership, on the subject of Local Food Procurement in the Public Sector.

Could you be a 'mumpreneur'? (ABC Magazine - Autumn 05)

The first year of your child’s life is a year of milestones – first smile, first laugh, first tooth, first steps. And then, at some point, comes your first separation. Harder than leaving home and more distressing than leaving a lover, leaving your baby on a regular basis is either driven by financial necessity or a desperate need to regain a little independence.

Recently, one study after another has made the headlines, claiming that full-time childcare for the under-threes can have a detrimental impact on the emotional development of a child later in life. Burdened with the emotional pressure that such studies exert, my mothers find it difficult to make a rational decision about the best way for them to return to work, if at all.
It’s true that there is a delicious sense of freedom during those early months. On a sunny day, as you stroll through the park or browse in the shops with your lovely baby, your maternity leave often feels like an illicit pleasure. At times like those, it’s easy to start fantasizing about the stay-at-home life. For most women, however, the ambition and the achievements of a pre-baby career, begin to reassert themselves. There comes a point in that precious first year, when you emerge blinking from the fog of new motherhood, shake off your tunnel vision and begin to consider your re-entry into grown-up society. Rather unsurprisingly, this is where many women find themselves at a loss when it comes to taking the next step.

Denise Tyler is the founder of webzine, Mother At Work, a first port of call for working mothers who want to read about the issues affecting them.
“We receive many messages from women who are completely taken by surprise when they find themselves having to choose between career and family life. Women are being given more support and encouragement than ever before in terms of achieving success in education and in the workplace. It’s become the norm to see a bit of the world, enjoy your financial independence and then start a family later, but that’s when society really lets us down. Professional, part-time roles are such a rarity that few women can actually continue along their previous career path without sacrificing something.”

Like many women in their thirties, I enjoyed my time at university and settled down to focus on my career and social life. Surrounded by like-minded friends and colleagues, all childless at the time, the issue of career- change when babies arrive simply never came up. Where many women of the previous generation expected to stay at home to care for the family, our generation has been encouraged to consider our child-bearing years as an interruption to our career, rather than accept it as the life-changing experience it so often turns out to be. Given that this issue turns out to be relevant to so many women, it’s surprising that there is no platform in education or in the workplace for exploring the options facing working mothers.

My own reaction to leaving my job as a hotel manager took me completely by surprise. I felt set adrift by my pregnancy, knowing when I took my maternity leave, that it would be impossible to return full-time to a job where the hours were long and irregular. I also knew that I would find it frustrating to take a different position in the company when previously I had held such a challenging role. Although I had longed for my healthy, happy pregnancy and the excitement of starting a family, I still had to deal with feelings of jealousy, resentment and a nagging sense of being ‘left behind’ by my colleagues and friends.

Denise Tyler continues: “It’s common to feel a loss of identity after having a baby. Your perception of yourself and your role in society changes – suddenly you have someone depending entirely on you, who has no interest in the other roles in life you may hanker after. Coming to terms with the new you is a long process and it can take a year or two to work out your next step. Never make a decision about your future based on what you think you should do. After all, there will be plenty of time later on to make a more informed decision based on how you feel when you are a bit more in control.”

I left my job with no fixed ideas about my post-pregnancy career options, planning to use my maternity time to think about how to used my enforced break to kick start me into a change of direction. Many prospective mums say that their pregnancy gave them the creative boost they needed to finally capitalise on their long-held ambitions to be self-employed.

Tracey Griffiths, owner and creative designer of Brighton-based baby knitwear company, Bonnie Baby, was inspired by the birth of her daughter, Alice Bee, to start her own business.

Formerly a knitwear designer for Sonia Rykiel, based between London & Paris, Tracey knew that she would find it difficult to combine the commute with the demands of a young baby.
“Leaving my secure job in the fashion industry was a really difficult decision. However, I knew when Alice arrived that I wanted to spend as much time with her as possible. At the same time, I had noticed a gap in the market for baby knitwear which could bridge the divide between high street and designer. It’s exciting to have the flexibility of being self-employed, but still remain in the fashion industry. Bonnie Baby has given me a way of doing both.”

A growing number of women are choosing to start their own business. The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies reports that they are seeing an average of 50% female clients, many of whom are seeking a change of career after starting a family. This new band of self-starters have been christened the ‘mumpreneurs’. According to Michelle Little of the NFEA, mothers are perfectly suited to starting their own business. “Mums have to be very adaptable, they tend to be good at managing their time and are talented multi-taskers: all qualities which are important in the early days of starting a business. Mums also develop good bargaining skills when dealing with toddler tantrums and recalcitrant teenagers.”

Surprisingly, working from home suits many women as it alleviates the need for expensive childcare and you are free to choose the hours you work.
However, you need to be strict with yourself and prepared to put in the hours in the evening, when you would usually be relaxing.

Caroline Cosgrove started bespoke baby shopping and gift list service, Baby Concierge, after the birth of her first baby. She made running her new business from home work for her evenutually, but dividing her time between her new business and her new family was a struggle in the early days.

“Making the decision to set up the business was easy. Making it happen was not so easy! I never envisaged what was involved. On paper it sounded simple, but had I known the stresses and strains to come, I'm not sure I would have done it. I think most entrepreneurs say this - and of course now, I have no regrets. I’m just not sure I could go through it all again! All in all it took 18 months to do the necessary research, write the business plan and actually get going. My mother helped with childcare 2 days a week and Juliette went to nursery for a third day. At this stage I was frustrated that I didn't have 5 days a week to progress things, but looking back, it doesn't matter that it took me longer than it would have done if I didn't have a baby. I still got there.

I am currently in the throes of moving the business out of the house to a dedicated showroom in Ladbroke Grove, London. Looking back, I am pleased I have managed to build the business from home as it has enabled me to have a presence with the children in their pre-school days. Although they see me constantly working, I can join them for lunch and they can come for cuddles when they need to. They totally understand now that if I have a client they stay away and when I'm not with clients they can come in and out. I'm sure they would rather I didn't work but they've seen a lot more of me than they would have if I was working away from home.

Now Juliette is in full-time school and James starts full-time in September, so it is an ideal time for me to move out of the house. They are thrilled as the office/showroom is going to become a playroom for them. They don't realise the consequence is that I will be around less, but I hope in moving out, that I will be able to be more disciplined about when I work and when I don't. At the moment I employ one part time admin assistant but once I've moved, the larger space will allow me to take on more staff and hopefully, allow me a bit more time off.

Caroline continues, “I don't think there is a satisfactory solution for working mums. I know I wouldn’t enjoy being a full-time mum and yet I would find working part-time for an employer unsatisfactory too as I think you often feel that you're not giving 100% to anybody – you just end up feeling guilty. Alternatively, if you work full-time for an employer, you feel guilty because you hardly see your kids. In theory, working for yourself should give you the flexibility and balance that suits you - but I await that day with eager anticipation. As it is, there are never enough hours in a day to do everything you need to do for work and consequently you neglect your mother duties and tire yourself out trying to achieve the impossible - which is being a perfect mum and achieving a truly successful career. Setting up a business from home is by no means an easy option, but it's one way of making the crazy juggling act a working mother has to do, work.”

There are a surprising number of resources for women considering starting a business or working in a freelance capacity. Diana Wolfin specialises in helping women return to work after a career break and, as the founder of coaching company, Changing Direction, she is her own best advertisement. Having worked for ten years at the University of Westminster running ‘Return To Work’ courses for women, Diana started up Changing Direction in 2000. Her company provides support, guidance and coaching to women who are contemplating re-entering the job market or who need a sounding board to help them sort out their needs, priorities and work-life balance.

According to Diana, many women are nervous about their ability to compete in the workplace, after taking time out for their family.
“I find it sad that society as a whole does not value the role of parenting, which would give women a greater sense of self-worth and less loss of confidence. But the good news is that it does come back quickly. Some women need a little help to realise that they have easily transferable skills from being at home. A short updating programme may be all that is needed to regain that lost confidence.”

Diana also tries to reassure her clients that the daunting spectre of ‘have-it-all Superwoman’ is more urban myth than reality.
“Superwoman does not exist - I have been looking for her for many years, and she is nowhere to be found! The press occasionally leads us to believe that there women out there who can successfully juggle high-powered careers and be wonderful mothers. It may be that they have huge resources for back-up or paid help which the ordinary mum does not. This sets up unrealistic expectations and makes us feel that we are failing if we are not wonderful in everything that we do.

She continues, “I prefer to tell women that, instead, we can have some now and some later. Looking after your children is the most valuable job you can do, and there is a way back to work afterwards. If you are not at the level you would have been, that may be the price to pay. But until men can have babies, I see no other option! Only you can decide if the trade-off is worth it.”

And me? I stuck to just two of the golden rules which Michelle Little of the NFEA advocates. Follow your passion and stick to what you know.
Instead of managing hotels, I now take on freelance projects for hotels & restaurants. I love the creative challenge without having to put in the long hours or have the responsibility, but it can be frustrating to miss out on seeing long-term plans come to fruition. I also miss being part of a team and often feel isolated when I am working from home. It’s not an ideal solution to my work-life balance, but I constantly remind myself that no job is perfect. I am trying to be careful not to idealise my previous life too much - and anyway, I only have to look at my daughter to remind myself what I have gained in return.

Becoming a mother may have forced me to re-evaluate my priorities but it has also given me the opportunity to pursue a different career path. I’m in no hurry to find out where it takes me. I’m learning that it’s the journey there which counts the most.

Dos and don’ts

· Think about any opportunities for products or services you could provide. Why would people choose to buy from you?

· Research your market and products thoroughly. Who are your customers and what are your competitors up to? Determine what you need to achieve – your aims.

· Take any training offered, and seek advice from as many people as possible before you take the plunge

· Set yourself realistic objectives

· Prepare a thorough business plan, understand it fully, and update it regularly as your business develops.

· Don’t forget to include detail about the experience, roles and abilities of the key personnel – people make a business.

· Finance your new business properly. This doesn’t mean throwing in your entire life savings and hoping for the best, nor does it mean just asking your bank for an overdraft. There are many ways of funding a start-up business - ask the experts.
· Don’t underestimate the amount of money you will need.

· When presenting your case to the lender, make sure you have researched the financial side of the business fully, and know that you know the facts and figures.

· Be open and realistic with all the facts. That way you will have a solid base for the banking relationship you will need for the future.

· Once you’ve started up, control and manage finances very carefully and make sure creditors pay you on time. Stay tough on payment terms and conditions.

· Take the trouble to protect your business name by registering it, and make sure you have the proper insurance to meet any eventuality.

· Don't be afraid to delegate. You can't manage everything all of the time.

· Keep your personal and business life separate. You may regret employing relatives or friends.

· Don't forget to pay yourself!

Facts & Figures (www.prowess.org.uk/facts.htm)

· Women are half as likely to be involved in start-up activity as men. (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, GEM, Jan 2004)

· 27% of self-employed people in the UK are women (A Strategic Framework for Women’s Enterprise, Small Business Service, 2003)

· Female entrepreneurs account for 6.8% of the UK’s working population (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, GEM, Jan 2004)

· 54% of women start a business so they can choose what hours they work, compared to only 35% of men. (Women & Men Business Owners in the United Kingdom)

· 21% of women state family commitments as a reason for becoming self-employed compared to only 2% of men (A Strategic Framework for Women’s Enterprise, Small Business Service, 2003)

· A third of the female population would start a business if it wasn’t for the fear of failure (Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2003)

· Over a half of women choose to start their business on a part-time basis

· 80% of women compared with 17% of men are responsible for looking after the children or arranging childcare facilities. (The barriers start to fall – Barclays 2000)

· A full time nursery place for a child under two typically costs over £7000 per year. (Childcare Costs Survey, Daycare Trust, Jan 2005)

· The costs of care can be higher for business owners who have no option but to work flexibly and travel to develop their business. But unlike other essential business costs, caring is not tax-deductible.

Eat the View (Sussex Life - June 09)

When we come into late spring, I find it almost impossible to choose anything other than local lamb for any meal which involves family & friends. At this time of year, this succulent meat is at its absolute best and there is no more explicit link between the food we eat and the countryside around us than Sussex lamb. Thanks to the hard work of farmers across the county, the fields, hedgerows and wildlife of the downland is maintained by their careful stewardship of the land they farm.

In Sussex, we are lucky to have our very own native breed, the Southdown, bred & grazed across the hills and lower pastures of the Downs and the Sussex Weald for nearly 200 years. A small and hardy breed, these sheep are perfectly suited to the up and down life of grazing a rugged and varied terrain.

At the risk of making these lambs sound too appealing, they have small rounded faces and a generous covering of tight curls across their heads. With fleece which grows down to their knees, they resemble nothing more than cuddly teddy bears.

They also happen to be exceedingly tasty and the efforts of the Southdown Lamb & Beef co-operative of farmers has seen production rise by nearly 6,000 lambs a year over the last 5 years, most of which have been finding their way to high street butchers across the county.

However, many farmers I speak to bemoan our preference for the choicer cuts like leg or loin, which makes it hard for them to sell the rest of the animal at a decent price. We are all practising a little thrift at the moment, so why not start in the kitchen? Next time you visit your local butcher, ask for something less glamorous but far more tasty, like shoulder, neck fillet or my favourite unsung cut, breast of lamb.

The Best of the Rest in June

Fennel
New potatoes
Spring greens
Broad beans
Blackcurrants
Strawberries
Sea trout
Mackerel
Wood pigeon

Celebrate the end of the hungry gap (Sussex Life - May 09)

Like hibernating animals, the first watery rays of sunshine in March and April bring us forth in search of tasty greenery and succulent spring vegetables, only to find the same old winter staples – root vegetables, onions & kale – are all that can be found. It is often called the ‘hungry gap’ and it is not until towards the end of April that the abundance of new fresh produce we are craving can be obtained with any reliability.

In the meantime, if you are feeling adventurous, then a quick forage in any park, patch of scrubland or country lane or should yield enough wild nettles to make a light iron-rich soup. Be bold, wear gloves and pick the tops of the youngest, most succulent specimens you can find. A brief rinse and the nettles are ready to use in a spring soup which is the best way to bring out the delicate flavour. A tin of butter beans or cannellini beans will turn it into a heartier dish.

When you’ve had your fill of foraging, most farm shops, markets and vegetable box schemes will be offering a vegetable which really does shout spring - fennel. Pale green, crunchy & with a delicate aniseed flavour, fennel is too often written off as an accompaniment to fish, when really it can be the star of any meal. A member of the celery family, fennel can be used in place of celery in any dish. Italians prepare fennel in over 20 different ways and one of my favourites is fennel & onion risotto with plenty of parmesan cheese. Don’t forget to use the delicate fronds as a garnish.

The best of the rest in May
· Asparagus
· Purple sprouting broccoli
· Globe artichokes
· Early broad beans
· Runner beans
· Mangetout
· Peas
· New potatoes
· Watercress
· Early raspberries & strawberries
· Elderflower

The Rise of the Budget Supermarket (The Argus 20/03/09)

Don’t Buy Budget, Buy Local – it’s never been cheaper

It’s a tough time for all shopkeepers at the moment, but particularly for independent retailers on shopping streets across Brighton & Hove.

As a passionate supported of small local food businesses, my heart sinks with every new headline about the rising popularity of budget food stores and the increase in sales of fast food and cheap takeaways.

I certainly think budget food shops have their place – after all we can’t buy everything we need locally – but these kind of news items only tell one side of the story. The truth is that fresh, local food has never been cheaper or easier to get hold of and can give even the cheapest supermarkets a run for their money.

So how can local food shops compete with giant retailers who buy in bulk and pile it high?
The answer is because they are able to cut out layers of middle men and deal direct with farmers and small producers who are just a few miles outside the city. Even more importantly, local fruit and vegetables which are in season tend to be cheap because there are a lot of them about – a glut which farmers are happy to sell at lower prices. Add to that the low transport costs and the strong euro and the local food option will nearly always be cheaper than the supermarket alternative.

You don’t have to take my word for this. Every week I visit a couple of the larger supermarket retailers and price up a basket full of veggies for comparison, and locally grown produce, picked on the morning it’s delivered, is at least 10% cheaper week after week….as are eggs, milk & bread. Staple local foods, carefully and responsibly produced, are affordable for everyone.

More importantly, every pound you spend with a retailer who sells local food, stays in the local community. With over 20 farmers and small producers on our books alone, we know that money spent on local food doesn’t just benefit the retailer but also helps safeguard jobs and local food traditions across the county. Where does a pound spent at Aldi go? Certainly some will go to pay the wages of local people who work there, which is undoubtedly a good thing, but the rest has been used to purchase products from other countries and any profits go straight into the pockets of the German parent company of Aldi, Albrecht Discount, whose owners Karl & Theo Albrecht are the richest men in Germany.

And what do the wealthy Albrecht brothers give back to Brighton & Hove? Very little compared with the farmers of Sussex whose daily work maintains the beautiful South Downs which surround Brighton & Hove. They graze livestock, protect wildlife and care for the patchwork of fields and hedgerows which makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live.

Our farmers and small shops need you and your business, not the Albrecht brothers whose only interest is in the bottom line. Now get shopping.