Buy local, try international....

It's almost the end of Summer and there is one event that i look forward to every year at this time of the year. Yes, it's the weekend of 'Brighton and Hove Food and Drink Festival'. It's the time where all the best local produce gets displayed by the local farmers and at the same time the most famous restaurants that serve not just British food but also International food supporting the local produce and farmers also get to show off their talent.This year they even had a separate venue to organize 'Kids food festival' and i think this is just great. I emphasize so much on parents getting kids involved when it comes to cooking and food. They need to be educated on what's good food and what's not so good. So, having a kids food festival and parents bringing their kids to it is an amazing sight. I really appreciate all the restaurants and local suppliers who took time to have their stalls up to educate and entertain kids and wonderful that the organizers did not let any fast food junk chains to have their stalls there.


Now, supporting your local farmers and buying local produce is not really a new concept. This is being done for centuries now and even before the money exsisted. Local farmers always exchanged their produce in return of something else from other farmers which was called 'Barter System'. Coming back to where we are at the moment  there has been lack of this support a few years ago when big super market giants completely took over the market and farmers had to face a really tough competition.Shopping at a supermarket became more fashionable for a lot of reasons.Luckily the council realized how important it is too keep the local producers in the business for a number of reasons and started organizing such events.Some of the main reasons are the local produce is fresh, brought and sold in the market almost same day. Next, they create employment opportunities when their business is supported by all the restaurants and hotels.Other important reason would be that the crop is seasonal and keeps changing accordingly and helps the chefs to think out of the box and create new dishes on the menu with seasonal produce.Main reason being it helps the environment a lot.

Me with Rachida,supervisor at The Chilli Pickle

 Coming to the restaurants, there was a lot of participation from Brighton's best international restaurants. The Chilli Picke (where i used to work before) is not just Brighton's best Indian but i would say entire south of UK if we exclude London.Last year we did some live cooking shows as part of the festival but i wanted us to have a stall there to give the crowd a glimpse of the restaurant and the food. But it did not happen. This year they went ahead and had a food stall and it was really good to see them as a part of the festival.Because i worked at The Chilli Pickle before i know for sure that all our vegetable , dairy, fish and meat suppliers are local.They supply every single day and the produce is all so fresh. This is one reason why the menu keeps changing so many times at the restaurant because of the seasonal availability.
The suppliers are so easily accessible as well when they are local and used to bring us the supply even at a short notice. That's a great advantage as well.These days if you see any good restaurant menu, they always mention where does the meat come from, the fish and the vegetables as well.The chefs take pride in doing that as this is to let the customers know that everything comes fresh which is a great marketing technique to pull more customers.Half of the battle is won when the supply is fresh.

Many more famous restaurants like Moshi Moshi, Sabai ,Wagamama, Terre a Terre , Carluccio's and many more that serve food form all over the world also took part in this event and extended their supply to the local producers and suppliers.The relationship between the restaurants, local suppliers and farmers is like hand-in-glove.You support them and in return they supply you with best seasonal availability.
No matter i work for an International Brand or just one restaurant that served best International food , I always and will always support local shops and visit more often than a super market. That doesn't mean that i will just try local food. I love what world has to offer when it comes to food but it always tastes best when the fresh local produce is used. So......BUY LOCAL AND TRY INTERNATIONAL.