Gordon Calls for Action on Unseasonal Menus

Gordon Ramsey has today called for restaurants to be forced to use only seasonal fruit and veg or face being fined. He has called Gordon Brown to bring in tough new legislation that would see an end to un-seasonal menus and crack down on the amount of imported food, currently relied on by British chefs.

Instead, all menus should be locally sourced as well as seasonal.

Chefs who failed to adhere to this would be heavily fined and possibly have their "license" removed.

Whilst I agree that these kinds of menus generally taste better (food always tastes better during peak season) and supporting local producers better than fuelling cheap imports, legislation seems to be an over-reaction and hard to inforce.

The money needed to implement and enforce the proposed "licensing" scheme would be better spent on educating people and improving their knowledge and palates into making more informed choices; supporting small producers and improving their relationships with suppliers; providing funding for regular farmer's markets in under-resourced areas so that people have an opportunity to buy local, seasonal produce instead of having to rely on their local supermarket; encouraging supermarkets to pay local farmers a fair price and promote these items properly in store.