As part of its partnership with Slow Food UK, Restaurant Associates will be celebrating Slow Food Week (1-9 June 2013) by showcasing some very special yet forgotten foods.
From Tuesday 3 June to Thursday 7 June 2013, Restaurant Associates will be serving a different Slow Food dish each day to thousands of customers across approximately 100 different locations. Ingredients on the special Slow Food Week menu include Herdwick lamb, Grimsby haddock and Gloucester old spot pork, offering customers the chance to experience the delights of artisan food and regional ingredients. In addition, Restaurants Associates will also be running a culinary competition for Restaurant Associates’ chefs to uncover the next wave of innovative dishes for their Forgotten Foods menus.
Slow Food Week
The Week is an opportunity to highlight Slow Food UK’s work with local artisan producers and suppliers to preserve special British flavours. It will also provide a focus for newly saved Forgotten Foods, with six new foods from Britain’s disappearing culinary landscapes to be announced. This year will also see Slow Food UK host a series of national and local events, weekly Slow Food menus at Chef Alliance restaurants and a unique online auction.
Andy Harris, Managing Director of Restaurant Associates commented: “We love the way Slow Food champions small, artisan food producers and ingredients that are different, delicious and rare. We are proud to help ensure that these amazing products can be protected from disappearing and preserved for future food lovers. Through our partnership with Slow Food UK, we are now offering forgotten foods to tens of thousands of people across the UK and the feedback has been phenomenally positive.”
Slow Food
Catherine Gazzoli, CEO of Slow Food UK said: “Slow Food is a philosophy, but it can be practically applied and made pragmatic. The success of the Forgotten Foods scheme with Restaurant Associates proves that doing the right thing, choosing foods made with integrity and principles can also make good business sense. Taking the Slow Food ethos into employee restaurants and fine dining hospitality is a great leap forward; together we are introducing a whole new generation to Great British Food.”
Restaurant Associates’ partnership with Slow Food UK began in October last year. As part of the partnership, Culinary Director for Restaurant Associates, Jeremy Ford, and his team have introduced exciting new dishes created to showcase some of Britain’s ‘Forgotten Foods,’ helping Restaurant Associates’ diners rediscover British culinary traditions. This initiative supports Slow Food UK’s Ark of Taste campaignand each month a new Forgotten Foods dish is added to the menu at Restaurant Associates’ restaurants within its corporate catering contracts.
Six saved Forgotten Foods
Slow Food UK is proud to launch six newly saved Forgotten Foods: they are Sea Lavender Honey, Medlar, Goosnargh Cake, Cornish Saffron Cake, Badger Face Welsh Mountain Sheep and British Lop.
About Restaurant Associates
Restaurant Associates, part of Compass Group UK & Ireland, offers the highest quality of catering and support services to all its clients. Premium services include fine dining, conferencing and meeting room service, functions and events, as well as front of house operations through its Rapport guest services brand.
For more information about Restaurant Associates click here
About Slow Food
Slow Food is a global, grassroots movement with thousands of members around the world that links the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment. Changing the way we eat and spreading the message of good, clean and fair food for all, Slow Food UK has a network of dedicated volunteers all around the country, working at a local level on projects designed to encourage people of all ages to think more about food such as where it comes from, what it tastes like, ways to cook and prepare it, and how to enjoy it!
The Ark of Taste promotes exceptional food products and rare breeds in danger of disappearing due to current food production and distribution systems. The Ark of Taste and ‘Forgotten Foods’ programmes are supported by Booths supermarkets and Restaurant Associates. The Slow Food UK Chef Alliance, supported by Highland Park whisky, is a network of Britain’s chefs who actively support the aims of Slow Food UK through specifically championing Ark of Taste products and producers.
For more information about Slow Food click here
For a full list of events taking place during Slow Food Week click here