Keep it local
The founder, Pierre Romeyer, owner of the three-Michelin star La Maison de Bouche in Brussels, invited leading chefs across Europe to join him in his “quest to protect the quality, diversity and flavour of our foods, indigenous food methods and the traditional cuisines that had been established over hundreds of years”.
Among the illustrious chefs who joined Romeyer and founded Eurotoques branches were Paul Bocuse from France, Cas Spijkers from Holland and our own Myrtle Allen of Ballymaloe House. Today Eurotoques has a membership of almost 4,000 chefs, including 200 in Ireland, and has a permanent European office in Brussels from which it coordinates its lobbying campaigns. At the third Eurotoques National Food Forum & Fair at the Brooklodge Hotel, Co Wicklow, recently, the topic for discussion was “The Future of our Food”.
The forum, chaired by John Hume, featured high-profile speakers from policy-making, culinary, environmental and scientific backgrounds and discussed topics including the future of the agri-food sector in Ireland and Europe, globalisation versus localisation of food production, changing consumer trends in food purchasing and the effects of technical and genetic manipulation of food.
Speaking at the event, Ross Lewis, the commissioner-general of Eurotoques Ireland, explained why chefs are more hopeful for the future of Irish food: “As chefs, we are seeing increasing demand from consumers for locally produced foods, the organic market is growing, the number of farmers’ markets has increased rapidly, and we are seeing a great resurgence in small-scale, artisan food production.
Panellist Alan Dukes discussed the latest European Common Agricultural Policy reforms which go some way towards putting more emphasis on quality rather than quantity in food production, by ending the association between production quotas and direct payments. Robert Cook of the International Society for Ecology and Culture stressed that localisation of food production is not only a matter of food quality, but also an environmental necessity. UK figures estimate that the distance food is transported by road increased by 50% between 1978 and 1999, and the food system now accounts for between a third and 40% of all UK road freight.
Michelin-star chef Shaun Hill highlighted the important relationship between the chef, suppliers and the customer, the constant battle with bureaucracy, how food and catering have changed through the years and our responsibility to educate the consumer. The following recipes are from his book How to Cook Better, published by Mitchell Beazley.
