Healthy eating award

Published:

CHINESE food in Scotland is usually associated with fried rice and battered chicken balls, but an Aberdeen restaurant has turned that reputation on its head after scooping a national healthy eating award.

Sam’s Chinese Cuisine may look like your typical Chinese restaurant, but instead of calorie-laden sauces and deep-fried ingredients, customers can tuck into locally sourced meats and sauces consisting of vegetables and spices.

The city-centre venue, on King Street, has become the first Chinese restaurant in Scotland to achieve the healthyliving award, a national initiative which aims to make it easier for people to choose healthy options when they eat out.

Launched by the Scottish Consumer Council in 2006, the award has been an unprecedented success, with more than 800 public and private-sector food outlets across Scotland already signed up.

And the addition of a Chinese restaurant to that list is evidence that healthy options can be offered regardless of the venue, according to Claire Brown, project manager of the healthyliving award.

She said: “Going to a Chinese restaurant is usually considered a bit of an indulgent treat in Scotland so I am delighted that Sam’s Chinese Cuisine has proved that this treat doesn’t have to be an unhealthy one.

“Our award ceremonies demonstrate the wide appeal of this accreditation, with winners ranging from a small bed-and-breakfast in Shetland to large employers with thousands of staff, and even a number of police stations.

“I hope the success of Sam’s Chinese Cuisine will encourage other Chinese restaurants to review the healthy options they offer consumers.”

Sam’s Chinese Cuisine specialises in providing a healthy Chinese menu using fresh, quality ingredients. The chef’s Steak Canton dish, for example, uses beef sourced from local farmers and a sauce of fresh vegetables and spices. The restaurant also uses fish from the local harbour.

The eatery was among 60 food outlets to receive the prestigious healthyliving award at an awards ceremony in Glasgow on April 29.

Sam’s Chinese Cuisine achieved the award after adopting a range of healthier practices, including reducing levels of fat, salt and sugar in food and making fruit and vegetables more easily available.

Sam Ng, owner of the restaurant, said: “Many people don’t associate Chinese cuisine with a healthy lifestyle, but the healthyliving award has helped to highlight the fact that, if cooked well with good ingredients, Chinese cuisine can be healthy.

“I have always believed in using high-quality produce from local sources and preparing them with skill, commitment and passion to create healthy, tasty dishes for my customers.

“I think that, given the right information, people will choose the healthier option, and I feel that it is the responsibility of people in the catering trade to empower people to make these choices.”

The national healthyliving award is open to most food serving outlets in Scotland.

To qualify for the award, caterers need to meet a set of key criteria, which includes a commitment to providing and supporting healthier eating, as demonstrated on the menu selection; the way they prepare food; marketing and promotional activities, and the way in which food is presented and sold.

At least half of the food they serve needs to be a healthyliving choice prepared using both healthier ingredients and healthier cooking methods, and healthy and nutritious food is required to be available for children in places where they are served.

For further information on how to apply for the healthyliving award, contact 0141 226 5261, or visit www.healthyliving award.co.uk