Ramsay calls for rule allowing only fruit and veg in season

Celebrity chef says: When we haven’t got it, take it off the menu

By Beverley Rouse

Published:

SEASONAL FARE: Gordon Ramsay, seen outside his Claridges restaurant in London, wants us to eat according to the calendar

Chef Gordon Ramsay is calling for laws to ban restaurants from serving fruit and vegetables out of season.

Hefty fines should be given to those which flout the rule, he said in a radio interview broadcast yesterday.

“There should be stringent laws to make sure produce is only used in season,” he told listeners. The quicker we get legislation pushed through the Houses of Parliament, the more unique this country will become in terms of its sourcing and level of inspiration.

“Fruit and veg should be seasonal. Chefs should be fined if they haven’t got ingredients in season.”

Ramsay said he wanted to see home-grown produce on menus, not asparagus in December or Kenyan strawberries in March.

“When we haven’t got it, take it off the menu,” he said. “These seasonal aspects makes it 10 times more exciting for punters.”

The Soil Association’s Food for Life Partnership director, Emma Noble, said: “Gordon Ramsay is right that seasonal menus are a key step in cutting the environmental impact of our food.

“Hundreds of schools and their caterers are serving up seasonal, local and organic fruit and vegetables as part of the Soil Association-led Food for Life Partnership.

“If schools can do it, chefs and restaurants should too.”

Michelle Di Leo, director of FlyingMatters, a coalition of farmers in the developing world, business, trade unions, tourism bodies and the aviation industry, said: “Gordon Ramsay currently has bananas, pineapples and mango on the menus of his UK restaurants, none of which could have been grown in the UK but are all likely to have come from farmers in the developing world.

“Mr Ramsay would have more credibility if he celebrated this fact rather than telling others they should give them up.”

Oxfam’s head of research, Duncan Green, said: “I’m sure the million farmers in East Africa who rely on exporting their goods to scrape a living would see Gordon Ramsay’s assertions as a recipe for disaster.

“He, like all of us, wants to tackle climate change, but it is vital that we ensure that poor people already hit hardest by climate change are not made to suffer even further.”

Farming union NFU Scotland supported Mr Ramsay’s call. Its www.whatsonyour plate.co.uk website has a calendar of season produce.

NFU communications manager Anna Davies said: “Restaurants do need to be encouraged to use Scottish produce wherever possible.”