The North’s food festivals are a major success story

May 16 2008 by Iain Laing, The Journal

EAT! No encouragement needed. The North East food festival is a remarkable success, mainly because the local products it celebrates are addictively delicious.

Over the past few years the region has become something of a haven for connoisseurs of good food. Restaurants stock superb locally-reared meat, fresh fish, vegetables and berries. That was not the case a decade ago, and we were much the poorer for not having the choice.

The range of places to eat in our cities, towns and villages continues to grow. Farm shops and restaurants are thriving and there is lots of choice in out-of-town cafes and stand-alone restaurants.

Food is good in the North. It’s official. Newcastle is now one of the top 10 cities in which to dine outside London, according to a national survey. Although the chefs, entrepreneurial farmers and restaurant owners can take much of the credit, there’s a much greater awareness of the choice and quality of the foodstuff on our doorstep.

Local food is also much more green than organic produce. I’d much prefer to eat a carrot produced in an allotment down the road than a knobbly misshapen object that’s travelled hundreds of miles to grace the organic shelves.

In a food policy report, the academic authors calculate that the country would save well over £2.3bn a year if we all consumed food sourced within 20 kilometres of where we live.

The Journal campaign to support regional fare is one of its most popular long-term drives, with a well-read Taste supplement vying for attention on a Friday with this column.

More of us are growing our own too, with long waiting lists for allotments.

Neighbourhood shops, farm shops and farmers markets – which were virtually unheard of 25 years ago – are central to the long-term success of quality local produce, however, and as long as they are supported we can continue to eat excellent food.

Apart from the restaurant route, there will always be a niche for the family butchers, specialist bakers or delicatessens which reach the parts that supermarkets can’t. In fact, it’s time for a wander to the shops right now.

Nicholas Craig is a partner at Watson Burton LLP