Food is one of the greatest pleasures in life and sourcing local produce can offer a flavour burst that you just don’t get with mass-produced and pre-packaged supermarket food. Knowing where your food comes from is an important factor when preparing tasty dishes for your family, or indeed yourself and knowing how it has been produced can provide peace of mind.
Since local growers don’t necessarily require a long shelf life, there is no need for nasty pesticides and chemicals such as nitrogen to preserve the vegetables. Local producers will almost definitely be growing organic food, which is great to know, but to make your food go further you could consider the following:
- Get to know your supplier
- Learn what to do with the produce
- Grow your own
Becoming friendly with suppliers is a restaurant trick of the trade for various reasons while learning new recipes is a joy and growing your own produce to accompany professionally grown vegetables adds a personal touch to your food.
Local Hero
A great start to your culinary adventure would be getting to know your supplier and has long been a restaurant secret. The reason why top chefs get friendly with their local suppliers is that quite often they will not only let you know about any great food that is imminent but might just offer you a discount should you go to them often.
There is also a great bond that can be formed between supplier and consumer that you aren’t going to get with a supermarket, no matter how friendly its employees are. By becoming friends with a supplier such as Poplar Nurseries you will establish a trusting relationship that means while you are a paying customer, you are valued so the supplier will always go out of their way to provide you with the best that they have.
Avocado to Zucchini
Creating new recipes or indeed learning classics is a great way to use your carefully sourced produce whether its vegetables, fruits or even fresh meat and fish. A great starting point is the aforementioned classics because they are classics for a reason. It’s always easier to begin with the staple dishes of your own country since you will probably already know how they should taste and you can prepare it like mother used to or make it your own.
Following that, there is no shortage of TV shows with celebrity chefs such as Nigella Lawson, Rick Stein and Michel Roux (for when you get more confident) who offer many tasty treats on various channels all day long. YouTube is also an excellent place to start as there are many tutorials from the likes of Gordon Ramsay on basic chef techniques and the likes of Nigel Slater and Gary Rhodes love to sing the delights of seasonal produce.
Super Green Thumb
As you become more proficient in your kitchen you will inevitably want to grow something of your own. Usually, in the beginning, this is the standard herb garden with delectable delights such as fragrant Rosemary, rustic Thyme and the king of herbs, Basil. But should your garden have space and the soil, then you will definitely want to branch out into some easily grown vegetables such as onion, garlic or beans.
Vegetables such as these are used in a variety of ways in many traditional dishes and can be left to their own with little tending. A popular trend in more recent times has been that of the urban farmer. People all over are now raising livestock such as chickens, ducks and rabbits for the purpose of eating and there is no fresher food than that which has come straight from outside your door.
