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Ramsay campaigns for seasonal fruit and veg

09/05/2008

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has outlined his campaign for fresh fruit and vegetables to be used in restaurants only when they are in season.

Speaking on BCC Radio 4's Farming Today, the chef declared: "Fruit and veg should be seasonal; chefs should be fined if they haven't got ingredients in season on their menu.

"I don't want to see asparagus on in the middle of December; I don't want to see strawberries on in the middle of March; I want to see it home grown."

The 41-year-old continued: "That's our job from a chef's point of view to make sure that everything is locally sourced and more importantly when we haven't got it take it off the menu. That's where chefs become very lazy because they get excited by frills: white asparagus on in the middle of July because it's from Botswana."

"It's wrong; there should be stringent laws; fines; licensing laws to make sure this produce is only used in season.

"Customers are far more finicky today than they ever have been. They want that level of security; to know the traceability; where is that halibut from? Is it off the Scottish coast or have I got it from Canada?" The F Word star added.

Ramsay told the BBC that the environmental implications of importing foreign food stuffs should be taken into consideration.

He said that legislation should be "pushed" through parliament forcing Britain's restaurants to abide by the rules and added he had recently met with prime minister Gordon Brown.

"I was very fortunate enough to talk briefly with the prime minister. We didn't touch on the subject too much but it's something I feel really concerned about and if we don't restrict our movements in this industry of seasonal produce only then the whole thing is going to spiral out of control," he finished.