British Food Fortnight – Why we buy local

To celebrate British Food Fortnight we thought we’d share a few reasons why we source produce locally. At the Crown Inn we believe that buying our produce locally is not only best for our community and our customers, but also best for the environment.

Taste

Local suppliers tend to provide produce in season, meaning that it is at its peak in terms of taste.  The produce is generally not forced and is allowed to grow naturally to ensure this. The supplier’s knowledge of varieties that grow well in our UK climate and their passion and pride in what they grow also ensures they offer great tasting food.

The produce also spends less time travelling to its destination before cooking or consuming, which helps retain nutrients and freshness – another reason why the taste is better.

Community

Building strong working relationships and supply chains in your local community is a great way of bringing a community together.  Sharing community spirit and gaining face to face feedback from suppliers and consumers alike. Supporting your community can help ensure it thrives longer.

Environment

Choosing local produce reduces the carbon footprint of every mouthful you take, as it reduces the number of miles it takes to reach you (known as food miles).  More than this, local producers tend to have less waste; products don’t have to look a certain way or be a certain colour to make it to the shelves and so we can buy imperfect, but tasty, food.  Lastly, locally produced food helps sustain the local wildlife living in and around farmed land, allowing farmers to run farms that encourage biodiversity.

Economics

When you buy local produce you are investing in a local business and in turn the local economy.  Helping local businesses to continue trading and developing lasting relationships with the people who grow/raise your produce helps sustain the local economy for the next generation.  It also, generally, ensures that our farmers are getting a fair price for the produce they provide, enabling profitable local business.

Knowledge

In our experience, local suppliers have extensive knowledge of their produce and can offer you one to one advice about the best ways to cook and eat your purchase.  These people are masters of their craft, are passionate, enthusiastic and proud to have developed the most appropriate processes to ensure the quality of their produce.  It also ensures you know exactly where the produce has come from and how it is grown, made or raised.

Whilst this way of sourcing produce may not always be able to compete on price compared to supermarkets, in our experience, it always competes on quality.  Aside from all the other amazing benefits buying locally provides.  We can all play a part in developing stronger, more economically viable communities and supporting our knowledgeable and passionate local suppliers.

To find out more about the suppliers we work with, click here.