We have been customers of John Rowswell's for many years and he grows and supplies all our vegetables and most of the salad we use.
The Rowswells have lived in the Somerset village of Barrington for 500 years.Ten years ago John Rowswell’s family faced an uncertain future. For almost a century, they had kept cattle on a small farm near Ilminster but with farming in decline were struggling to make ends meet. John’s brave new idea was to specialise in unusual varieties and to do it exceptionally. Today he is many a South West chef’s favourite producer as he personally delivers 50-60 varieties of year round, colourful and unfamiliar goodies bursting with freshness and natural flavour. Opponents to the supermarket’s prepacked, ‘wash everything in chlorine’ culture will fall in love with the fields, sheds and barns that make up this near-organic, leguminous treasure chest.A trip around his farm shop is an education in just exactly what can be grown with a little imagination and without the need for pesticides and chemicals. ‘Tigerella’ tomatoes, Romanesco, a sweet crunchy cauliflower, black and golden French beans and red Jerusalem artichokes are just the tip of the iceberg. There are sixteen types of tomato, at least seven prolific varieties of chilli and a repertoire of nine different potatoes including the Pink Fir apple potato, a waxy, old-fashioned spud favoured by the likes of Rick Stein. Salad lovers are more than catered for with seven kinds of lettuce and nine types of salad leaf including Japanese red mustard and mizuna.It’s hard not to be swept away by the enthusiasm that John exudes. His passion for the novel means that he is now busy preparing for a monster harvest of banana shallots, long favoured by the French, and so called because of their shape. He is the only person in the country growing these and last October planted half a million from seed that were quickly snapped up by top hotels and restaurants. In 2006 John was made the UKTV Food Hero of the Year for the South West and last year he was honoured as the Best Food Producer in Somerset.
This recession is going to be deep. But life must go on. Small business' will be hit very hard and food business' especially early when consumers tighten their belts. Restaurants with lower customer numbers are already affecting many of the top class producers we work with we are told. What they do is farm responsibly and traditionally. It is not posh produce, but it is more expensive than factory farmed produce (but umpteen times as good). They protect the countryside and if we as a nation could get our heads around prioritising food then not only would we be healthier, but also the protection of our countryside for generations to come would be secure.
We are building what we hope to be a recession surviving business (I don't think any business is recession proof). Tom Aikens restaurant business has already gone to the wall (I suspect because he was ill advised in the past couple of years and had overgeared himself, spending many hundreds of thousands of pounds launching and refurbing his restaurant and fish and chip shop). Small suppliers have so far been left out to dry by all reports. Perhaps they will get paid in time, I certainly hope so, but for the time being their cash flow will come under extraordinary strain, and the banks will not be particularly interested. I expect a lot more to follow.
What to the future then. Already there are reports of people shopping for cheaper food. I know I am a foodie but the idea that when life gets tough people resort to buying cheap food (perhaps we are so undeveloped in this country we have not connected the fact that 'garbage in, garbage out' does not only apply to computer processing). Feed yourselves well, your body and mind will be well nourished and certainly ready to face the competitive world we live in. Now, more than ever we need to prepare ourselves for being innovitive and we are not going to be able to do this without feeding our minds & bodies properly.
Cheap supermarket food, lacking in any kind of nutrition, and ,marketed to the unsuspecting public (Tesco was selling soup for 4p recently - well water and additives to those who could read the label) have in my opinion been the cause of a great many social issues we see today. Society has stopped feeling responsible and the government have helped feed the notions of millions whom have developed a selfish attitude to life and a 'what's in it for me' persona. The dumbing down of peoples eating habits is just one of many examples of how society has changed - I believe for the worse. Do you see the Chinese or the Indian's, Greeks's, Italians doing the same - NO, their nutrition stays at the top of their shopping list. We need to change or watch out.
So - what of our future. Restaurants are coming under strain and this has a knock on effect for small producers. Luckily we seem to be bucking the trend. We were interviewed by Sky News last night as we seem to be picking up the fallout from lost restaurant sales (I suppose we are a sort of no frills solution, same quality without the glitz). Our small producers, such as John, needs ours and your support to get through all this.
