Organic and Natural Food

In the light of this week's papers re Organic Food we thought it useful to describe our food philosophy as regards raw ingredient sourcing. It's a bit long winded because primarily there is no right or wrong answer (but plenty of bad practises that we avoid) so here goes.......

SCOFF Food Policy/Philosophy/understanding/thing

We have a philosophy that effectively means we use the term ‘natural’ food in terms of our raw ingredient buying policy. What does this mean? Essentially it means what you would understand by the term organic, but there is certified organic food and non-certified organic food. How do we know it is organic if it's not certified? We have visited the farms and seen for ourselves how the food is produced. We believe we have gone one step further than straight organic. The important thing to bear in mind is that an organic certification does not guarantee quality. We buy direct from the producer so we know exactly what we are getting. Also, because there is no middleman taking a cut, the farmer gets a fair price.

Getting your produce certified is a costly time consuming business making it impossible for many small scale producers to achieve. Instead they rely on their reputation and the superior taste of their food to convince the consumer that they are eating something great. Limiting ourselves to certified organic produce would mean we could not benefit from the fantastic produce grown organically but just not certified. We work directly with individual farmers (such as the ones you would find in Borough Market) whom are passionate about their produce and the environment it is grown in. As an example – our vegetable farmer in Somerset is not ‘certified organic’ partly because of the burden of paperwork and also the fact that some of his very old fashioned seed he uses is not organic certified simply because the expense could not be justified to certify it. Thus, even though he uses organic growing method (he is chemical and fertiliser free) , because the seed is not certified he could not use the organic certification for his produce. Because the seed is not certified however, does not mean it has been non-organically produced. In fact, his produce is superior to mainstream organic Veg because he uses tastier varieties. Supermarkets go for varieties that are more naturally pest resistant to keep yields high and hence profits up. Sadly, the real price you pay for this is less flavour. Nature is clever like that - she never let's you have your cake and eat it! We also believe that home grown produce from a trustworthy source is a preferable choice to certified organic from the other side of the globe.

There is also a lot more involved in producing great meat than simply ticking the organic box. It is a lot to do with breed as well as husbandry. All the meat we use is from traditional breeds of animal that are grass-fed and allowed to mature at nature's pace. These have fallen out of favour in modern times because higher profits can be obtained by using faster growing larger animals. But again the real price is in the flavour. The producers we buy from do not use growth promoting hormones, or routine administration of antibiotics. They allow the animals to wean at the correct age rather than the commercial practice of weaning early and then feeding antibiotics to keep infection at bay because really they still need the health properties of their mother's milk. Many commercial animals are not even allowed to graze because it's quicker to pump them full of high calorie (often GM ) feed. Using the traditional methods means it takes longer for the animals to reach slaughter weight but boy is it worth it - both for us and the animal. As an example, we know the woodland that all the Rare Breed Saddleback Pigs roam in Dartmoor for all our Pork products and we know the farmers feeding and management regimes.
For dry and store cupboard ingredients we use a Food Co-Operative whom only stock Organic and Fair trade goods. Lentils, rice, flour, sugar, butter, milk are all organic to list a handful.
To sum up – generally, we use traditional varieties (non GM) of meat and vegetables. Meat/Veg is sourced from farms we have visited and we understand their management of crops/livestock – and in all cases the farms are run on traditional lines – no GM, No Chemicals, no routine antibiotics, slow growing breeds etc. For everything else (spices, flour etc.) we choose organic first and then Fair Trade.

This is a huge topic and one that we can pretty much talk all the time about. The latest findings that Organic Food is better for you come as no great surprise. Although this sort of report is great for the industry in general and is true, that does not in our opinion dismiss food that is not ‘certified organic’. If we chose the organic route entirely we would not have access to the range of fabulous produce now available to us – and we choose on taste and flavour above all else.

Food quality and provenance just doesn't get any better than this. If you choose any of our dishes and include our Veg portion you will have done your body some good and supported some of the very best food producers in the country which has to be a good thing! If everyone still farmed the way they do we would have no need to even bother with an organic certification system - it could be taken for granted that all food was as nature intended.

Steve and Sarah Rushton

November 2007

Healthy School Meals

Sitting in my car on the way to our Kingston kitchen today listening to the news headlines…

‘Jamie Oliver’s School meals project crashes’

Apparently the number of kids eating healthy meals has declined since the launch of Jamie’s Healthy School meals project. Interviewed children were reported as saying that they didn’t like the food and that it was too expensive. Firstly – what do kid’s know about how much good food costs and in any case, when you are a kid you feel pretty invincible and so would good food really concern you?

I remember when I was growing up and in my teens feeling pretty healthy. OK – I had no choice of school meals. Meat and 2 veg and I played sport every day. BUT – I also smoked and ate the usual rubbish (KFC/Burgers etc. though not in the quantity kids eat them today). Did it have an effect on me? – Not that I would have realised at the time. Your body at that stage in life is pretty good at working and so some abuse really doesn’t do it too much harm, as long as that abuse isn’t long term. Try keeping up the abuse until you are 40 and then apply for a slot on Channel 4’s ‘10 years younger’!

The issue we have now is that because kids are allowed choice of food at school they will normally in their masses choose (a) the unhealthy option because despite Jamie’s best efforts healthy food is not seen as cool and (b) choose the food they recognise. We cook everyday at home (well, we used to until we moved to a SCOFF delivery zone!) and don’t eat deep fried food. By comparison, out children have supper at friends houses and it does still amaze me how many smiley faces there out there. In my childhood days it was either a case of eating what was on the table or go hungry (I think the war and rationing was still remembered and with that now a long way away values have shifted).

So – in this PC world we live in we allow Kid’s rights and choices often in line with adults choices, failing to remember that these are just kids and that the point of education is to teach them the right from wrong, good from bad and impart knowledge so that they can make the right choices later in life. Perhaps with the healthy food question we should have also asked if the children valued Maths, English and Latin! I am pretty sure that the response would have been the same as that when questioned about healthy food – but does that mean that we then don’t teach them the basics anymore?

Why is good food a fundamental part of a good education?

The knowledge we learn in our youth sets us up for life. Independent tests have shown that children eating healthy food have a better attention span in class, less allergies and therefore stood a better chance of learning what they needed to know to go on and achieve the best they can.

The habits that children learn in their youth will set them up for life. Why we are obese as a nation, why do immigrants to this country achieve more than some of our indigenous population (see Jon Snow’s Channel 4 Despatches). Food – our fuel, has a part to play in answering some of these questions, if not in full, certainly in part.

The survival of our intelligence, our abilities, our countryside management, our animal welfare, our place in the world is dependent on what we eat – our fuel. I know that I always feel more content, balanced (not that I am unstable!), nourished and a better husband and parent after a good meal and that I make better decisions.

So – let’s not give up on this project. Yes – it’s difficult to produce food that kids will like who are more used to eating junk. It will take more than just putting the food in front of them – it will take class & home education as well. It’s of course difficult for the caterers to work within budgets and re-train their staff to cook properly. It’s difficult, so what, what things worth doing aren’t difficult in life.

For our part we have committed to supplying SCOFF to a local school from next January. No, it won’t make us oodles of money (or any really) and requires us to operate slightly differently. But on the plus side we can guarantee some children receive food produced ethically without the use of chemicals, cooked with care without any gunk and it will really nourish them. Let’s hope we have more success than the schools I am hearing of on the news this morning.