GOOD FOOD GUY
PLEASURE SEEKERS…
Taken from this month’s Cotswold Life magazine
THIS SPRING, DITCH THE DELIVERY VAN AND GET OUT AND EXPERIENCE MORE OF WHAT MAKES YOU FEEL GOOD – YOUR LOCAL FOOD AND DRINK PRODUCERS WILL THANK YOU FOR IT
I don’t know about you, but over the last two years, I have felt that the whole world has come to my house in a cardboard box. There’s been no chance of being lonely during lockdown thanks to the number of van drivers I’ve had the pleasure of chatting to, and as for the recycling companies, I’ve certainly kept them busy!
Now don’t get me wrong – I love having things delivered to my door, I really do – but is that a world I aspire to live in? If there’s one thing 2020-2021 has taught me, it’s that I like meeting people, I like experiencing things, I like getting out and seeing things.
I was reminded of this over the last few months during my hunt for local suppliers for our new Warner’s Supermarket, opening this spring in Upton Upon Severn. It made me realise all over again how alive the Cotswolds is with amazing food and drink, how many great local producers are out there with inspiring stories to tell. These are the people who make our food and drink interesting, who ignite our appetite for new flavours, who stop our world from being so sterilised.
We all claim to love that freshly baked sourdough from the local artisan bakery, that sharp but sweet single Gloucester (made using milk from the dairy farm’s own Gloucester cattle) that can be found at the farmers’ market, that quirky, knockout gin from the local distillery, but – and this going to sound extremely ‘woke’ of me – we need to act, not just talk.
It’s a simple case of ‘use it or lose it’. The harsh reality is that if we don’t buy from our local producers, if we don’t frequent their doors, or support what they are doing with our actions, then we may indeed lose some of them.
The crazy thing is that we all say we love shopping locally, that we love the experience and the variety on offer, and yet, we all too often get back home and go ‘click, clack, clock’ and before you know it, another van has pulled up outside.
Of course, we do it because it’s easy, and I’ll be the first to hold my hand up and say anything to make life easier after the two years we’ve just had should be embraced. But we perhaps need to check ourselves at the same time. After all, we’ve also done a lot less of what we enjoy over the last two years – so why not get out there and do the very things we say we like doing?
If that means an extra trip to the farm shop because you love the taste of the vegetables that have literally come out of the ground that day, if that means a quick wander to the farmers’ market to pick up that amazing, home-made chicken pie for tea because it reminds you of your mum’s cooking, if that means popping to the local bakery where you can get that incredible malted loaf with the crust just how you like it – then that’s what you should do!
As much as I admire Geoff and his Amazon Smile, the thing that will keep me smiling throughout 2022, is doing more of what I like – and that’s enjoying some really good, honest, local food and drink.