The Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance in the UK joins the international network of chefs defending food biodiversity across the world

 The UK is the seventeenth country where the project has a presence

The Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance in the UK is joining Slow Food’s large network of chefs committed to cooking and promoting products from the Slow Food Ark of Taste, Slow Food Presidia and other communities of local producers. The Alliance project already has hundreds of members in sixteen countries (Albania, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, France, Germany, India, Italy, Kenya, Morocco, Mexico, the Netherlands, Russia, Uganda).

Andrew Link, a Chefs’ Alliance member at “The Riverside” in Hereford: “Chefs and restaurants are a vital link between producers and consumers. It’s both an opportunity and an obligation for chefs at all levels to provide a route to market for tiny producers, such as farmers and shepherds, who are working incredibly hard and don’t have time to promote themselves.

We can make that link by steering the attitudes of consumers to make them aware of seasonal, local and sustainable produce, and all our menus are written around that. After the experience of attending Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in 2016, I’m excited by the prospect of a closer connection through the Chefs’ Alliance with the larger Slow Food network of like-minded chefs and producers in other countries.”

Neil Forbes, a Chefs’ Alliance member at “Cafe St Honore” in Edinburgh: “I see being a member of the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance gives me the opportunity to tell the incredible story of why I do what I do and why it is important to support small scale producers, buy locally, in season and put on our plates great food with stories and integrity. Food is something we all do every day, we all eat and we must all recognize our heritage and with the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance we can achieve and retain our food culture from our past and share our historical recipes with food stuffs from the Ark of Taste to showcase and highlight that our region, Scotland, is a place to be proud of and one to be taken seriously, which can take us in to the future.

The chefs who have signed up in the UK so far are:

Alison Henderson, Colstoun Cookery School, Near Haddington

Andrew Link, The Riverside at Aymestrey, Hereford

Carina Contini, Marcin Medrygal & Suzanne O’Connor, Contini, Edinburgh

Colin Hinds, Kilted Lobster, Edinburgh

Gill Romy, Romy’s Kitchen, Thornbury

Graeme Pallister, 63 Tay Streey, Perth

Lesley Gillespie, The Card, Dyce

Mark Matless, Bullitt, Norwich

Matthias & Roisin Llorente, Bia Bistrot, Edinburgh

Neil Forbes, Cafe St Honore, Edinburgh

Rosario Sartore, Locanda De Gusti, Edinburgh

Sam Leach, Birch, Bristol

Tom Lewis, Monachyle Mhor Hotel, Lochearnhead

Zoltan Szabo, Blythswood Square Hotel, Glasgow

The Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance is an international project which is engaged in the battle for the protection of agricultural and food biodiversity all over the world. The Alliance is made up of chefs who have agreed a pact with Slow Food Presidia and Ark of Taste producers and all local producers who cultivate with respect for the concepts of good, clean and fair. The chefs are committed to adding the names of the producers they buy from to their menus, giving added importance and visibility to their work. The goal is to stimulate the creation of a circuit in the local economy, which helps find a market for these authentic products that are often ignored by large retailers. The chefs are committed to buying and working with local raw materials from this network of farmers, breeders, fishermen, butchers, bakers and artisans who safeguard traditional techniques and knowledge.

To find out more about the Slow Food Chefs’ Alliance in the UK, visit: http://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/nazioni-alleanza/united-kingdom/

For further information, please contact:

Slow Food International Press Office

[email protected] – Twitter: @SlowFoodPress

Slow Food is a global grassroots organization that envisions a world in which all people can access and enjoy food that is good for them, good for those who grow it and good for the planet. Slow Food involves over a million activists, chefs, experts, youth, farmers, fishers and academics in over 160 countries. Among them, a network of around 100,000 Slow Food members are linked to 1,500 local chapters worldwide, contributing through their membership fee, as well as the events and campaigns they organize. As part of the network, more than 2,400 Terra Madre food communities practice small-scale and sustainable production of quality food around the world.