It’s the turn of another celebrity chef to get riled up on the subject of local seasonal produce (covered by us recently here and here) but this time there’s a book to back it all up with. John Burton Race graced our screens in ‘French Leave’ and ‘Return Of The Chef’, TV series which showed him relocating to France with his family and cooking with local produce all the while - he hopes his new book ‘Flavour First’ will help others to do the same.

“I just want people to realise that 50 per cent of good food is about the raw ingredients” he says, deploring the state of the farming industry, blaming the government for importing milk from France and Poland and emphasising the importance of sourcing and buying “locally and seasonally because that’s how we get great taste and flavours”.

Our recent video interviewees Niamh Shields, Julia Parsons and Aidan Brooks all agree, and the call for fresh, locally farmed, seasonal ingredients shows no sign of quietening down.

But what’s your take on this topic? Is buying local easier said than done? With life expensive enough as it is, can we afford to be picky about our produce? Let us know what you think!

Photo credit: Seasonal Fruit and Veg Display by armcurl (CC License)

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