From Tuesday 3 June to Thursday 7 June 2013, Restaurant Associates will be serving a different Slow Food dish each day to thousands of customers across approximately 100 different locations.
Ingredients on the special Slow Food Week menu include Herdwick lamb, Grimsby haddock and Gloucester old spot pork, offering customers the chance to experience the delights of artisan food and regional ingredients. In addition, Restaurants Associates will also be running a culinary competition for Restaurant Associates’ chefs to uncover the next wave of innovative dishes for their Forgotten Foods menus.
Slow Food Week is an opportunity to highlight Slow Food UK’s work with local artisan producers and suppliers to preserve special British flavours. It will also provide a focus for newly saved Forgotten Foods, with six new foods from Britain’s disappearing culinary landscapes to be announced. This year will also see Slow Food UK host a series of national and local events, weekly Slow Food menus at Chef Alliance restaurants and a unique online auction.
Andy Harris, managing director of Restaurant Associates commented: “We love the way Slow Food champions small, artisan food producers and ingredients that are different, delicious and rare. We are proud to help ensure that these amazing products can be protected from disappearing and preserved for future food lovers. Through our partnership with Slow Food UK, we are now offering forgotten foods to tens of thousands of people across the UK and the feedback has been phenomenally positive.”
Catherine Gazzoli, CEO of Slow Food UK added: “Slow Food is a philosophy, but it can be practically applied and made pragmatic. The success of the Forgotten Foods scheme with Restaurant Associates proves that doing the right thing, choosing foods made with integrity and principles can also make good business sense.
"Taking the Slow Food ethos into employee restaurants and fine dining hospitality is a great leap forward; together we are introducing a whole new generation to Great British Food.”