The good ship provenance

One word which ranks high in a Google search of 2006 food buzzwords would have to be 'provenance'. In December I was at a conference discussing this very topic and it was interesting to hear how many food businesses had successfully incorporated regional British produce into their mainstream new product development. Despite the continuing challenges presented by seasonality and cost, there clearly is a groundswell of industry support for provenance and regional sourcing nationwide.

The Jeckyl and Hyde attitude of the great British consumer, however, is hard to comprehend. Overseas, our nation is stereotyped as one of tweed-wearing eccentrics shooting wild grouse on our estates, or as quintessential mad inventors. There is a dichotomy. On the one hand there is support for the Countryside Alliance and protecting our local business communities at the weekend. On the other, there is trawling the supermarket aisles for the cheapest produce (with thousands of food miles to boot) on a Monday morning. It is a clear case of hypocrisy; not one shared by our European counterparts.

A gastronomic highlight for the Beetroot & Orange team recently was a trip to Salone del Gusto - the slow food movement's biennial celebration in Turin. The producers' passion for provenance and family tradition, demonstrated through the nurturing of their craft and passed on down the generations, was truly heartening. From succulent Tuscan wild boar sausage to deep cave matured ewes milk cheese, the stories behind the produce were as tantalising as the tastes themselves. It highlighted to us why Brits have historically not been taken seriously as food connoisseurs.

As producers, we only showcase our best in agriculturally biased regional shows which miss mainstream consumer exposure. So why not explore jumping aboard the good ship Provenance yourselves in 2007?

''Angela Mitton is creative product developer at NPD consultancy

Beetroot & Orange http://www.beetrootandorange.co.uk​''