Top Chefs 'Switch A Dish' to Fairtrade for Fairtrade Fortnight

Top chefs and restaurants across the UK are putting their support behind Fairtrade during Fairtrade Fortnight 2007 (February 26 – March 11) and doing their bit to help tackle world poverty by ‘Switching a Dish’ to one that uses Fairtrade ingredients.

Antony Worrall Thompson is one of twenty top chefs supporting the campaign to encourage more restaurants to use Fairtrade ingredients. He will add a prawn & mango ceviche using Fairtrade mango to the menu at all four of his restaurant grills. “Choosing to switch to Fairtrade mangoes in our restaurants during Fairtrade Fortnight offers our customers a very simple choice to support Fairtrade. This means that together we are helping to open up more opportunities for producers like the mango farmers in Burkina Faso, one of the poorest countries in the world, for whom Fairtrade has brought a route out of poverty. And as there is now such a wide variety of different Fairtrade certified products available, there is really no reason not to make that switch!”

He is joined by Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers at the River Café, Atul Kochar at Benares, Michael Caines MBE at several of his restaurants and Tom Aikens at Tom’s Kitchen, among other high profile chefs. Conran Restaurants is also supporting the initiative by offering Fairtrade coffee to customers in all its restaurants. A full list of participating venues is at the end of this release.

The restaurants will be switching to Fairtrade, either using Fairtrade ingredients in one or more of their dishes, or offering at least one Fairtrade line such as tea, coffee or sugar on their menus. With delicious dishes from Hot chocolate & Earl Grey Fondant, using Fairtrade chocolate and Fairtrade Earl Grey tea, to Chocolate cake with a cashew nut biscuit and caramelised pecan ice cream, the campaign will delight taste buds and stimulate minds around the UK.

Choosing Fairtrade ingredients when cooking means that farmers, like those who belong to the Manduvira Sugar Co-operative in Paraguay, are guaranteed a sweeter life. Fairtrade certification for their sugar has meant they have been able to cover their expenses during the low season and invest in improving the fertility of their land. The Fairtrade premium has also paid for the construction of a clinic and community centre, providing vital health and dental care for the whole community, as well as financing improved access to clean water and sanitation and the purchase of a new tractor for the cooperative.

As Luis Dario Ruiz Diaz, President of Manduvira Sugar Co-operative, says: “With Fairtrade, the farmers have more motivation and they are returning to caring for their land. They can now improve the standard of living for their families and the community, and ensure more education for their sons and daughters. They feel useful – that they can help their family and community and co-operative.”

Harriet Lamb, Fairtrade Foundation Executive Director, welcomes the response from leading restaurateurs and chefs: “That top chefs are making the change to Fairtrade products and choosing them for their culinary creations is an enormous recommendation for the quality and range now available. Many people still only think of tea and coffee when they think of Fairtrade. But there are now over 2,500 products available, and with delicious ingredients ranging from peppercorns, cinnamon and vanilla pods, to avocados and grapes, to rum and wine, it’s easy for cooks everywhere to make the switch. And each change means that the guaranteed fair price which comes with Fairtrade helps farmers face a better future for themselves and their families.”

Fairtrade Fortnight is the Fairtrade Foundation’s annual campaign to raise awareness of Fairtrade and promote Fairtrade products in the UK. The theme of Fairtrade Fortnight 2007 is Change Today, Choose Fairtrade, a call not only to the UK’s public to make the switch to buying Fairtrade, but also to the retail and restaurant trade. The ‘Switch a Dish’ initiative will prove that it’s possible to Change Today and Choose Fairtrade in almost every situation – at home, out shopping, and now even when you’re going out for dinner.

The following chefs and restaurants have signed up to switch. More will be confirmed leading up to Fairtrade Fortnight:

• Allegra McEvedy - Leon

• Antony Worrall Thompson - Notting Grill, Barnes Grill and Kew Grill in London The Greyhound and The Lamb in Henley

• Atul Kochhar - Benares, London

• Chris & Jeff Galvin - Galvin Bistrot de Luxe, London

• Gary Rhodes - Tower 42 and Rhodes W1, London

• John Burton Race - The New Angel, Devon

• Malmaison Hotel du Vin chain, various locations

• Mark Rossi - Michael Caines at ABode, Canterbury

• Martin Donnelly - Michael Caines at ABode, Glasgow

• Ross Melling - Michael Caines at Abode, Exeter

• Oliver Prince – Bumpkin, London

• Peter Gordon - Providores & The Tapa Room, London

• Raymond Blanc - Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, Oxford

• Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers - River Café, London

• Sam Harrison - Sam’s Brasserie and Bar in Chiswick

• All Conran restaurants including Orrery, LePont de la Tour, Coq d'Argent, Bluebird and Plateau, London

• Tom Aikens - Tom’s Kitchen, London

• Tom Lewis - Monachyle Mhor, Scotland

• Urban Angel, Edinburgh

The FAIRTRADE Mark is the only consumer label offering an independent guarantee that farmers and workers in developing countries receive an agreed and stable price for the crops they grow, as well as an additional premium to invest in business, social or environmental projects for a better future. Polls show that more than one in two people in the UK recognise the FAIRTRADE Mark, and the past year has seen unprecedented uptake, with many new Fairtrade products being launched and major increases in market share for Fairtrade products, all meaning a better deal for producers.

For further information, quotes or Switch a Dish recipes, contact Eileen Maybin or Martine Julseth on 020 7440 8572 /7695 or 07770 957 451 or email eileen.maybin@fairtrade.org.uk or martine.julseth@fairtrade.org.uk.

Notes to Editors

1. The Fairtrade Foundation is an independent certification body that awards the FAIRTRADE Mark to products which meet international Fairtrade standards set by Fairtrade Labelling Organisations International (FLO) the umbrella organisation that unites national Fairtrade initiatives across Europe, Japan, USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. This independent consumer label appears on products as a guarantee that disadvantaged producers are getting a better deal. Today, more than five million people - farmers, workers and their families - across 58 developing countries benefit from the international Fairtrade system.
2. The full range of Fairtrade products is: coffee, tea, chocolate, cocoa, sugar, bananas, apples, pears, grapes, plums, lemons, oranges, satsumas, clementines, lychees, avocados, pineapples, mangoes, fruit juices, smoothies, quinoa, peppers, green beans, coconuts, dried fruit, rooibos tea, green tea, herbal teas, ice-cream, cakes, biscuits, honey, muesli, cereal bars, jams, chutney, sauces, herbs, spices, nuts, nut oil, wine, beer, rum, flowers, sports balls, rice, yoghurt, babyfood, sugar body scrub, cotton wool and cotton products.
3. A recent Institute of Grocery Distribution report says UK shoppers now spend £13bn a year on premium food and groceries - products which are organic, Fairtrade, premium brands, retailers’ premium own label, local and regional foods, and specialist fine foods. It predicts the value of the market will rise to £19.2bn by 2011. The report suggests that the premium sector now makes up around 10% of the food and grocery market, and will rise to 13.5% by 2011, with the strongest growth in organic, Fairtrade, retailers’ private label ranges, and premium brands.
4. Fairtrade Fortnight is the annual promotional campaign co-ordinated by the Fairtrade Foundation. It is supported by networks around the country including development agencies ActionAid, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam, SCIAF, Tearfund, Traidcraft Exchange and the World Development Movement, as well as a wide range of other organisations: Banana Link, the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, the Mothers’ Union, the National Federation of Women’s Institutes, Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, People & Planet, Shared Interest Foundation, Soroptimist GBI, the Public and Commercial Services Union, UNISON, the United Reformed Church, and many individual communities across the UK.
   

The Fairtrade Foundation,
Room 204, 16 Baldwin’s Gardens,
London EC1N 7RJ.

Tel: 020 7405 5942
Fax: 020 7405 5943
Web: www.fairtrade.org.uk