News
TRH visit the Brilliant restaurant in Southall
9th November 2007
The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall today visited an Indian restaurant which is backing a new campaign encouraging customers to ask where their food was produced.
Their Royal Highnesses sampled cheeses and vegetables at the Brilliant restaurant in Southall, west London, and chatted to restaurateurs and food suppliers.
The restaurant is part of the Just Ask campaign, which was launched earlier this year and aims to raise public awareness about the origin of food and reconnect consumers with British farming.
Richard Harrison, an organic dairy farmer from Wilden, Bedfordshire, said The Prince was particularly interested in food miles and the carbon footprint of the produce.
He said: "He was very interested in the price of milk. He knew it was only 19p a litre about six months ago and that it's up to 30p now.
"I think he's eaten here before. He seemed to like the food and wished us every luck with the business."
Mark Gale, a farmer from Melton Mowbray who supplies meat to the restaurant, said The Prince was interested in the popularity of mutton.
The Prince initiated the Mutton Renaissance to get the meat back on British restaurant menus to help struggling sheep farmers and His Royal Highness’s Home Farm supplies mutton to the Ritz Hotel in London.
"He was saying, whenever he invites anybody to eat and they serve mutton, the plate is always completely clean.
"He's very interested in supporting British farmers as the source of British food."
The assist manager of Brilliant, Dipna Anand, said: "Both of them were really intrigued to know where the ingredients came from.
"The Duchess was asking me how to make the masala."
The restaurant, which has won a string of awards since it opened in 1975, sources most of its food from UK producers and has trained its waiters to discuss the origin of ingredients with customers.
David Fursdon, president of the Country Land and Business Association, which runs the Just Ask campaign, said: "The incredible popularity of Indian food in the UK makes this an obvious area in which to move the campaign forward.
"We believe that increasing the number of local suppliers and producers into the UK food chain can be achieved by consumer pressure.
"I now ask where my food is from whenever I go out for a meal and the different answers I receive from waiters and chefs in the same restaurant highlights a real problem compounded by a complex food chain and inadequately labelled food."