London’s restaurants, caterers and hotels are being challenged to provide better breakfasts that are good for diners, farmers, farm animals and the environment.
The challenge is issued by Ethical Eats, a network of 1,000 London caterers interested in improving the sustainability of their food. Emily Crawley of ethical Eats said:
“The famous full English breakfast is a source of national identity and pride but, too often, the breakfasts we eat in London are anything but British and contain meat raised in conditions that would make an animal-loving Brit blush.
“When they shop in the supermarket, British consumers now buy more free-range eggs than eggs from caged hens, and most people say they really care about local food, sustainable fish and real bread. Yet when they eat breakfast in a restaurant or hotel, it’s likely that the eggs are from caged hens, the fish from environmentally damaging production methods, and their watery tomatoes from overseas hothouses.”
The Better Breakfasts guide
The Ethical Eats network has now published a “Better Breakfasts” guide for restaurants and caterers to help them improve the quality, ethics and sustainability of their breakfasts, with practical advice on how to improve in the first meal of the day.
The guide recommends cheap and easy swaps, such as upgrading to Fairtrade tea and coffee, free range eggs and real bread from local and artisan bakeries. It also has suggestions of small-scale, local-to-London suppliers for caterers to try, from Sustain’s Local Food Finder, an online database of food suppliers to help chefs find local, independent and ethical producers.
Pork and bacon
Pork and bacon are particular areas of concern, with much of London’s bacon and sausages coming from pigs raised to low standards of animal welfare. Tony Goodger of the pig industry body BPEX suggests switching to higher welfare, British pork, and trying under-utilised streaky bacon in favour of traditional back bacon. He says:
“Much of the pork imported into the UK has been produced from pigs that have been farmed in a manner that would be illegal in the UK. The UK produces approximately 9 million pigs per annum. However, due to our love of bacon, we consume the loins from 26 million pigs per annum and therefore either import large quantities of bacon or pork loins which are cured in this country and sold as bacon.
“One area of change that consumers may want to follow is to replace back bacon with streaky British bacon that carries a recognised assurance standard.”
Innovative ways to add interest
The Better Breakfasts guide also suggests innovative ways to make breakfast menus more interesting and using sustainable ingredients, such as delicious cuttlefish kedgeree. It also contains case studies of inspiring catering businesses such as Sarah Moore Catering who dry soft fruit when it’s plentiful and in season, for use in porridge and muesli year-round. Meanwhile, the Lido Café in Brockwell have embraced nose-to-tail eating with Stornoway black pudding and rare breed pork from Essex – and say that their customers really appreciate the quality and difference in taste.
The Better Breakfasts guide can be downloaded by clicking here
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