Chefs should be fined for cooking out of season imported food, says Gordon Ramsay

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Gordon Ramsay is on collision course with fellow chefs after calling for a ban on imported and out-of-season fruit and vegetables.

He said restaurants which fail to use seasonal British produce should be fined.

In a series of outbursts, he also attacked fat chefs and the cookery short-cuts championed by Delia Smith.

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Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay says chefs should use home-grown and regional produce

Ramsay, who has a new TV series to plug, left no stone unturned in his desire to generate outrage.

He said he had spoken to Gordon Brown about changes in the law to require the use of seasonal produce.

He argues that a national diet in tune with the seasons is better for the cookery culture and the health of the planet.

This would mean an end to fresh peas from Kenya in the winter, for instance.

His views put him at odds with other high-profile cooks such as Delia, who argue that the public enjoys the variety offered by imported produce.

Ramsay has attacked fellow chef Delia Smith for using frozen food in her cooking saying 'it was a kick in the goolies for the nation'

They also point out that the sales offer income to struggling farmers around the globe.

According to Ramsay, however, it is "fundamentally important" for chefs to provide locally-sourced food.

"Fruit and veg should be seasonal. Chefs should be fined if they haven't got ingredients in season on their menu," he said.

"I don't want to see asparagus in the middle of December. I don't want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home grown."

Ramsay, a Michelin-starred chef whose London restaurants include Petrus and Maze, added that making out-of-season produce illegal would raise the "levels of inspiration" in cooking.

"There should be stringent laws, licensing laws, to make sure produce is only used in season and season only," he said.

The famously combative chef was speaking to the BBC before the start of the fourth series of his Channel 4 show The F-Word.

In a separate interview with GMTV, Ramsay argued that fat chefs should get the chop.

"I don't think a chef should be fat because I was a fat chef once and I don't think it's a good advert for customers," he said.

He also vented his anger at Delia, whose latest book, How to Cheat at Cooking, encourages families to cook with the help of ready-made ingredients rather than start from scratch.

He said: "I would expect students struggling on £15 a week to survive eating from a can. But the nation's favourite, all-time icon reducing us down to using frozen, canned food. It's an insult.

"Here we are trying to establish a reputation across the world for this country's food and along comes Delia and tips it out of a can."

Ramsay's proposal for a ban on unseasonal produce received little support from his peers yesterday.

Herbert Berger, the chef patron at London's 1 Lombard Street, said: "While I'm in full agreement with Gordon that we should use as much local produce on our menus as we can, we have to accept that availability and seasonality means this is not always possible.

"Saying restaurants should be fined is a bit like cracking a walnut with a sledgehammer.

"Gordon's attack is unfairly focused. The finger should be pointed at the supermarkets who are fuelling consumer demand for global produce."

Michelle Di Leo of FlyingMatters, a coalition of farmers in the developing world, business, trade unions, tourism bodies and the aviation industry, said: "Gordon Ramsay currently has bananas, pineapples and mango on the menus of his UK restaurants, none of which could have been grown in the UK but are all likely to have come from farmers in the developing world.

"He would have more credibility if he celebrated this fact rather than telling others they should give them up."

 

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