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Top chefs launch attack on the ethical food 'fad'
Benedict Moore-Bridger, Evening Standard10 Apr 2008
Two leading London chefs have launched a scathing attack on the "ethical food" trend, claiming it is nothing more than a fad.
Award-winning Tom Ilic and Oliver Peyton have attacked the current trend for sourcing organic, seasonal and local ingredients.
Ilic also insists there is no problem with flying food thousands of miles across the globe.
Their comments come after celebrity chefs, including Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver, backed calls by green campaigners for a reduction in food miles and food's carbon footprint.
Ilic, whose eponymous restaurant opened in Battersea to enthusiastic reviews at the end of last year, said he had no qualms about sourcing outof-season ingredients from abroad to make his menus more interesting. Speaking to the Standard today, he criticised other chefs for capitalising on the "impractical" trend.
He said: "So many chefs say 'I only use what is seasonal' - I doubt it. It is for show. Quality of menus and ingredients are more important. It does not matter where the produce comes from.
"It is a bandwagon, because if a popular chef says they only use seasonal or organic produce the other guys will say that too - but it is not feasible.
"Organic? Forget it - how many things are truly organic? There has been a lot of talk about it, but if something comes in even a clingfilm wrap I don't count it as organic."
In an interview with Square Meal Lifestyle magazine, published later this month, the chef said: "For me, the priority is to use the best produce available. If the best at that time happens to come from Zanzibar, it comes from Zanzibar.
"Many chefs abuse the term ' seasonal' - they make a big noise about it, but when you look at their menus there are lots of unseasonal, imported ingredients.
"Take tomatoes. They're on most menus year round, but for some reason no one worries about that."
Fellow chef Oliver Peyton, the man behind seven London restaurants including The Wallace and Inn The Park, also poured scorn on the idea of "unethical" ingredients.
He said: "Everybody's going on about organic, non-organic, blah, blah, blah. It's simple - if food tastes good, you eat it. If it doesn't, you don't.
"The British are only confused because they've ruined their palates with synthesised supermarket food. As a result, they don't know how to identify if something's been properly produced or not."
• A Square Meal website poll of 3,000 diners discovered battery chickens were considered the most unethical type of food, above produce such as shark's fin, foie gras and veal.
