Chef cooks up plan to put county on menu

FOR years Stephanie Moon has been preparing meals made from finest ingredients Yorkshire can offer.

Now she is taking her support for Yorkshire food and farmers to the next level as she begins a campaign to convince restaurants and shops across the region to start sourcing all of their food from local suppliers.

The consultant chef at Rudding Park Hotel has been named Deliciously Yorkshire's champion for the year, meaning she will be charged with encouraging the use and consumption of regional produce by consumers and the hospitality industry, especially up-and-coming chefs.

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The Yorkshire farmer's daughter is a respected chef and is behind the Harrogate-based hotel's Yorkshire Food Heroes Menu – celebrating the fact the food they serve is produced by local farmers and growers.

Now she wants the rest of the region to follow suit to back their local economies and help serve up the best Yorkshire has to offer.

"There are a lot of people doing and there are also a lot of people not doing it," said Ms Moon.

"The fact is that we in Yorkshire are living in a garden of everything. You can get fish from Whitby and Scarborough, lamb and beef from the Dales, game from the North Yorkshire Moors and vegetables from the lower lands.

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"If you look at what is available in Yorkshire it is almost criminal not to use it."

Ms Moon, born at Tosside, near Settle, in North Yorkshire, said switching to local sourcing would come easier then most people might think.

"Already there is such a breadth of people using all local produce, from small bed and breakfasts to big shops suppliers, from corner shops to large scale up market restaurants – there are a lot of markets now that are getting serious about it.

"We need to start showing people that it is really not hard work to do. A lot of people now just think is easier to buy everything from the supermarkets and we all do this from time to time.

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"But it is easy to do and evidence shows that shopping in a farm shop or sourcing locally really is not more expensive."

Ms Moon, who also works as a chef tutor at Leeds City College, recently won Bronze at the final of the prestigious British Culinary Federation Chef of the Year Awards

She said being chosen to champion Yorkshire's food industry was "a great honour".

"I lived most of my life in Yorkshire and have been working here a long time – promoting Yorkshire products," she said.

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"We want to encourage people to use lots of seasonal food and get a big push going to let people know what Yorkshire farmers are doing.

She will focus her initial efforts on helping smaller food and drink businesses realise their potential, such as coordinating courses on how to become AA accredited. The news comes at a time when the new coalition Government has pledged to "lead the way" in encouraging Whitehall departments and other public sector bodies to use as much local food as possible.

Deliciously Yorkshire's chief executive Jonathan Knight said: "Stephanie is the perfect ambassador for the region's wonderful produce and will be a great asset to our team.

"Stephanie has been pushing the message of provenance and seasonality throughout her career and was a key player introducing the successful Yorkshire Food Hero Menu to the Clocktower Restaurant."

Ms Moon will be running a workshop on Monday June 7 at Leeds City College's Thomas Danby Campus. For more information call 01937 830354.