Is local food really local?

A new study has shown that nearly a fifth of foods in England and Wales are labelled 'local' when they shouldn't be. Local Government Regulation inspectors found 'Welsh lamb' from New Zealand, 'Somerset butter' from Scotland and 'Devon ham' from Denmark. Of 558 items tested 18% of claims to be local were "undoubtedly false", while another 14% were unverifiable. LGR chairman, Councillor Paul Bettison, dubbed the results were "extremely worrying".

Luckily for us, we work with great people like Duncan Farrington and Polly and Giles Wilson so that we know exactly where our ingredients are coming from. Buying local is extremely important to us as we always want to serve you food which contains the best, freshest ingredients possible.

Princess-to-be invites landlord to wedding

Kate Middleton has invited the owner of her favourite pub to the Royal Wedding. John Haley, owner of The Old Boot Inn in Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, has known Kate for 14 years and says that her and Will are "very natural, down to earth people."

Haley will be one of nearly 2000 guests at the event on 29th April and says he will be heading straight home after the wedding for a "massive do" at the pub.

Cookery on the Curriculum

Cookery lessons will now be compulsory for English schoolchildren. This follows six years of campaigning by Jamie Oliver to have the subject included in the curriculum. From September all pupils aged 11-14 will be taught to cook for at least an hour a week.

This follows last September's introduction of 'Jamie's Home Cooking Skills BTEC', a qualification equivalent to half a GCSE. The course is written like one of Oliver's cookbooks, with modules called 'Pasta La Vista Baby, and 'Stewpendous'.

There are currently 5,000 pupils taking the BTEC, a figure which is expected to increase dramatically when cookery becomes part of the curriculum lower down the school. Oliver hopes the move will help to combat obesity in children by teaching them to cook and eat healthily. Hopefully, our cookery school will do the same.

More young people are drinking ale

Traditionally preferred by the older generation, ales are now finding favour with young people. A recent survey by Asda found that 60% of men between 21 and 34 preferred bottled ales to lager and that a quarter of women now prefer a glass of ale to a wine or a spirit and mixer. Of those who preferred ale, more than a third said that they started drinking ales in their local pub (where else?). All that aside, anyone (young or old) is welcome to pop in here for a refreshing pint of Bombardier.

Cornish pasties win protected status

The humble Cornish pasty has become a protected food after a European ruling. The decision will prevent pasties which are made elsewhere or using a non-traditional recipe from being described as Cornish. This is known as "protected geographical indication", or PGI, status.

The decision was hailed by the Cornish Pasty Association as "protecting our British food legacy". According to the association, in a true cornish pasty:

"The texture of the filling is chunky, made up of uncooked minced or roughly cut chunks of beef (not less than 12.5%), swede, potato, and onion with a light seasoning. The pastry casing is golden in colour, savoury, glazed with milk or egg and robust enough to retain its shape throughout the cooking and cooling process without splitting or cracking. The pasty is slow-baked and no artificial flavourings or additives must be used."

PGI status already protects many famous foods such as Champagne and Parmesan-Reggiano cheese. 42 other British foods are also protected including Melton Mowbray pork pies and Cornish clotted cream.

The Truth About Hospital Food

Perhaps Heston Blumenthal didn't know what he was letting himself in for when he tackled boring hospital meals for his new TV show but he seems to have entered the middle of a fierce debate. A Dispatches programme (called 'The Truth About Hospital Food') on the topic will air tonight. It follows reporter Mark Sparrow as he uncovers some truly unpleasant food in Britain's hospitals. The programme also features an interview with celebrity chef Loyd Grossman who conducted a £40 million revamp of hospital food in 2000.

Grossman took part in the initiative for free but left after five years because of frustration at his lack of progress. The scheme was scrapped shortly after his departure. He says "Someone at the top has got to take the issue of food seriously or else patients will continue to suffer unnecessarily" and claimed that "there was kind of a prejudice against common sense, the kind of common sense that’s been part of patient care since Hippocrates."

The question is, will Heston fare any better?

Re-balancing the seas' fish stocks

The most comprehensive study ever conducted on fish stocks has been recently carried out and concludes that we should look lower down the food chain for the fish we eat.

Supplies of fish like tuna, cod and salmon are dwindling. But as we remove the predatorial fish, the prey multiply. The study, by Villy Christensen of the University of British Columbia's Fisheries Centre, has found that numbers of "forage fish" such as sardines and anchovies have doubled in the same period which has seen the supplies of larger fish fall by two thirds. Christensen suggests that eating more of these "forage fish" will help stocks return to healthier levels.

He is not the only one. Jamie Oliver has also spoken about the need to diversify the fish we eat. “I know you like your fish suppers, but our appetite for the same fish, day in, day out, is sucking the seas dry,” says Jamie, who suggests mackeral, coley and dab as alternatives.

Luckily for you, we have some lovely dishes with just these fish on our menu. There's our grilled sardines on toasted brioche bread with tomato dressing. Or you could go for the grilled mackeral, served with braised red cabbage with apple and char-grilled new potatoes. All in the name of saving the planet.