Rick Stein's Guide to the Food Heroes of Britain

04 May 2004 by
Rick Stein's Guide to the Food Heroes of Britain

My first thought on being handed a copy of Rick Stein's Guide to the Food Heroes of Britain - a book that is basically a list of suppliers of top-quality produce - was, "What on earth would a chef want with that?"

Every chef knows that the best recipes require the finest ingredients, and that means finding suppliers whose products you can trust week after week. And when we find such a supplier, we make sure that we treasure them - they are, indeed, our "food heroes".

But the more I looked at this book, the more it grew on me. It's clearly laid out and simply written and, once you've got to grips with the categorisation, it's very easy to use.

Even the size of the book has been cleverly thought out: it's designed to fit in the glove box of your car, so you have it as a handy reference manual for local suppliers when you are out on your travels.

To be fair, the guide is not aimed primarily at chefs. Its market is the growing number of people who cook on a daily basis for their families or friends, who rate quality and taste above price when it comes to choosing food. Supermarkets are convenient, and some are now quite good at offering local produce - but they can only go so far.

Stein's guide - which has its roots in his Food Heroes TV series - makes it easy for everyone who loves good food to source the very best of fresh local produce by locating the places where it is made in Britain and Ireland.

The book is divided into nine chapters, each consisting of producers who supply a particular type of food, such as bread, dairy, meat, etc. These are then categorised under regions, so that you can find the nearest one to you. The system may take a little getting used to at first, but it gets easier with practice.

Each entry then consists of a brief description of the business, what they supply and why they have been included, plus full contact details. Also included in each chapter are the men and women Stein has termed his "super heroes". These are the people who, he believes, stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of the work they do and the quality of food they produce.

These fascinating insights alone certainly make you stop and think about what, and why, you buy - and they raise all sorts of interesting questions about the future of food production in this country.

I would like to say that this volume has now become a regular fixture in my kitchen, but it hasn't. It was snaffled by my sister-in-law, who felt her need to locate some decent suppliers was greater than mine. I'll have to take it out on loan from her when I need to.

Marcus Ashenford is chef-proprietor of 5 North Street, Winchcombe, Gloucestershire

Rick Stein's Guide to the Food Heroes of Britain
Rick Stein
BBC Books
£12.99
ISBN 0-563-48742-9

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