The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall support CLA 'Just Ask' campaign

Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall today (Friday 9 November) showed their support for the CLA's Just Ask campaign at a special event held on the first day of Diwali – the Hindu Festival of Lights – at the Brilliant Restaurant in Southall, West London.

The CLA's Just Ask campaign encourages the public to ask where the food on their plate comes from whenever they're out for a meal. The campaign is designed to increase public awareness of the origin of food to enable people to make an informed choice about the food they eat.

Speaking at the event today, which highlights the important role all restaurants play in increasing public awareness of the origin of food David Fursdon, in his last event as he steps down as president of the CLA having launched the campaign at 10 Downing Street earlier this year, said:

"The incredible popularity of Indian food in the UK makes this an obvious area in which to move the campaign forward. What better way to help raise the awareness of British food among the public? We believe that increasing the number of local suppliers and producers into the UK food chain can be achieved by consumer pressure. I now ask where my food is from whenever I go out for a meal and the different answers I receive from waiters and chefs in the same restaurant highlights a real problem compounded by a complex food chain and inadequately labelled food."

To show that it is possible to find out the origin of the food served in restaurants and to track it back through the food chain a special menu has been created for today's event by the Brilliant Restaurant which lists where the food is from. The meat dishes are produced using lamb from Melton Mowbray The courgettes are from Lancashire, and mushrooms, potatoes and onions are from farms in Kent. Dairy dishes are produced using milk from cows in Bedfordshire.

Speaking at the event, Gulu Anand owner of the Brilliant restaurant, said: "The Just Ask campaign has been a real eye-opener for us as it has shown that with certain products the food chain is extremely complex. This makes it difficult for restaurants like ours to show the origin of the food we serve. We already knowingly source the majority of our food from UK producers – our lamb, dairy products and all our vegetables - and we have educated our staff in this. Indian restaurants make up a high percentage of restaurants in the UK and if we can trace most of our food back to its origins then others can follow our lead."

Douglas Chalmers, Director CLA North said; "Our Just Ask campaign has been gathering momentum since its launch by the then Prime Minister at No.10 Downing Street earlier this year, It has become so popular because anyone can "Just Ask", and despite this being such a simple question it challenges the restaurant or cafe to think seriously about where their food come from, and confirms that this matters to their customers.

"Today's event at The Brilliant Restaurant demonstrates perfectly that "Just Anyone" can "Just Ask" "Just Anywhere".