'Just Ask' Leicester's Curry Houses

Rural economy experts, the CLA, are urging Leicester's army of Indian Restaurants to support British Farmers by sourcing their produce locally.

The CLA is hoping that today's (09/11) 'Just Ask' event at the Brilliant Restaurant in Southall, West London, attended by their Royal Highness The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will inspire Leicester's Indian eateries to source their ingredients from British Farms.

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.

Julie Robinson, CLA Rural Development Advisor said:

"Leicester is renowned for the huge number of fantastic Indian restaurants found in the area, and this represents significant buying power in terms of raw ingredients.

"The 'Just Ask' campaign is all about understanding where the food on your plate comes from, by asking about the origin of the food the consumer can influence the restaurant to really think about how they source their 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 Meat of Melton Mowbray, the mushrooms, potatoes and onions are from farms in Kent and the 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."

To lend your support or to find out more, please visit www.cla.org.uk/justask.