Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay says British restaurants should be fined if they serve fruit and vegetables which are not in season.
He told the BBC that fruit and vegetables should be locally-sourced and only on menus when in season.
Mr Ramsay said he had already spoken to Prime Minister Gordon Brown about outlawing out-of-season produce.
He says it would cut carbon emissions as less food would be imported and also lead to improved standards of cooking.
'Out of control'
The TV chef said it was "fundamentally important" for chefs to provide locally-sourced food.
"Fruit and veg should be seasonal," he said. "Chefs should be fined if they haven't got ingredients in season on their menu.
"I don't want to see asparagus on in the middle of December. I don't want to see strawberries from Kenya in the middle of March. I want to see it home grown."
Ramsay, whose London restaurants include Petrus, The Savoy Grill and Maze, added that Britain had become a nation of lazy eaters, following trends and fads, rather than substance.
He also said chefs became "lazy" when excited by "frills", and making out-of-season produce illegal would raise "levels of inspiration".
"There should be stringent laws, licensing laws, to make sure produce is only used in season and season only," he said.
"If we don't restrict our movements within this industry of seasonal-produce only, then the whole thing will spiral out of control."
Canned insult
Meanwhile, Terry Jones from the National Farmers Union (NFU) said that, while he agrees with the chef's complaint, legislation would be going too far.
He said: "We've almost got too much legislation in food and farming as things stand.
"Really what we need to see is that passion and that commitment to seasonality being pushed into consumer education and into this commitment on menu transparency."
And the Soil Association's Food for Life Partnership director Emma Noble said the celebrity chef was right to suggest that "seasonal menus are a key step in cutting the environmental impact of our food".
Famous for his bad temper, Ramsay also spoke passionately about another environmental concern - plastic bags - saying they simply "did not make sense".
Speaking to the BBC before the start of the fourth series of his Channel 4 show The F Word, the father-of-four said he plans to get the nation back into the kitchen, cooking healthy, wholesome fare.
He says the obesity problem in the UK could soon rival that of the States, and he blames parents for giving into children and not having the discipline to say no.
He also vented his anger at fellow TV chef Delia Smith, whose latest book, How to Cheat at Cooking, encourages people to mix together ready-made food rather than cook from scratch if they are short of time or on a tight budget.
He said: "I would expect students struggling on £15 a week to survive eating from a can but the nation's favourite, all-time icon reducing us down to using frozen, canned food. It's an insult.
"And it makes our lives, from a chef's point of view, a lot harder. Here we are trying to establish a reputation across the world for this country's food and along comes Delia and tips it out of a can. That hurts."
BTW, I love Hell's Kitchen.
Anyways. So I am just going to blabber on and on about the evils of agrobusiness. Maybe "evil" implies intention ... I dont mean it too. Im sure when agrobusiness started it was like "HEY YAY foods for the masses!" But it has just turned into lobbyists and corporations. There is little to no benefit anymore for a true farmer through agrobusiness.
Here are my 3 posts I made in a fark.com forum. That no one read or listened too. They are more interested in, like, Gordon Ramsay cussing people out and stuff.
Post 1
Buying fruits in season and from local growers is an excellent idea. Creating a demand from local farmers (who are more likely to grow organic ... ie, NON GM foods) and taking it away from agrobusiness does wonders for our food safety and security.
Agrobusiness' plants are grown in fewer and fewer locations. Which means it has farther and farther to travel (for all you global warming people).
PLUS agrofarmers have little to no genetic diversity within their fields. Imagine a strain of plant disease or pest eats that one particular type of plant that the agrofarmers are growing ... what then? You are kinda screwed foodwise.
You think high cost gas is a problem? Wait until bad farming practices end up with food shortages.
Buy local. Buy fruits in season for your area.
(oh and by agrobusiness, I mainly mean Monsanto)
Agrobusiness and GM plants are BAD and NOT SMART for the longevity and safety of our food supply. And, for you global warming freaks, its horrible for the environment.
Buying local and eating fruits in season will help curb the power and monopoly agrobusiness has on our food supply.
Do you want ONE company to own all the world's seed supply?
Terminator seeds
You buy seeds from a store and try to harvest the seeds and re-plant them. More than likely YOU CANT. Because they have been genetically modified so the seeds are sterile. Imagine if every human in the world was sterile. How many people would be alive after 200 years? The answer is ONE. Jesus. [Okay that was funny. I dont know why I didnt get any props for that .... :( ]
But Niki, only a portion of the seeds being planted are terminator seeds though. What about cross pollination? It has happened before with genetically modified technology. . . . Only a matter of time and wind. . . .
Government and Agrobusiness
Dont think agrobusiness doesnt have lobbyists all up in everyone in Congress's business.
The government subsidizes CROPS and not the FARMERS (which is beneficial to agrobusiness not the poor poor farmer).
So say you are a farmer.
You buy seed from a company.
Spray it with the Ready Round Up (pesticide) the same company sells.
The plant doesnt die because its been genetically modified to not die with the poison on it.
The meat you eat eats it. You eat it. We all eat it.
You farmed it but the government subsidizes the crop and not you ... so the big company (that you bought the seed AND the pesticide from) gets a cut of that subsidy too ... leaving you, the farmer, to pick up a part time job to feed your family.
Patented technology and agrobusiness
I would say that agrobusiness is predatory. On a scale of "evilness" I would say they are worse than the oil companies.
If you, the farmer, dont go through agrobusiness to farm food, and you grow corn and your field happens to become cross pollinated with the big company's patented plant (bc a bird crapped in your field), then you get sued by said big company for patent infringment.
This is after you've been sent letters and letters by big company asking to hand over a sample of your crop so they can test it to see if your crop has been cross pollinated by their patented technology ... i mean, seeds.
You might win in court, but you'll be bankrupt before you find out.
Like the "horrible horrible" gas companies, agrobusiness is doing the same thing. Monsanto is laughing all the way to the bank.
Farkers never stfu about how bad the oil companies are. I thought the last sentence would kind of start connecting ... but alas, it did not.
Someone made a comment: If all restaurants used only locally grown in season fruits and vegetables, they'd have very little variety. Every restaurant would have very similar menus. It would be....well, boring...the essence of British cooking.
Which brought me to my 3rd post.
Maybe in your little one person world.
But agrobusiness actually DISCOURAGES genetic diversity.
Buying local and fruits in season encourages different genetic strains of potatoes, tomatoes, whatnot.
From Community Alliance with Family Farmers
http://www.caff.org/programs/buylocal.shtml
In the modern industrial agriculture system, produce varieties are chosen for their ability to ripen simultaneously and withstand harvesting equipment. Shippers demand produce with a tough skin that can survive packing, transport, and a long shelf life in the store. Only a handful of hybrid varieties of each fruit and vegetable meet those rigorous demands, so there is little genetic diversity in the plants grown. In contrast, local farmers that sell direct to you or direct to your local restaurants and grocery stores grow a huge number of varieties selected because they have the best flavors, provide a long harvest season, and come in an array of eyecatching colors. Many varieties are heirlooms, passed down from generation to generation because they taste good. These old varieties contain genetic material from hundreds or even thousands of years of human selection. They may someday provide the genes needed to adapt to a changing climate.
I could go on and on about sustainable agriculture.
I read Harvest for Hope by Jane Goodall and am an extensive googler.
I mean, Im not trying to change the world or anything. I just find its really annoying that people just bitch bitch bitch about gas prices and then still buy SUVs. bitch about their weight .... and still eat trans fats and processed foods and eat unhealthily (like Im doing RIGHTTHISMINUTE!).
But its the human/hypocrite way. We do it in church. We do it at work. We do it with our friends. We do it with family. We do it with politics. We expect others to live up to standards that we arent prepared ourselves to live up to.
Oh. And in the Word of Wisdom, it clearly states to eat fruits in the season, thereof. Yet another reason why I believe the Book of Mormon/Doctrine and Covenants is an inspired document!!
D&C 89:10-11
10 And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man—
11 Every herb in the season thereof, and every fruit in the season thereof; all these to be used with prudence and thanksgiving.
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