With so much imported produce on the market, one wholesaler is doing his best to promote Irish-grown produce.
"We have taken to social media to let chefs, hotels and restaurants know what is available from our local growers. We have some great Irish produce. We are just a small company, competing against multinationals, but we have always had a preference for local produce," said Barra Sweetnam, Managing Director at Allfresh Wholesale, based in Cork.
"Last week Barra was pushing Irish King Oyster mushrooms, "There is a good local supply, they are more expensive than the imported ones from China and Korea but much better quality and taste great."
Allfresh Wholesale promote everything local, cucumbers, garlic, tomatoes, baby veg etc.
"Importing is necessary, we can't produce everything we need here in Ireland, but if it's available locally then we should be talking to our customers and making informed decisions to lower air miles, if local growers can't be found we should be bringing in product from Spain instead of the Southern Hemisphere.
"Hotels are always actively promoting how environmentally friendly they are and how they try to be as carbon neutral as possible, but this is not always the case. They have a bottom line, just like everyone else. If they are using a purchasing system it will always choose the cheapest products, we are trying to make chefs aware that cheapest is not always best. Things are getting better, and more hotels are buying local, but it needs to be more."
For more information:
Barra Sweetnam
Allfresh Wholesale
Tel: +353 21 4510526
[email protected]
www.allfresh.ie