October 2005 - Local Top Chef Cooks Up A Storm
Head chef of the award winning Drunken Duck Inn in Ambleside joined school caterers, local businesses and producers from across Cumbria today in a bid to improve school lunches for the region’s children.

Over 80 school caterers from Cumbria County Council’s Premises Unit gathered together for a special ‘school menu development training day’, at The Auctioneer in Carlisle, marking the introduction of two new dishes for the school menu developed by Nick Foster.

The new dishes, Cumbrian Steak pie and Cumbrian Lamb and Mint Burgers made with Quality Standard Lakeland Beef and Lamb, will be on the lunch menu at over 185 primary and secondary schools throughout the county after the half term break.

The training day was held in conjunction with Pioneer Foodservice – meat supplier to many of Cumbria’s schools, Cumbria County Council School Premises and the English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX). Pioneer Foodservice is a member of EBLEX’s Quality Standard scheme for beef and lamb, which provides reassurance that  quality assured meat is being used in the dishes.

During the day, four school caterers joined Nick Foster to prepare, cook and serve up the new dishes to over 80 of their peers for lunch.

Father of two Nick, developed the dishes to be tasty and nutritious as well as easy for the school caterers to incorporate into the lunchtime menu. He said: “It’s great to be part of an initiative that will help to improve the diet and health of the  children in our area, and one which also supports local producers.

“Knowing the origin of your food is incredibly important. I always try to source from quality local suppliers and make the most of the wealth of wonderful ingredients that Cumbria has to offer.”

“Many kids nowadays overload on processed foods packed full of ‘e’ numbers and other ingredients that don’t bear thinking about. So it was important to me to create some really simple, tasty dishes using wholesome ingredients that would really appeal to the children. Hopefully that’s what we’ve achieved here, but I’ll have to wait for the kids to get back to school before I know for sure!”

Nick concluded: “The ladies did fantastically well this morning, picking up the recipes really quickly and cooking a delicious lunch. I hope that my involvement in this event has helped to demonstrate just how easy it is to create delicious and nutritious meals from scratch in a morning – in time for lunch – and that you don’t have to be a restaurant chef to be able to do it.”

Cumbria County Councillor Philip Chappelhow, cabinet spokesman for Children’s Services said:  “We’d like to thank Nick for his involvement in the project. His help in developing these recipes and demonstrating just how easy they are to create today, has been invaluable. Cumbria County Council is a firm believer in providing school children with good quality meals using ingredients from the local area.

“In fact over 90% of all foods used in Premises Department schools are supplied through Cumbrian companies such as Pioneer Foodservice, illustrating our commitment to sustainability in Cumbria and supporting the local economy.”

Pioneer Foodservice has had official contracts to supply Cumbria's schools with fresh meat for over 14 years and has been supplying Lakeland Beef to schools for the last two years.

Barry Garrett, Pioneer's commercial director, said: "It's a tremendous opportunity for us to have a reputable chef such as Nick Foster on board, developing meals which not only use the best of local produce but are also cost-effective and ideal for use on school menus.

"This initiative, which is aimed at encouraging school pupils to eat more nutritionally balanced meals made with locally sourced ingredients, has been driven by our membership of the EBLEX Quality Standard scheme with EBLEX and our continued relationship with Cumbria County Council."

July 2005 - Lakeland Beef served to top chefs

Quality beef from Cumbria was on the menu for 700 guests at a prestigious event in London, The Craft Guild of Chefs Awards 2005.

Lakeland Beef fillet steaks were supplied by Pioneer Foodservice, of Carlisle, for the Ruby anniversary of the awards held at the London Hilton Metropole, attended by top chefs, industry leaders and culinary experts from across the UK.

At the heart of the Craft Guild's activities is the promotion of culinary art and 12 awards were presented at the dinner, including lifetime achievement awards to the famous Roux brothers.

Responsible for the main course of seared fillet of Lakeland Beef marinated in lemon balm, described as "a fanfare for British food" was Nigel Frost, the Hilton Metropole Hotel's head chef who is responsible for a team of 70-plus chefs.

Pioneer Foodservice, in a partnership with Carlisle based livestock auctioneers Harrison & Hetherington and abattoir firm Rose County Foods, of Sawley, has been successfully building on the Lakeland brand and Lakeland Beef is now recognised regionally, opening the door for it to become a nationally sought-after brand.

Pioneer was approached by the English Beef and Lamb Executive (EBLEX) to supply the fillet steaks for the awards dinner.

Pioneer's commercial director Barry Garrett, who attended the awards dinner, said: "It was wonderful to be asked to take these steaks to the capital. EBLEX has a tremendous respect for the Lakeland brand which they see as actually working and that the three partners are there to make it as successful as possible, both regionally and nationally."

The steaks were personally delivered in an early morning journey two days before the dinner by Pioneer's quality control manager Simon Gate, who is a butcher by trade. Recognising that consumers now understand and respect the quality of their food and they want to know its passage from farm gate to plate, a main selling point of the Lakeland brand has been in the authenticity and traceability of the meat.

"Simon took with him all the information on the farmers and farms who have supplied the beef and when it was put through the system which received tremendous comments from Nigel Frost," said Mr Garrett.

"Each of the chefs responsible for the courses before they were served described by a video link from the kitchen their preparations and in the case of Lakeland Beef Nigel was able to describe the provenance of the meat in great detail," he added.

Large numbers of cattle from the CA and LA postcode areas of Cumbria are now being processed through the Lakeland Beef scheme, either being procured with Harrison & Hetherington direct from the farm or through the sale ring.

In June an average of 100 head of cattle were being processed per week and more and more producers want to take part in the supply chain. Pioneer takes ownership of the whole carcase and the resultant consistency of the product is a further huge selling point.

Following on from a successful two year pilot scheme, Pioneer is now starting to source significant numbers of lamb for its complementary venture, Lakeland Lamb.

February 2005
Food Fair hailed a great success after 650 visitors see Launch of Lakeland Lamb and celebrity Chef Richard Hughes prepare Lakeland produce.

Lakeland lamb launched - News & Star March 2nd, 2005