With British Food Fortnight underway (19th Sept – 4th Oct), research by Waitrose has revealed that the nation’s appetite for home-grown produce is growing, with almost 75% of us wanting to see more food retailers source from British farmers.
The research by OnePoll also revealed that a quarter of us already actively seek out British products when shopping online and that over 70% of us would like more retailers to source meat from British farms.
Proving that our appetite has been truly whetted, searches for British chicken on Waitrose.com are up almost 289% and searches for British beef up over 889% compared to last year. British veg is also having its moment with searches up 227%.
Rob Hues, Waitrose Agriculture Manager says: said, ‘With more time spent at home, more home-cooked meals and many of us growing our own veg at home for the first time this year, there is an increased awareness of where and how food comes to our kitchen tables. Buying British is that natural extension to growing produce in your back garden and the growing interest in provenance.’
Alexia Robinson, Founder of British Food Fortnight said: “British Food Fortnight is a brilliant celebration of all that is wonderful about home produced food. This year we have seen a huge rise in interest in British food and drink both from the public and business. We have seen communities coming together and rediscovering the importance and joy of buying local ingredients and supporting local producers.”
British fish is catch-of-the-day with sales at Waitrose of Cornish Sardines up 76%, British Herring up 97%, British Mackerel up 14% and the recently launched Dorset Clams also proving popular with customers.
British cheeses are in flavour too with sales at Waitrose of Long Clawson Stilton up 30%, British Soft Goats Cheese up 22% and Belton Red Leicester cheese up almost 40% compared to last year.
And it’s not just British food that is in demand, sales of English and Welsh wines at Waitrose were up 110% last week, compared to the same week last year. With over 110 English and Welsh wines, Waitrose offers the biggest range in the UK and continues to champion home-grown wines with the addition earlier this year of five new wines from Sussex-based producers.
All Waitrose fresh chicken, beef and pork (including sausages), duck and goose is British all year round. All our turkeys come from the UK or Ireland and we sell the best of British venison when in season.
Comments are closed.