Restaurants that cannot answer questions about the origin of their food leave a bad taste in customers’ mouths, according to the RSPCA’s Freedom Food scheme.
New research published on Monday during Farm Animal Week has revealed that a third of the population would boycott a restaurant that could not answer a question about where they source their products.
Nearly 60 per cent of people also think they have a right to know the provenance of our food when eating out, and some of Britain’s top chefs agree.
Raymond Blanc, Peter Gordon, Martin Lam, Paul Merrett and Antony Worrall-Thompson said in a joint statement: “The British public need to stop being so reticent in restaurants and start asking where their food comes from.
"It’s your right to know the origin of the food you are served and what types of farms are being used - and the mark of a good restaurant is one that is proud to tell you."
In response to this news, Freedom Food has launched a new long-term campaign called ‘Simply Ask’ which aims to get people asking about food provenance when eating out. It aims to encourage restaurants, pubs and cafes to start sourcing products from higher welfare farms such as Freedom Food, free-range or organic.
Beginning with eggs this year, ‘Simply Ask’ will urge people to start holding restaurants to account by demanding to know if they use eggs from hens that have not been kept in cages.
Freedom Food is also asking restaurants, pubs and cafes already using cage-free eggs to support ‘Simply Ask’. More than 500 have already signed up including all National Trust restaurants and tea-rooms, Sainsbury’s in-store restaurants, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s River Cottage canteens and restaurant chains Giraffe and Leon.
