Local food has more flavour, is fresher to your plate and better for the environment, says Raymond Blanc of Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxfordshire writing in the Foreword to Food Guide 2005 published this week by the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes, and Oxfordshire (BBO) Food Groups.

 Food Guide 2005, the essential local food directory, includes more than 140 listings of local food producers, retailers and organisations from across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Milton Keynes, Oxfordshire and neighbouring counties.

 “This year’s Food Guide is bigger and better than ever with producer profiles and information about accreditation schemes,“ says Tamara Schiopu from BBO Food Groups, based at Oxford Brookes University.

 “ It is free and available from Farmers’ Markets, shops, pubs and restaurants, public libraries, council offices, and from BBO Food Groups through the website www.local-food.net.”

Writing in the Foreword, leading chef Raymond Blanc says: “Fresh seasonal food is in abundance in the Thames Valley throughout the year. Yet despite the availability, rarely can we sit down at the dinner table and discuss much about the origins of our food. Of your last few meals, how much of the history of that food can you recount? This Food Guide is intended to make it easier for us to explore these questions.”

Food Guide 2005 is produced with support from SEEDA, local authorities in the three counties and the borough of Milton Keynes, Oxford Brookes University, and South East Food Group Partnership.