Leading local chefs are on the hunt for the best ingredients in South Oxfordshire to create top quality dishes.

The chefs from well-known hotels, pubs and restaurants are joining forces with the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire & Milton Keynes and Oxfordshire (BBO) Food Group to put more local flavours on their menus.

On Wednesday 12 March a Chefs Tour will be visiting food and drink producers in South Oxfordshire. These include: Brookleas Fish Farm in East Hendred, Q Gardens in Steventon, where they will also sample Hendred wines and Sugar and Spice cakes, The Old Farmhouse Bakery in Steventon, and Challow Hill Meats from East Challow, Wantage.

Tamara Schiopu, co-ordinator of the BBO Food Group is organising the Chefs Tour: “More customers want to eat local food in their favourite restaurants and pubs, so we are taking the chefs on a tour to seek out local ingredients on their doorstep to help them create exciting new dishes using the best produce in season.

“It is important for chefs to get to know the farmers that raised the beef with loving care, who grew the carrots and carefully turned the cheeses to create top quality produce. Those chefs are then able to continue that care when they create their dishes.”

The Chefs Tour on 12 March is one of a series of free events run by the BBO Food Group. It is part of a larger project “Fresh Skills for Chefs” - a training programme of master classes to encourage chefs to develop new dishes using more local seasonal produce on their menus. The programme is supported by Tourism South East, and South East England Development Agency.

Simon Pitney-Baxter, from The Carnarvon Arms in West Berkshire enjoyed a Chefs Tour last autumn: “I found it useful and the tasting I did with the team back at the Carnarvon with the smoked produce went down very well and I'm sure will progress into regular purchases from the Upton Smokery to start with!”

To find out more about other events, including Fresh Skills for Chefs, contact Tamara Schiopu on 01865 484116 or email localfood@brookes.ac.uk