Fresh ideas for a healthy life (From Stroud News and Journal)

Fresh ideas for a healthy life

With everyone from Prince Charles to celebrity chefs extolling the virtues of supporting local suppliers, home grown food is big news. Despite a history of culinary disasters and a serious Diet Coke habit, reporter and junk food addict Alli Pyrah went back to basics to see if she could live on local food for a week.

Saturday:

I arrive at Stroud farmers' market and meet organiser Claire Gerbrands, who gives me a guided tour. Shopping at the market is a wonderful experience. Colourful stalls are bursting with almost every product you can imagine and stallholders are happy to dispense recipe suggestions and offer advice.

When my stomach starts rumbling I'm spoiled for choice, but a cooked trout sandwich from Cockleford Trout in a bun from Hobb's House Bakery makes a much tastier snack than the mass produced veggie burger I would normally have chosen.

It's wise to arrive early, as many of the stalls sell out quickly. I'm lucky to get hold of the last three eggs from Jaxons Farm.

Also, the market only takes place once a fortnight on the first and third Saturday of every month, so getting your shopping home can take some doing.

There's clearly no way my scooter's up to the job, so my only option is a taxi. As I'm unpacking all my scrumptious-looking goodies, I break into the Day's Cottage Pure Apple Juice. Yum.

It's just sweet enough, with a wonderful tangy kick. Meanwhile, I'm picking at the olive and sun-dried tomato bread from Hobb's House Bakery, which so moorish I've soon wolfed down half a loaf. I feel guilty but assure myself I've got a fast metabolism.

It's 7pm. I'd usually be eating a takeaway right now, and see no reason to break with convention. I gorge myself on the Thai cuisine from Niang's Thai Snacks, which includes battered veg, spring rolls, fish cakes and boiled rice with lemon, satay and sweet chilli dips.

I've eaten a lot of takeaways, and can't remember the last time one tasted this good. The crispy, triangular spring rolls with a melt-in-your-mouth vegetable filling look and taste nothing like their limp supermarket counterparts.

As if I needed an excuse, it's Saturday night and that bottle of damson wine from Sat Anne's Vineyard is looking very tempting.

Instead of drinking it from the bottle, I decide to add a touch of class to the proceedings and add the mulled wine syrup from Selsley Herb & Spice Co, which is so delicious I'm almost tempted to drink it neat. Needless to say, I doze off in a drunken stupor.

Sunday:

I wake up to the smell of burning sugar, and realise I've left what remains of the mulled wine on the hob. Having written off my non-stick pan, I soothe my hangover with more yummy apple juice.

Lunchtime's looming, and my grumbling stomach wants something fast. I opt for a sun-dried tomato roll from the bread ring, smothered in creamy trout pate with a selection of wonderful stuffed and marinated olives from Roman Olive Co and some juicy, sweet cherry tomatoes from Isle of Wight Tomatoes.

I round it off with a custard slice from La Parisienne, which is not normally something I'd normally go for but comes as a pleasant surprise.

I think about taking some exercise, but somehow find myself playing Grand Theft Auto until the swimming pool is closed. Oh, well. In any case, it's time for dinner and I am going to thoroughly enjoy the two plump Thai fish cakes in bread crumbs from Purely Organic.

Since PlayStation doesn't burn off many calories I decide to forgo more indulgent accompaniments for some healthy green veg. I boil something called rainbow shard, which looks a bit like multicoloured rhubarb and tastes like a cross between celery and spinach.

I've never come across it before but I'm quite enamoured with those nice folks from Duchy Home Farm for recommending it to me. The broccoli from Over Farm is also very enjoyable - really fresh and crunchy.

Unfortunately my good intentions go by the wayside thanks to a chocolate cheesecake from The Dairy House, but the creamy, slightly sharp topping and crumbly biscuit bottom are worth buying a new pair of jeans for.

You wouldn't think I'd still be hungry, but it's easy to be even more greedy than usual when there's lots of tempting food in the fridge. I'm feeling adventurous, and decide to try out a butternut squash from Over Farm.

I can't remember whether they said to put it in the oven or the microwave, but the latter sounds less hassle so I pop it in on full power. Two-and-a-half minutes later there is a loud bang.

The squash has exploded all over the microwave. I am pleased to discover what I can scrape off still tastes very nice when I mix it with Kachumbari sauce, a wonderful multi-purpose Kenyan invention.

Monday

I stuff an apricot yoghurt from The Dairy House down my throat before I rush out to work. Brunch is two buns from the bread ring, one with trout pate and the other with Tewkesbury mustard from The Selsley Herb & Spice Co and Double Gloucester cheese from Godsells, which makes a very tasty combination.

Around lunchtime, I munch on a crunchy little Bramley apple from Croft Farm, and wish I was a better cook so I could have a go at an apple pie. Dinner is an omelette with eggs from Jaxons Farm, smoked garlic from The Garlic Farm, red onions and chilli peppers from Over Farm and some of the marinated olives.

I finish off with a hulk of chocolate cheesecake and a glass of Day's organic cider, since I have polished off all of their delicious apple juice.

Tuesday:

Following the butternut squash experience, I'm playing it safe this lunchtime and go for a repeat of Monday's sandwich combo. Fortunately, celebrity chef Rob Rees has taken pity on me and generously invites me to his home for an informal cooking session.

Rob is enthusiastic about local food. "I always go back to the logistics of it," he says. "If it's travelled less far it tastes fresher.

"But there are also other factors, such as links to the local economy. Some local food is better than others, but as you get to know the suppliers you know which ones to go back to."

As we chat, I learn how to impress any dinner party guests with a menu of goat's cheese and chutney in filo pastry, kale, fried with garlic, ginger and a dash of beer, carrots and swede mashed with ginger and wasabi and a beer, cream and chive sauce.

Rob has also just written a book about creating dishes using local food, called The Cotswold Chef. More details can be found at www.thecotswoldchef.com

Wednesday:

I'm suffering from withdrawal symptoms from Diet Coke, which is normally a mild addiction of mine. But since it isn't made locally, I just have to content myself with water.

In our office, it's a Wednesday lunchtime tradition to eat out together. We head to The Retreat, where I have no trouble in finding a dish with ingredients sourced from local suppliers.

They even have Day's apple juice. Clearly, eating local is not just about staying in and eating vegetables. I decide to start asking where ingredients are sourced from when I eat out in future.

If local ingredients are not being used, then consumer interest is more likely to effect a change. Arriving home, I feel inspired by last night's cooking session. I decide to be adventurous and actually cook something.

OK, so it's only garlic mushrooms on toast, but a girl could do worse than the juicy giant mushrooms from the Gourmet Mushroom Co, who supply Sainsbury's with all their mushrooms.

I stick fry them, along with the smoked garlic, in butter from The Dairy House, and the result tastes very nice on toast from Hobb's House Bakery, which uses flour from Shipton Mill.

A generous sprinkling of organic fresh parsley from Newark Farm makes it look and taste even better.

Thursday

For dinner, I enjoy a mouth-wateringly succulent trout from Purely Organic with some lovely little nutty potatoes from Over Farm. It does occur to me that wrapping it in foil with a bit of lemon and butter takes no longer than preparing a microwave meal, and the results are both tastier and healthier.

Friday

I'm a bit bored with sandwiches, so I arrive at work armed with a Cara baking potato from Newark Farm. This elicits some strange looks from my colleagues, but I find it very enjoyable microwaved and sprinkled with grated Single Gloucester from Godsell's.

For dinner, I stir some left over vegetables with the Kachurmbari sauce, which tastes terrific and is surprisingly filling. A baked cooking apple is not something I'd normally think of, but I'm following the advice of the people who grew it at Croft Farm and the result, sprinkled with sugar and serves with toffee yoghurt, is worth the wait.

All in all, I've had a great time living off local food, which even for someone with my cooking skills, was not particularly difficult. My intake of fresh fruit and vegetables certainly improved and I'm beginning to feel more enthusiastic than cooking.

I will be shopping at the farmers' market in future, not out of a sense of duty to local suppliers, but quite simply because they produce some of the best food I've ever tasted.

* The next Stroud Farmers Market is on Saturday, November 17, from 9am to 2pm.