This is Devon -- Westcountry food promoters are taking the classic cream tea to the continental home of the cake as part of a drive to sell more of our region's produce in Europe. Taste of the West chief executive John Sheaves will be in Austria on Tuesday and Wednesday serving up the Devon and Cornwall classic of scones, jam and Westcountry cream to 200 guests at the British Ambassador's residence in the Austrian capital Vienna. Mr Sheaves said: "Two hundred cream teas will be served up at one sitting as part of the event providing a Westcountry alternative to the well known Sachertorte cake from Austria. We will show them the value of proper clotted cream rather than their whipped alternative!" The event is part of a two-day marketing initiative designed to help Westcountry food and drink gain a foothold in the burgeoning East European market. "This is an opportunity for us to pitch our members' products into the East European markets who are typically growing their economies at a faster rate than we are here in the UK," said Mr Sheaves. "It is a lucrative market with higher disposable incomes. We will be part of a 35 company delegation from the UK and the Westcountry will be very well represented." The trade mission is the latest initiative by Taste of the West to gets its members products into new overseas markets, helped, in part by the growing number of official EU name designations that have been bestowed on Westcountry foods. Last week West Country Beef and West County Lamb joined Cornish Clotted Cream, Cornish Pasties and a range of other foods that qualify for the highly sought-after PGI status, putting them alongside continental specialities like Parmesan Cheese and Champagne. The Devon Scone Company will be providing the cream teas for the reception in the British embassy in Austria. Other Westcountry foods that will be promoted during the two day visit include Burts Crisps, from Plymouth, Salcombe Ice Cream, Quantock Beer, Grumpies Pies from Cornwall, Capreolus Charcuterie from West Dorset, Highfield Preserves from Devon and Cornish sea salt. In total 14 companies will be represented. The countries that will be targeted stretch from Austria through the Balkan states to Greece, Italy, Switzerland, Turkey and the former Soviet states of Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania. In all 35 companies will be exhibiting their food and drink. Efforts to win new customers to Westcountry produce are made easier through the award of PGI status, food industry experts believe – although good marketing is vital. Many privately say that Britain has been slow out of the blocks to get on the protected foods bandwagon. Mr Sheaves said that on West Country Beef and West Country lamb Defra, the department responsible for putting forward the products for listing had 'dragged their feet.' He warned too that while the Welsh, with their PGI status lamb and the Scots, with Scotch beef, spent millions on marketing, there was a question mark about where support for the Westcountry produce would come from, he said Taste of the West would be happy to help where they could.
Reported by This is 2 days ago.
↧
