HIGHLAND Park has thrown its weight behind a new campaign designed to encourage chefs to champion small-scale producers and sustainably-sourced produce.
The Slow Food Chef Alliance, part of the Orkney single malt’s new partnership with Slow Food UK, aims to promote a ‘farm to fork’ philosophy.
The Scottish launch of the UK-wide alliance attracted a number of top chefs, including Tony Borthwick of the Plumed Horse in Leith, Tony Singh of Edinburgh restaurant Oloroso, Brian Maule of Glasgow’s Chardon d’Or, Marcello Tully of Kinloch Lodge on the Isle of Skye, and Charles Lockley of Nairn’s Boath House restaurant.
Chefs south of the border backing the initiative include Slow Food UK Chef Alliance ambassador Richard Corrigan of Corrigan’s Mayfair, Michel Roux of Le Gavroche and Raymond Blanc of Le Manoir au Quat’Saisons.
The partnership will also see Highland Park sponsor the Slow Food Restaurant of the Year Award at the World’s 50 Best Restaurants, which is now in its tenth year, and carry out sampling activity at a number of ‘foodie’ events around the UK, showcasing local chefs and producers alongside the single malt; it has also launched Slow Food Orkney at the Highland Park distillery.
Peter Sandstrom, marketing director at distributor Maxxium, said Highland Park and Slow Food UK have a shared belief in “promoting a passion for flavour and craftsmanship”.
“Highland Park’s brand strategy very much focuses on our partnership with Slow Food, which is a natural fit,” he said. “Our shared values and promoting a passion for the importance of taste and flavour has been integrated across all of our brand activation.
“The Slow Food Chef Alliance is going from strength to strength and we are extremely excited about our involvement with the World’s 50 Best Restaurants and this annual gathering of the world’s culinary greats. We are also looking forward to giving consumers a fantastic food and drink experience through our UK sampling programme.”
Catherine Gazzoli, chief executive of Slow Food UK, said: “Our close relationships with leading chefs and UK consumers, who are genuinely concerned with the quality and provenance of the food and drink they enjoy, gives us a strong basis on which to reinforce the compatibility between Highland Park’s production values and the Slow Food ethos.
“We’re thrilled that Highland Park and its agencies have the vision to work with us on some of the most exciting and visible projects that Slow Food UK has ever undertaken.”
