The foodies
TOMMY BANK's chef director at Black Swan Oldstead and Roots York ‘This time of year is always busy on the farm. We’d be getting lots of seeds in the ground, with eight to ten people working full-time. Because of social distancing, we’ve had to scale right back, but we don’t want to get to summer and have no produce. You can’t just turn a farm off and on again.
‘We’ve branched out into delivering ‘ready meals’, for want of a better term, to a small radius around the restaurant. On top of this, we’re creating 100 meals a week for the NHS, things like homemade granola and compote or macaroni cheese. There’s only one chef in the restaurant each day. Some have been furloughed, but have volunteered to work.
‘I haven’t had a day off since this all started. The food boxes and hospital meals are sent out on Fridays and Saturdays, so the week is geared around this. The supply chain is difficult and there are longer lead times, but many are willing to donate produce. I feel sorry for asparagus farmers, as this has fallen right in their season (we’ve been using Spilman's asparagus in dishes like asparagus tart and asparagus and pancetta macaroni cheese).
‘Things may never be quite the same, but the businesses that are willing to change and evolve will survive. Did I ever think I’d be doing takeaway boxes? Never! But I’ve quite enjoyed it. blackswanoldstead.co.uk rootsyork.com
SAT MANN owner of Lean Lunch, a meal and food delivery service in Leeds
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