With Simon Rhodes, of the Lobster Pot Fishmongers in Wood Street Food Hall

Last week saw me doing a fact finding mission to several local supermarkets just to compare prices and availability of fish, meat and grocery items I was reassured and equally disappointed to see that they were still churning out the type of produce that Marcus and myself fought against when we opened up the Wood Street Foodhall.

I saw venison, which is now in season here in the UK, being imported from New Zealand; there was fruit and veg all neatly packaged up but shipped in from all around the world; and fish pathetically small and looking sad and limp. There was also cheap imported fish that had been previously frozen.

We are an island with hard-working fishermen. Why disrespect them in this way? Being passionate about quality food I am always saddened when it is treated so matter of fact and without care for the industry.

Tomatoes and carrots that are tasteless, fish that are farmed that are small and aged and displayed on the counter without care and enthusiasm. Should this be the price to pay for catering for the masses?

The week was rounded off with a couple of meals out. First to a local country pub, where I had a piece of cod fillet the size of a fish finger, wrapped in prosciutto with some new potatoes and a butter sauce. The cost was about £16 and, to be fair, it did taste very good. However given the size of the portion I doubted that it would do anything to encourage people to eat more fish.

My second outing was with my family, 14 of us for Sunday dinner, again to a local pub. Unfortunately the meal was a disaster, with nearly all the meals sent back to the kitchen to be warmed, and the veg not coming out until 20 minutes after the mains had arrived. When it did come it was quite apparent that it had been frozen and was tasteless.

Another example where food is treated with little respect or passion and just churned out.

So I returned to the foodhall this week and had a good look around. I was heartened to see that the displays had character, the meat counter was vibrant with plenty of variety of local meat, the fish counter looked fresh and appealing, the tomatoes were sweet and juicy and the whole shop has the feeling that we care about food – its sustainability, its provenance and, most of all, value for money, because I believe there are no short cuts for good food.