Well done to Hawkshead Relish and all our other winners at the Good Taste Awards.

Competitions such as this are a vital way in which small local producers can gain some wider profile. There are relatively few mouths to feed in Cumbria and even if half of us were to buy local, it would still be hard to grow a business sufficiently.

Markets need to be found across the country regionally in Manchester / Liverpool perhaps, but also nationally.

This creates a bit of a paradox however.

What about the much vaunted reasons pushed forwards for us to try local food?

The low food miles argument suffers the most (especially with fuel still up around £1 a litre - £4.50 a gallon for us oldies).

Supporting local business doesn't hold up, the people of Manchester should buy from farmers and producers down there (though it might not be as good).

Freshness - well this can still be achieved, but creates work with the just in time ordering attitudes of many shops.

The supermarkets have discovered that we want to buy local products, but that we still want the convenience of one stop shopping. They stock ranges of produce from the local' area or a shelf or two of speciality' goods.

Supermarkets are reputed to be notorious for their treatment of suppliers, but here there are some more encouraging reports. Even so, this is still a small percentage of the supermarkets' take.

Persuading more people to go for quality rather than price seems still set to be an uphill task.

The great British Food Fortnight is approaching and I would encourage you to go out and have a sample at one of the events, taste for yourself what all the fuss is about. You may not like everything, but I assure you there will be something you will find that you just have to get regularly from now on.

Find yourself a winner and enjoy it.