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‘Fresh Versus Frozen’ Continues

Great weather, great food and great company – the 2011 media lunch, hosted by the New Ice Age and Aldo Zilli at Zilli Fish in London, continued the ‘fresh versus frozen’ debate with the national media.

Discussions at the event highlighted the cost, waste and taste benefits of frozen over chilled food equivalents. And, to ensure that all discussions were sustained with fact, the New Ice Age Team referred journalists to the Manchester metropolitan university report commissioned in 2010, investigating the benefits of frozen foods over that of fresh or chilled alternatives.

Results from this study have revealed that buying frozen food is around 30% less expensive than buying fresh food. It is also revealed that cooking with fresh food produces over 35% more household waste than cooking with frozen food. Families who took part in these studies have agreed that frozen food can be equal to, or even taste better than fresh food.

The information generated by the study has been the main platform for discussion about frozen food with in the media, showing that choosing frozen can benefit families and report findings lead to the event’s name ‘Favour Frozen’

The 24 guests at Zilli Fish included New Ice Age resident nutritionist, Yvonne Bishop-Weston, who has supported the frozen food campaign since The New Ice Age launched in 2008. Yvonne explained that by switching many common chilled ingredients to frozen alternatives, families could get more nutrients into their daily diet due to the majority of frozen products using the flash freezing process which locks nutrients in at point of harvest.

During the lunch, Yvonne informed our guests that the research has shown it is in fact eight portions of fruits and vegetables that have significant benefits to our health rather than five portions more commonly believed. However, the ‘5-a-day’ campaign began as people found five portions more realistic than eight. She explained that frozen foods could help families to get more fruit and vegetables into their diet due to their longer shelf life and versatility.

People have little time to shop, prepare and cook nourishing and healthy meals so ‘favouring frozen’ can make the process easier.

Starters

Sea salt and chilli fried squid

Tuna Carpaccio with rocket &parmesan salad

Tomato, buffalo mozzarella & pesto dressing

Mains

Stuffed chicken breast served with mash, smoked bacon and red wine sauce

Wild mushroom risotto with truffle oil

Salmon with oriental vegetables

The two courses, cooked by Aldo Zilli, included seven frozen ingredients to show the versatility of frozen food. The guests were challenged to guess which ingredients were frozen. Can you tell?

We’ll give you a clue – the stuffed chicken breast served with mash, smoked bacon and red wine sauce was made with a frozen sauce by the Sauce Kitchen who sponsored the event.

Aldo Zilli was friendly and charismatic, greeting the guests and partaking in interviews about how he uses frozen food as a family man and as a restaurateur. He also discussed the importance frozen food has on reducing household wastage.

Feedback from the day was very positive. Bloggers initiated conversation online using the hashtag #FavourFrozen throughout the day which sparked interest within their Twitter Community. Since the event, several blogs have been posted about how the successful the day was, and journalists have used the information provided to write features on the benefits of frozen food in LoveFood.com, BBC Good Food Magazine. Strong relationships have been formed with two new food and consumer journalists, who have expressed an interest in collaborating with The New Ice Age in the future. Answer; Frozen Foods were tuna, squid, pesto, chicken, oriental, vegetables and wild mushroom.

Taken from ‘The Bulletin’ Aug/Sept 2011