the veal deal...

Andrew "Farmer" Sharp is the only Cumbrian who can claim to have shepherded a flock of sheep through the heart of London. He's passionate about Cumbria's local producers and produce, in particular Herdwick lamb and mutton. Andrew grabs every opportunity to promote the region's great food and makes the trip to Borough Market in London each week where he has a market stall. He is a regular contributor to The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4.

For the past three years, Andrew has been selling and promoting pink veal. He is a master butcher and in January he starred in a national tv series called Kill it, Cook it, Eat it, tracing the journeys of young animals from pasture to the plate. On the programme, Farmer Sharp explained why, if you consume dairy products, you should also eat pink veal - preferably Cumbrian-reared! The young male calves born to milk-producing cows, are currently usually shot at birth or transported abroad, rather than be used as meat in the UK. On the continent, they are reared to produce white veal, which happens when you give them a liquid diet of mostly milk and restrict their movement in order to make the meal more tender. Pink veal, on the other hand, comes from young male calves that have had a normal diet of grass, hay and milk, and have not been kept in crates. According to Andrew, blind taste tests have shown that testers couldn't tell the difference between pink veal and white.

Now veal looks set to make a comeback, with at least three of the UK's supermarkets about to put it back on their shelves, provided it is humanely reared and from the UK. This is in no small part thanks to the campaigning of Cumbrian food hero Andrew Sharp.



Content and photography supplied by Artisan Foods, funded by Distinctly Cumbrian.