The F word

Go Gordon. The foul-mouthed celebrity chef has come out with a new F word: fine. He reckons chefs should be fined for using imported, out-of-season ingredients such as strawberries in winter (my personal irritation here). Ramsay's comments have, naturally, caused a bit of consternation in the kitchens across his restaurant empire, as most of his own menus include a few out-of-season flavours. I think the H-word (for hypocrite) might be his next show.
Anyway, it's a fascinating idea. And I'm all for it. Nothing gets up my nose more than supermarkets stocked with sugar snaps from Kenya and peaches and nectarines flown in from the United States in July. They look like nectarines, but they don't taste like anything. No wonder our tastebuds get so confused.
I think our chefs should lead the way when it comes to using the freshest, most flavoursome food each season has to offer. But in recent months I've seen Kiwi chefs promoting recipes using oranges in March (I'd like to know where you can pick a fresh orange in March) and asparagus tarts in April (those must be seriously confused spears). It makes me cross, but not as cross as going to a posh restaurant and finding all sorts of unseasonal stuff on the menu. If I see a strawberry anywhere between now and November, I'll complain to the chef. The strawberries they import from the United States over winter are disgusting. They're an insult to the whole point of a strawberry: a sweet bite of summer.
The other thing that bugs me is canned stuff when the real stuff IS in season. Last spring, at one of the top restaurants in the Viaduct in Auckland, I saw tempura globe artichokes on the menu. Yum! I love globe artichokes and this was the peak of the season. I ordered them, having first asked if they were fresh. I was assured they were. They weren't. They were tinned. I complained, my dining companions cringed... but I'm not giving up on this battle. We deserve better from our dining establishments.