Welsh barbecue guru Chris Roberts cooks Rhug Estate lamb at sustainable farming festival

The festival is being held at Silas Yard in East London to help promote sustainable methods of farming.

With the support of Hybu Cig Cymru – Meat Promotion Wales (HCC), Caernarfon’s Chris Roberts brought his unique brand of PGI Welsh Lamb cuisine to the last night of the food festival which was the brainchild of ‘Wildfarmed’, an organisation dedicated to promoting sustainable integrated farming.

Chris Roberts’ presence at the London event was part of HCC’s 2021 ‘Lamb Day’ celebrations.

Lamb Day, celebrated around the 1st August each year, marks the start of the availability of new-season Welsh Lamb.

Lord Newborough, owner of Rhug Estate, said: “It’s great to see events like this helping to promote sustainable farming to a wider audience. We were delighted to be able to contribute our finalist quality organic Welsh Lamb to be served as part of the annual ‘Lamb Day’ celebrations and as always, we are grateful to HCC for giving us this opportunity.

"The superior quality of Rhug’s meat speaks for itself but I do firmly believe that events such as these are great to spread the word on the sustainable farming practices which lie behind the great tasting products. Organic farming is all to do with adopting the highest standards of animal welfare standards and removing stress in the production cycle, this produces the highest quality meat.”

Rhug organic lambs are born, bred and reared on the farm in Corwen. This gives the lamb security of provenance. The lambs are finished on organic pastures into which a selection of herbs and grasses, including chicory, cocksfoot, timothy and red and white clover are sown.

This all contributes to the award-winning taste and flavour of the meat for which Rhug has won numerous food awards.

Rhys Llywelyn, market development manager at Hybu Cig Cymru (HCC) – Meat Promotion Wales, said: “Chris Roberts has established a great reputation for his innovative and flavour-packed barbecue cookery. He’s a great ambassador for produce from Wales and we’ve been delighted to work with him several times to promote Welsh Lamb in food festivals right across the UK.

“We’re delighted that he had been invited to showcase the best of responsibly-farmed Welsh red meat in the Fix Food, Fix the Planet event in London,” added Rhys.

“As we celebrate Lamb Day the message that Welsh Lamb is seasonal and sustainable is key in developing consumers’ understanding of why they should choose to buy it.”

Rhug Estate is committed to an environmentally sustainable way of caring for the land under the organic system.

The uniqueness of Rhug is the total control over the whole system from livestock in the field to the finished meat on the plate.

From the team of shepherds and herdsman to the in-house butchers and shop staff, they are all dedicated to providing customers with an unrivalled eating experience.

The organic farm’s non-GM (genetically modified), low-stress system ensures a complete on-farm process resulting in some of the lowest food product miles in the industry, another secret to the tenderness, flavour and succulence of Rhug meat.