Cooking courses in Italy and the importance of quality ingredients: Interviewing Natoora

Being recently on a cooking holiday with Flavours, I had the chance to find out more about how important it is to use fresh and quality ingredients in your food. Having this in mind, I started looking for the best places to buy fresh food and that's how I discovered Natoora. Natoora is a leading online supplier of fresh food and this month they are offering to all Flavours friends an exclusive offer. Here is a short interview with them:

When did you start Natoora? 

It all started in 2000 with a peach. When Natoora founder, Franco Fubini, overheard a customer in a shop asking for peaches in December, completely out of their natural season - this started a process from which Natoora was born.

What was your motivation to start the business?

The idea was to re-establish the seasons as a natural and logical way of eating. Only in the right season can fruits and vegetables taste at their best. Natoora would give customers access to quality, varied products that would inspire and delight.

We now supply some of London's most renowned restaurants, including Hibiscus, Theo Randall and Dinner by Heston Blumenthal. Since 2005, we have also sold the same quality produce direct to consumers via our website and in 2012 launched a shop within Ocado.com. Most recently, in May 2013, we fulfilled a long held ambition by opening our first retail store in Chiswick, London W4.

How do you source the products?

All our produce is carefully selected by our expert buyers from the best growers and cooperatives in Italy, France and the UK. Having worked with some of the same farmers for many years now, we can ensure incredible consistency, quality and flavour. We select our fruits and vegetables primarily based on taste, believing that taste is a sign of quality and virtuous farming practices. We also produce our own fresh pasta, source the finest charcuterie and cheese from incredible producers, and work with local experts in meat and fish to supply our website customers daily.

What's your favourite recipe?

We are very fond of a Theo Randall pasta recipe featuring our extra sweet datterini tomatoes, taggiasche olives and basil - so simple and flavoursome, it brings summer to your table. You can find it on our blog here