Yesterday I popped into Eastergate Stores, a family-owned and run convenience shop, and was delighted to buy a packet of Whitby brand prawns. “Great” I thought, “they might not be local to here but they do have strong local provenance.” Imagine how I felt when I got home (put my glasses on) and found they were from Vietnam!

So, I rang Whitby Seafoods, explained my disappointment and fully expected every member of the sales team to be ‘unavoidably busy’ or ‘in meetings’. Instead I had a very interesting chat about scampi (which they are Big in, and try to source from UK waters) and the problems of needing to offer a range to retailers in order to get the main product onto shelves.

We agreed that too much fabulous British seafood and shellfish is exported, and that too many warm water prawns are imported - where is the sense in that?

We just need to ditch the egg and breadcrumbs and eat the langoustines that we currently enjoy as scampi as large prawns. Now, wouldn’t that be luvverly?