Leguminous crops grown locally for Parisian B&I restaurants

"It is important we know what happens to the products we grow," explains Marie Blanchard, co-manager of the Saveurs de nos Terres farm, an approach shared by the Elior catering company which has committed to buying more than three tons of their dried beans. The beans are delivered to, and cooked in Elior’s B&I restaurants in Ile de France. In this way, Elior is thus supporting the development of Saveurs de nos Terres, a family farm for three generations. With her husband, Marie Blanchard works in Organic Agriculture on more than 14 crops, including lentils, dried beans and chickpeas. These pulses are then directly sorted and bagged on the farm. 

It is important we know what happens to the products we grow

 This commitment enables Elior’s chefs to concoct dishes using local, quality products. Carole Verguet is the manager of an Elior B&I restaurant in Ile-de-France.  She testifies: "It's very rewarding for the kitchen teams to work with products that respect the planet and are grown just a few kilometres away". Beans are also a great replacement for animal protein. Pulses are a welcome ingredient for developing vegetarian meals. "We have created new recipes with beans, and with hummus for example. We also use beans in our salads to replace animal protein with vegetable protein,” explains Carole Verguet. In this way, Elior’s teams can provide a food offer that always better meets the needs of its customers, and which supports local agriculture.