Tasty burgers bring new healthy food culture to City

Tasty burgers bring new healthy food culture to City

A new restaurant serving artisan burgers and hot dogs will add healthy,

grass-fed meat to Hampshire's thriving food culture.

Hampshire Fare member, Chalk Valley Burgers is a fast-casual dining restaurant, a hybrid between the fast food and casual dining formats. The business itself is a farm-to-table concept that is concerned with producing food locally and sustainably.

The owners are Hampshire farmers who raise native breed cattle entirely on pasture without any grain or concentrates. The restaurant will open on Thursday 20 February in Southampton at 11.30am.

Grass-fed meat like this is currently attracting attention from nutritionists and scientists because of its many health-protecting nutrients. Among them are high levels of vitamins E and A, healthy omega-3 fatty acids and a powerful cancer fighter known as CLA. Grass-fed meat is also known to have many benefits for wildlife and the countryside.

Pasture only Chalk Valley guarantees that all its meat is sourced from pasture-based systems of farming. Cattle, buffalo and sheep are reared on grasslands throughout their lives. They are free to roam in chemical-free fields with only minimal time in winter housing.

For pigs and poultry cereal-based rations are perfectly natural. Even so Chalk Valley allows their animals to forage freely in their natural environment with access to pasture. Naturally no GM feeds are ever used.

'Our sustainable, pasture-based methods go way beyond organic,' says Chalk Valley founder, Hampshire farmer Will Buckley. 'By dedicating land to pasture systems like these, we're building soil carbon and long-term fertility. This means we don't need chemical fertilisers or pesticides.

'We're also encouraging wildlife. Birds, wildflowers, insects, small mammals and reptiles all flourish on our farms. So our customers can relax and enjoy the tastiest, healthiest burgers around, knowing that they're helping to make our world a little better.'

The restaurant is located at 37 London Road, Southampton, SO15 2AD.