We all know it’s the most important meal of the day, but breakfast is also one of the most important parts of our Northern Ireland food economy. Marking the start of Farmhouse Breakfast Week (20-26 Jan), Tesco has revealed that it purchases over £56Million of products from local companies whose foods we love to eat for breakfast.

Independent consumer research* carried out in May 2012 revealed that favourites such as wheaten bread, potato bread and the humble Ulster Fry are among the top items cited by shoppers as summing up “the taste of Northern Ireland”.

Tesco is celebrating the local suppliers of our favourite breakfast heroes with its own Taste NI Tesco Breakfast Week.  Local companies including White’s Oats, Clandeboye Estate Yoghurt, Punjana Tea, Skea Eggs, Cookstown and Irwin’s Bakery will be taking part in the big Tesco Breakfast roadshow this week.  They will be in a selection of stores, offering shoppers free samples and tastings of their latest breakfast products and sharing their passion for the local foods that start the day.

Tesco Breakfast is part of the ongoing Tesco Taste Northern Ireland campaign to connect shoppers with the local people, producers and places behind their favourite foods.

Cliff Kells, Commercial Manager, Tesco NI said, “Farmhouse Breakfast Week encourages people to make time for breakfast and to take advantage of the excellent range of home grown produce here.  It’s a meal we do really well in Northern Ireland and it’s the one that visitors and ex-pats long to come home to.  We have a superb range of traditional cooked breakfast goods and breads made locally, and we’re seeing local bakeries like Irwin’s and Genesis really capitalising on the love of regional favourites like scones, pancakes and soda breads, with superb ranges on offer in our stores now.

“We’re seeing growth in healthier breakfast items, with companies such as Co Armagh’s White’s doing great business with its Toasted Oats and porridge.  We also have a brand new supplier, Just Live a Little, a small family business based in Portaferry making a delicious range of granola and muesli.  Team this up with some of Clandeboye Estate’s Heavenly Herd Greek yoghurt with Mango or Strawberry and you’ve got a really delicious, healthy and all-local kick start to the day.”

In commercial terms, breakfast is big business for local companies including Downpatrick’s Finnebrogue which supplies Tesco Finest sausages to Tesco stores in Northern Ireland, Dungannon-based Skea Eggs which supplies eggs under the Skea brand locally and also under the Tesco brand in both Northern Ireland and GB, and Dale Farm which supplies all Tesco-brand milk in Northern Ireland.

Cliff Kells continued, “Buying local breakfast goods means supporting local jobs, farmers and producers.  It’s a healthy start to the day and it’s keeping our agri-food economy healthy too! We would encourage people to get into the healthy breakfast habit and to enjoy and celebrate the excellent range of local, high quality breakfast foods available across Northern Ireland.”

This week, you can share your favourite breakfast ideas online by uploading and sharing photos of your favourite NI breakfast to www.facebook.com/tastenorthernireland.