The Guide includes South West dining venues achieving consistently high ratings across top international publications such as The Michelin Guide, The Good Food Guide and the AA Restaurant Guide. Having met the strict criteria set by a panel of leading food and drink experts, all outlets are formally invited to be part of this annual food and drink guide. Restaurant critic and food writer Matthew Fort believes the West Country has rapidly become "synonymous with fantastic food". Writing in the book's foreword, he said: "This Guide shows there is proper food made with proper care from proper, local ingredients to be found in the region. Adapting a phrase from that long-forgotten poet, Arthur Hugh Clough, I say to anyone remotely interested in food: 'South-westward go, the land is bright.'" The Trencherman's Guide has come a long way since it's creation in 1992 by Kit Chapman of The Castle Hotel in Taunton and Paul Henderson of Gidleigh Park, Devon.