Real Food Festival

On Friday I went to the Real Food Festival at Earl’s Court. This is a celebration of small scale producers making traditional craft food products. As well as the pies I came home with cheese, bacon, sausages, smoked mussels and chorizo. Oh and chocolate brownies that were definitely the best in the show because I sampled them all to make sure! 

While I was there I listened to the Rude Food rants. Rude food is a cereal company and they’ve started a tradition of soap box rants at food festivals where people with a passion for food talk about their favourite subject for 5 minutes. I went because my friend Porridge Lady was ranting (about oats of course). What caught my attention in relation to veg bags schemes was Henrietta Green’s rant about local food. She was making the point that as “local” becomes a marketing tag we need to be clear what we mean when we talk about local food. It needs to be about more than just distance. If you lived next to a coke factory would that make it local food?  It needs to be about using ingredients sourced as locally as possible, about sustainability and treating people (and animals) fairly. In terms of veg bag schemes there are a number of national ones and they offer great produce but why not check if there is a small farmer in your area who would  appreciate your regular support. It is great feeling that you know the person who grew the food you are eating.