Fairtrade Fortnight 2012

Guess what? It’s fairtrade fortnight! Did you know that three in every ten bananas bought in the UK are fairtrade? Sainsburys have taken the radical step of only selling fairly traded bananas - even their 'Basics' economy bananas bare the mark.

Fairtrade has always been close to my heart after having the concept drummed into me while at university, which happened to be the first fairtrade university institution. I am passionate ensuring that producers and growers get a fair price for their wares - in an ideal world, all of my foodstuffs would come from the UK but this simply isn't possible (I love rice and sugar... Mmm, rice pudding!). Buying products with the fairtrade mark assures you that you're buying ethical produce and it's on a huge variety of products - from tea and coffee to chocolate and clothes.

Get involved!
Wondering what is fairtrade?

Fairtrade is a term that defines a product which has been bought from a famer or producer who works in decent conditions for a reasonable wage.

Read more about Fairtrade here.

Fairtrade Fortnight runs from Monday 27th February until Sunday 11th March 2012. You can find out more about this years campaign here as well as more details of events near you.

From Russia with love - Maslenitsa Festival 2012

Spring feels tantalisingly close now as the weather gets warmer (yay!) and wetter (boo!) and the crocuses start to break through the softening soil. What better way to celebrate the changing of the seasons that to take to Trafalgar Square this Sunday and visit the Maslenitsa Festival.

Russian Sun Festival is an annual event which celebrates of the end of winter chills and the start of Spring with music, dancing and (most importantly) food. With Russian delicacies such as stroganoff and borscht (beetroot soup) as well as traditional pastries and (if you're not already pancaked out) blini's on sale, be sure to bring an empty tummy. Once you've had your fill, there are musical and theatrical performances and lots of stalls selling crafts and souvenirs.

The Maslenitsa Festival will be in Trafalgar Square from 1:30pm until 6:30pm on Sunday 26th February 2012. Entrance to the festival is free. It marks the start of a week of celebrations.

The Chocolate Festival, London

You may already be aware of my love affair with chocolate but if you’re not, needless to say that I am a big fan. I won’t go into detail (it’s best not to get me started) but there was a time when I couldn’t go a day without some form of the good stuff. I’m reformed now but it’s still my weak spot. I’m heartened that I’m not as bad as The Boy who can’t sit still if there’s an open box of chocolate on display.

With this in mind, you can imagine my frustration about the fact that on a weekend when I’m schlepping oop North (to visit a friend who lives on an organic farm – post to follow) the capital will be hosting a festival devoted to my vice. The Chocolate Festival runs from today until Sunday and will be a melting pot for over 40 mouth-watering exhibitors. There will be demonstrations from some of the world’s best chocolatiers will be taking place throughout the weekend so I’m truly missing out. 

If you’re unlucky enough to already have plans, do not despair. They have already confirmed dates in March next year in Brighton and London to spread the chocolatey goodness.  

The Chocolate Festival runs from Friday 9th until Sunday 11th December 2011 from 11am - 8pm Daily (6pm on Sunday) at Southbank Centre Square, Belvedere Road, London SE1 8XX.

No such thing as a free lunch?

Volunteers in the Feeding 5k kitchen working hard to feed the hungry lunchtime masses

Or so they say. Who are 'they' anyway? Because they are wrong.

Friday saw queues that stretched around Trafalgar Square as many hurried to be one of the lucky 5,000 to be fed with surplus food that would have otherwise been thrown away. The sun shone as speakers instilled the captive audience with the virtues of creating less food waste. I stood in raptures as we were told stories of sorry cauliflowers that grew ‘too big’ for the supermarkets standards (!) and delicious but ‘misshapen’ fruit and vegetables that are turned away by the Big Four.

Beautiful curly carrots!

Producers and chefs alike had turned out to meet and share with their knowledge with the public and it was great to see the number of people that had been drawn to the event. I got my (geeky) thrills by spotting Valentine Warner casually mingling with the crowds before his turn on stage to cook in front of the masses.

We arrived early, just before midday, as we were keen to taste what discarded dishes the huge industrial kitchens had put together. I was slightly staggered by the queue – there must have been about two hundred hungry folks ready and waiting – but this moved extremely quickly when food starting being served. There were plenty of friendly volunteers around to direct us to our free portion of vegan veggie curry and rice, which was flavourful but not at all spicy so it seemed to please everyone from us young professionals in office wear to the under-fives in buggies.

Grabbie, grabbie. Visitors go mad for discarded produce.

Once we’d filled our faces, we explored a little more of what the event had to offer. There was an air of premature January-sale-hysteria as volunteers from the wonderful Fareshare and local school children handed out bags of fruit and vegetables, which would have otherwise gone to waste. Although the odd slightly squishy grape was obviously sub-par (though still perfectly edible), the vast majority was virtually perfect. Between us, my group were given half a dozen bananas, a large bunch of grapes, a teensy pumpkin and four or five pears which were all delicious and apparently unblemished. We also saw curly carrots and small pineapples in the arms of fellow revellers. This prompted a lot of healthy debate about the peculiar standards the supermarkets have developed in response to our demands. Why on earth are the supermarkets throwing perfectly good food like this away?

A mere hour inspired a lot of conversations among my peers, which has got to be a good thing. The most common comment that I overheard was the realisation that we’re so lucky to have food at all and disbelief that, while some are starving, we are turning edible food away because it doesn’t conform to our aesthetic expectations. And all of this is before the food even hits our shelves! We throw away about 4.4 million tonnes of food that could have been eaten. If we stop this blatant waste of resources, our family finances will see the benefits as well as the environment that we live in.

If you’re looking for more information on how to reduce your food wastage, have a look on Love Food Hate Waste. If you’d like to help the amazing efforts of Fareshare in redistributing unwanted food to some of the most needy in our nation, have a look at their website. To find out more about the fantastic Feeding 5k day, have a peek at this year's event website.

Falling food waste and a free lunch

Food prices are rising while salaries are staying stubbornly still and that’s if you’re lucky enough to have successfully found and kept hold of a job in the last year or so. Many households are struggling with rising bills and a new study from the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has found that the current economic situation has encouraged everyone to reduce the amount of food that we throw away.

Despite a 13 per cent drop in usable food waste, as a nation we still generate 7.2 million tonnes of household food waste every year of which around 60% could have been eaten. This is crazy – when money is tight, we should be watching the (compost) bin as well as our wallets. I don’t think that the confusion over sell by dates helps though hopefully the recent shake-up of regulations will make things clearer for everyone. However, I think many people (and many of my twenty-something-old peers are particularly guilty of this one) need good ways to use-up leftovers.

If you’re London-based and interested in reducing your food waste, you might want to check out Feeding 5k in Trafalgar Square tomorrow. With plenty of inspiration by way of living cooking demos from the likes of Valentine Warner and Thomasina Miers, you can find out great ways to cut the amount of edible stuff that you might otherwise throw away. If you're not London-based, fear not as I'll be schlepping over to capture the best bits (and bites) so that you're not left out.

As well as highlighting clever cooking, the event is championing the work of fantastic charities like Fare Share, a national charity who redistribute surplus food, that would otherwise be discarded, to the most needy. They also provide training on nutrition and safe food preparation. What lovely people!

So head on over to see the waste-eating pigs and flex your muscles while having a go at surplus apple pressing. Oh and you get a free lunch to boot! What more could you want?

Feeding 5k will be taking place on Friday 18th November in Trafalgar Square, London between 12 and 2pm. First come first served!

Potter's Tea Party

I have been missing Oxford lately. I’m not sure whether it’s the recent warm weather (perfect for lazing around in the Parks or for punting) or the multitude of celebratory post-exam/hand-in Facebook activity that’s got me reminiscing. Despite the stress, my university days were pretty awesome and Oxford is a fantastic city to be a student in.


This weekend, I was handed an excuse (well, two actually) to hop in my battered little car, turn up my music and pay a long overdue visit to the dreaming spires. I had been invited by the lovely Lamadrian of The Sprouting Teapot blog to spend a relaxing afternoon painting pottery and drinking tea. Needless to say, the combination of painting and hot beverages is cloud nine in my book. Shamelessly girlie, I know.

Despite high-hopes for the day, I was truly treated. Homemade chocolate hazelnut éclairs on arrival followed by kumquats (just keep chewing!) dipped in left over melted chocolate. Both were just as delicious as they sound and I’m very inspired by the homemade choux pastry. I will have to give it a go in the near future!

Next, we ambled to St Ebbe's in Headington where the church had been transformed into a pottery studio complete with paints, ceramic pens and plenty of naked crockery crying out to be decorated. Naturally, it wouldn't be a tea party without suitable refreshments and we were spoilt for choice. With ten different types of tea and a whole table laden with sweet goodies, I knew that I was going to be getting my tea and cake quota for the week.
 
For a mere £10, I was presented with a mug, bowl, jug and cake stand to paint with a selection of ceramic paints and pens plus all the homemadecake I could munch. What a lovely way to spend an afternoon!

Looking forward to Bristol Harbor Festival

Snapshots of the Harbour Festival

We’ve enjoyed a gorgeous Spring morning here in Somerset. The sun has been shining through the patches of hazy wisps of cloud that meander their way across the sky. Something in the air reminds me of a sunny day enjoyed in Bristol last summer when The Boy and I spent the afternoon ambling along the harbour side. The City’s famous Harbour Festival was gracing the banks of the river and spreading vibrant stalls from the SS Great Britain to Castle Park. There was lots to eat and even more to see.

We nibbled on all sorts of goodies including seafood paella, delicious Pie Minister pies and chocolate crepes.

Bristol’s Harbour Side Festival has been confirmed as running from Saturday 23th until Friday 29th July 2011. Details are already available here.

Love Food Spring Festival

Left to Right: Chocolate & Raspberry Cake, The Festival Hall, Vegetables from the travelling grocer.

This weekend is Bristol very own Love Food's Spring Festival at Brunel's Old Station. We trekked along

today with a few friends to see it in all it's colourful glory. True to form, they've gone to town on the bunting.

I didn't have time to check out the Cookery School that was running but it did running list looked really interesting with chefs from Bristol's Lido making an appearance. I did get a chance to grab a quick Mexican quesadilla, packed full of organic black bean salsa, guacamole and cheese as well as a 'Flu Buster' juice from Blue Juice. The quesadilla was to die for (if a little messy) though the juice was a bit too heavy on the ginger for my tastes. After a quick trawl of the stalls, The Great Cake Café (who don't seem to be online?) provided me with a cup of Earl Grey and a raspberry and chocolate cake.

The Love Food Spring Festival is on at Brunels Old Station on Saturday 26th and Sunday 27th March 2011. Entry is free and there are plenty of places to eat and drink as well as stalls selling all sorts of foodie goodies.

Love Food

Summery Bunting

The weekends Love Food Festival took some exploring skills to find. Tucked away in Bristol's Paintworks, we followed our noses and the upbeat Jamaican tones being pumped out by the DJ's. We found a colourful courtyard festooned with cheerful bunting.

We arrived at lunchtime and quickly found our midday meal in the shape of Tom's tarts; we shared a slice of spinach and three cheese and a slice of chucky roasted veg. The spinach was divine but we were both surprised by how well the generous hunks of butternut squash went with the creamy egg filling. Delish!

We found seats in the glorious suntrap courtyard and people-watched while we tucked into our quiche. There was an overwhelming community atmosphere with strangers shaving tables and stall holders gamely exchanging happy banter. The sun was out and the mood was high.

Hedgehog bread, Tim's tarts and a travelling greengrocer

Next up was a slice of chocolate and cherry cake from the Ooh La La Chocolaterie accompanied by a well-deserved cup of tea. I lost myself in creamy black forest heaven for a full five minutes... Wow! I galantly managed to bring myself to share a few mouthfuls with my friend who in turn swapped a bite of her chocolate caramel cake. These girls know how to make a woman happy!

The foodhall, just off the main courtyard, was alive with tables of kids decorating hats (very tempting even to us adults!) and stalls groaning with sumptuous food stuffs. The Thoughful Bread Co amazed us with their unusually hued beetroot bread though the real star of their stall was their tangy onion bread. The lovely Kate from Lahloo Tea had a table stacked with delightfully chinz cups and saucers. I've since heard that they've won four Great Taste Gold awards for their glorious loose teas - congratulations Lahloo! My magpie eye just can't get enough of their stylish packaging.

Our eyes were also drawn to Parsnipship stall where they had a stack of Hedghog Bread (above). The dough had been snipped, sprinkled with cheese and decorated with pumpkin seeds for eyes and noses. Very cute! A savory take on gingerbread men that we just loved.

The Love Food Festival isn't the biggest food event that you'll find this year but it was friendly, relaxed and unpretentious. It has the feel of a school fete - maybe next time, we can have a foodie tombola and lucky dip!?

A beautiful blaze of colour

The Newt Beer Festival

We've spent a merry few hours in North Petherton at the fantastic annual Newt Beer Festival. With the allure of 101 different bitters, ales and stouts to sample this year, we decided to cycle along the tow path from our town so that we could enjoy a drink or two. The weather was fantastic and the live music on offer added to the atmosphere.

A festival for all the family (would you believe?) with face-painting and trampolines for the kids while Dad (or Mum?) takes part in the Yard Competition...

Fair Play - Bristol Wine & Food Fair

Having explored the sights and sounds of the Bath Food & Drink Festival only the day before, Bristol Wine & Food Fair had a lot to live up to. The atmosphere on entering was undoubtedly different to Bath's offering; this was slightly more formal and, dare I say it, upmarket. Still, I shouldn't compare as the two are very different and both fantastic in their own right.

Arriving fashionably late and just in time for lunch, we were presented with the difficult task of choosing where to start our culinary adventure in form of lunch. After much dithering and deliberation, we couldn't resist the delicious smells wafting over from The Real Olive Company's Kofta Bar. There was quite a queue but this, I feel, is usually a very good sign. I enjoyed a lamb kebab with babaganoush and peppers on a fluffly Lebanese wrap while my foodie friend tried their veggie offering. Both were awarded top marks; what a great way to start!

And so, the wandering (and wondering) started in earnest. The fair was much more about wine and less about food than I expected with one marquee dedicated to food (though there were many foodie bits and pieces in the Food Producers Market) and two reserved for wine. We enjoyed Georgie Porgie's Puddings, particularly the unusual lemon and Pimms and the devilish apple and cider. We got chatting to the lovely people at Lahloo tea who caught my eye with their gorgeous packaging and smoking infusions. I couldn't resist the lovely preserves at The Cherry Tree; it was a miracle that I came away with only one jar (the spicy tomato and caramelised onion chutney, if you're wondering).

Making the most of our free tasters... hic!

With our complimentary tasting glasses at the ready, we threw ourselves into the fray of Wine Marquee A and immediately found the St Germain cocktail bar where the barmen were busy mixing up fantastic elderflower inspired drinks.

The miniature selection at Bramley & Gage

Tempted though we were, we were deterred by the price tag and we were pleased when later, we found the lovely ladies at Bramley & Gage. It didn't take us long to invest in their fruit liqueurs as well as their punchy sloe gin. I came away with a bottle of their elderflower liqueur which, I can honestly say, I would have over St Germain for the taste as well as the more reasonable price tag. It's sweet, refreshing and summery without being saccharine.

Just a little way over, we staggered upon Discover the Origin who were offering shavings of Parmesan which were carved from cheese the size of car tyres! There was also slivers of parma ham, straight from the joint, paired with fine wines to enjoy which got us feeling rather sophis.

One of the humongous wheels of Parmesan on offer from Discover the Origin

I was lucky enough to get my hands on tickets to a complimentary tasting workshop held by Cordorníu where we sampled four of their sparkling wines and got a crash course in wine tasting and champagne history. I must admit that I hadn't heard of Cordorníu or their wines before but they were certainly palatable and would be a fun and more pocket-friendly alternative to the traditional champagnes.

Speaking of champagnes, my friend and I were donated a ticket each to the Champagne & Chocolate Masterclass by two lovely gentleman. Their loss was certainly our gain as we sampled Hotel Chocolat chocolates with a variety of Tattinger champagnes under the guidance of Sarah Jane Evans of the Academy of Chocolate.

Sarah Jane Evans talks the talk

It was a wonderful way to end the day as we were emersed in the wonderful world of bubbly. Sarah threw in some fantastic facts; did you know that there are around 45 million bubbles in a bottle of champagne and that the cork shoots from the bottle at around 40mph from the pressure of the wine which is three times the pressure of a car tyre!? We sampled all sorts of combinations of bubbly with the four chocolates that we had in front of us. Tickets were £8 and, though we got ours for free, I think I would've gladly paid up for such a fun hour. Sarah was insightful and obviously extremely knowledgable while still being approachable.

The weather wasn't on our side but we had a fantastic day at the fair!

Festival of Delights - Bath Food & Drink Festival

You may know Bath for it's beautiful architecture or the healing steamy waters of it's spa. This weekend, Bath's historic Royal Crescent was awash with colour, the promising sound of sizzling and a cocktail of mouth-watering smells. Producers, purveyors, chefs and performers (sometimes the same thing, it seems) happily rubbed shoulders and vied for the attention of the ticket-holding foodies.

The city’s picturesque country-side surroundings were reflected in the mix of stalls that were neatly squeezed into the park. Amongst the real ales on offer, the increasingly trendy ciders were well represented (though I wasn’t impressed by the Gaymers stall) and the Pimms tent was predictably popular as the hot and balmy Saturday wore on.

The Cosmic Sausages

The festival atmosphere was fed by the live music performed on and around the music stage; the musical highlight of our afternoon was the quirky (and rather aptly named) Cosmic Sausages. Jarvis of St James had picked a prime spot to set up shop as their cute teak be-parasoled tables and chairs had a great view of the stage - great for sipping a glass of bubbly and enjoying the chaos unfolding before you.

The main food tent was a feast of interesting chutneys, crusty bread and sweet things. We were disappointed by Med Food UK; despite their fantastic selection of olives and antipasti, everything we tried tasted as if it was from a jar, overly salted and was all incredibly expensive. Still, everything else looked so wonderful that it was hard to know where to start. We'd arrived at lunchtime and eventually started with a chicken wrap from Natural Game. We were very glad that we did - food festivals can be wallet emptyingly expensive (stall holders know they have a captive and enthuastic audience) but for £5 we had lunch for two in just one wrap.

Antonio Carluccio

Once we were suitably fed, we headed to the Chef's tent to see Antonio Carluccio do his thing. Now, Antonio might be 73 but he certainly doesn't act it. He's very much full of the joys of spring and in rather rude health. Half an hour in his company was filled with giggles (he tells the most wildly outrageous jokes!) and smiles as he whipped up some simple, hearty food. He told us that he has just returned from filming a food documentary for BBC 2 out in Italy which will be out sometime next year so keep your eye out for that.

Me and another unsuspecting audience member with Richard Bertinet

Later, we had the pleasure of Richard Bertinet's company. Richard is probably best known for his baking skills and we were treated to a live demonstration of how to knead dough in the traditional French way. It's mesmerising to watch but certainly not easy as proven by an innocent audience member who was tugged out of his seat to help with the proceedings. It just so happened that I put my hand up to the wrong question (or should that be right question?) and ended up on stage cooking a smoked fish chowder with the man himself. I've got to say that the recipe was surprisingly simple and, with some freshly baked bread to dunk, absolutely heavenly.

We ended our day with a cookie sandwich from Mendip Moments - a generous scoop of honeycombe icecream crammed between two freshly baked chocolate cookies! Bath Food & Drink Festival was a fantastic day out and comes highly recommended when planning your trips for next year.

All the fun of the fair!

Summer is the season of the fair and we food-geeks are somewhat spoilt for choice in the coming months. This is very much the case this weekend as there seem to be numerous food events going on all over the place. To me, it seems slightly counter-intuitive to spend what often totals months organising a packed few days of fun on a weekend that clashes with things that will pull the public away from your proceedings.

Bristol and Bath, two culturally rich cities less than 11 miles from each other, are throwing separate foodie celebrations. Sadly, this also clashes with Theo Jansen's public showing of his kinetic sculptures at Exeter's Summer Festival – it may not be food but this really shouldn't be missed. Decisions, decisions… for quite a while, I really couldn't choose – they all look so good. This time, I've decided to stay true to my culinary leanings; I hope that my waist line (and feet) will forgive me with time! Sorry Theo, some other time? (Please!?)

First impressions are good though. Bath have been incredibly organised; I've already received my advance ticket in the post with the program which is pretty informative though their website could be more useful. Bristol are lagging far behind as they haven't confirmed anything with me though their website is more comprehensive. I'm looking forward to having a good mooch around, sample lots of glorious products and take in some talks. If you're in Bristol on Saturday, I hear that the Whiteladies Road Farmers and Fair Trade Market is having a relaunch party with all sorts of fun stuff going on.

Bristol Wine & Food Fair runs from 2nd until 4th July and can be found at the Lloyds Amphitheatre and Waterfront Square at BS1 5LL.

Bath Food & Drink Festival can be found in the historic Royal Cresent on the 3rd and 4th July with talks from the wonderful Antonio Carluccio and Richard Bertinet