Spring is here and so is the new food guide (From The Oxford Times)

Spring is here and so is the new food guide

3:22pm Wednesday 21st April 2010 in Leisure By Helen Peacocke

It’s time to begin celebrating local food and the produce that Oxford farmers offer.

To help Oxfordshire residents source their food locally, the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Food Group brings out an information booklet each year that lists all members, farmers’ markets, country markets and farm shops.

The 2010 free booklet was published a couple of weeks ago. It can be picked up at farm shops, farmers’ markets, libraries and tourist offices.

Celebrity cook and patron of the group, Sophie Grigson points out that choosing to buy locally-grown food keeps income circulating within the community and, by definition, it is usually fresher, riper, less packaged and less travelled, which means less pollution en-route.

In her introduction, she also points out that we can still make a real difference as individuals by going for local produce. She writes that although life in the 21st century seems complicated by issues such as climate change, food security, energy crises and a host of other problems, every day we are free to make choices about the food we eat.

This year’s brochure includes maps to enable shoppers to see exactly where their nearest food producers are situated. Several food trails are included. The Cotswolds and north Oxon trail takes in 16 outlets, including the Upton Smokery, Foxbury Farm Shop, and Godwins Ice Cream Farm.

The Chilterns and Vales trail takes in Waterperry gardens, the Chiltern Brewery; and the Berkshire and southern Oxfordshire trail includes the Stanlake Park Wine Estate, at Twyford, Cobbs Farm Shop, Hungerford, and the Old Farmhouse Bakery at Steventon.

The brochure also lists details (including contact numbers, of our farmers’ and country markets, which is particularly useful as they all take place on different days and times in the month.

Vegetable suppliers and box schemes are also listed, including Coleshill Organics at Highworth, near Swindon, Worton Organic Garden, near Cassington, and North Aston Organics. Sandy Lane Farm, Tiddington, which is run by Charles and Sue Bennett, is also listed, as this enterprising couple run a co-operative market in a large barn on the farm every Thursday from 2pm to 6pm. They open until early evening to enable customers to call in after work. They say that these opening times attract a great many extra customers.

There are 89 members of the food group, approximately 60 from Oxfordshire.

Tomara Schiopu, the executive director of the group, explains how it operates. She writes that since 2004 the group has received £290,000 in support from the South East England Development Agency (Seeda). This has enabled the group to implement its detailed business plans to meet local needs.

Other longstanding supporters are Oxfordshire County Council, which hosts the group and provides an annual grant of £10,000. Buckinghamshire County Council, Tourism South East, Oxfordshire Economic Partnership, South Oxfordshire District Council, the Vale of White Horse District Council, and Cherwell District Council also support the group.

Some funding comes from the members themselves who pay an annual fee of £100, plus VAT, for an associate membership. Full membership costs £150 a year. In return for this fee members are offered marketing and trade development opportunities such as tasting podiums at food shows, subsidised stalls at country shows and food festivals, and Meet the Buyer events.

Jane Bowler, of Dews Meadow Farm and chair of Thames Valley Farmers’ Market Co-operative, has been a member since the group was set up in 2003. She said the group had given the farmers’ market grants of £2,000 each year for new markets to be promoted through signs, banners, editorial and advertising in local and regional media, which helps them enormously.

Most members are so busy making, selling and delivering their produce they have little time to spare for promotion and marketing.

Although the brochure includes details of all BBO members, it is not a definitive guide to Oxfordshire food producers. There is no separate section in the brochure for Pick Your Owns, for example, despite the fact that there are several Oxfordshire farms that open their fields to the public so that they can harvest summer crops themselves.

The guide is just a taste of what Oxfordshire and the counties that border our shire can offer. Use it as a starting point, but keep your eyes open for other local food outlets that you will discover along the way, of which there are many.

The group is planning a second Local Flavours Festival which will be held during September 2011, which they hope will build on the success of the festival of 2009.

For further information on the group go to www.local-food.net