St George’s Day event

SFB’s April event will be a celebration of English food and produce.  Each course includes produce from local producers or the producers who are on the Presidia or Ark of Taste lists.  This event is being held at the Devonshire Arms (see Blogroll for location details). 

Details: St George’s Day event

Kimbolton Food Festival

The first Kimbolton Food Festival is being held on Saturday, 26th April, at Mandeville Hall.   There will be 25 food stalls ranging from locally reared organic beef to rapeseed oil that is produced just outside Kimbolton. 

This will also be a fund-raising event for Puddleducks, a local state-funded pre-school, to help keep pre-school fees low in order to make pre-school education available to all members of the local community.

Details: Kimbolton Food Festival

Slow Food Nation

In the autumn, San Francisco will host the first Slow Food Nation event.  Slow Food Nation is a subsidiary non-profit arm of Slow Food USA founded by Alice Waters.  The event aims to increase awareness of how food choices affect our health, our culture and the environment.  Hundreds of farmers and food artisans from across America will present their products.  There will also be many activities such as lectures, films and music.

Bedfordshire Festival of Food

Shuttleworth House is hosting a new event. On 5 & 6 April Bedfordshire Festival of Food aims to display anything and everything connected with food. It is an opportunity for local traders and artisans to promote their businesses. There will also be cooking demonstrations. The event is sponsored by Sainsburys and supported by Tastes of Bedfordshire and Discover Bedfordshire.

SFB will have a stall to promote ’slow food’ and the SFB Project 2008.
Details: Bedfordshire Festival of Food

Ark of Taste event: Mersea bound

The boat trip to visit the oyster beds of Colchester was one of SFB’s most popular events of 2007. So, another trip has been arranged but with a bonus tasting and tour of the nearby Mersea Island’s vineyard.

Event details: Oyster Trip 2008

Rajokot’s indian tasting

Find out more about the culture and cuisine of Gujurat and Sam’s story – how he came to open his great restaurant.  This is a Slow Food Bedford event with a difference.  We’ll be taking over the restaurant for the evening of 22 February 2008.

Event details: Rajkot

London’s first Slow Food Market at Southbank Centre

Between Thursday 20th and Sunday 23rd December, the Southbank Centre will host the first Slow Food Market in London. The market will be held outside the Royal Festival Hall on Southbank Centre Square and will feature more than 25 stalls.

Details: Southbank Market

Beer Festival: Bangers & Beer

The Devonshire Arms is hosting a Christmas beer festival  (20-23 December) , with a traditional selection of ales and ciders.   On the Saturday night (22 December, 6pm) Slow Food Bedford will be serving a small barbecue (bangers in buns) to raise funds for 2008 projects.

Event details: Bangers & Beer

Festival details: Beer Festival

Photos: Wild & Winter

Thank you to everyone who attended or contributed to the fund-raising evening on 27 October 2007. A staggering £1006 was raised. This money has gone to Slow Food UK who will distribute to the Terra Madre for Gabon (75%) and the UK (25%)  . More details about how your money will help the people of Gabon to record their food and agricultural heritage will follow in future newsletters.

Photos: Wild & Winter pictures

Tales of Terra Madre – Wild & Winter

Since 2004 Slow Food has promoted Terra Madre, a worldwide project that supports the principles of eco-gastronomy – small scale production of quality food, defence of biodiversity and knowledgeable and responsible consumption.  Terra Madre is an international network that allows all those involved in the food sector – farmers, fishermen, ranchers and herders, artisan producers, cooks, educators, researchers, scholars and “co-producers” – to get to know one another, to exchange knowledge and experience and to work together.  The last meeting of this network (held in Turin), in October 2006, gathered 4,803 farmers, breeders, fishermen and artisan food producers from 1,583 food communities and 150 nations; 953 cooks; 411 professors and representatives from 225 universities. 

Slow Food UK has been twinned with Gabon.  As a result the UK will help to set up a Terra Madre conference in 2008 in Gabon to bring together producers and co-producers from all over Gabon to record traditional recipes and methods farming that have never been recorded before.  This is a major step forward to securing the food heritage of this country which, without this initiative, would certainly be lost. 12 conviviums will be raising money to help Gabon Terra Madre hold this vital conference (Gabon dinners).

Please support Slow Food Bedford’s dinner.  75% of the profits will go directly towards Gabon Terra Madre and 25% will support Terra Madre in the UK.  Plus we will be holding a very special raffle on the night that will have some great Slow Food and local prizes.  The seating is very limited for this event so if you would like to attend, please e-mail Sue (slowfoodbedford@ntlworld.com) as soon as possible.

Event details: Wilde & Winter