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Sunday, 20th April, sees the launch of the Zero Castle Carbon group. SFB will have a stall at the Environmental Street Fayre. There will also be discovery bike ride of the area.

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

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

The Open University is hosting a two-day seminar for international esearchers and students from a range of disciplines to discuss the current political and cultural issues surrounding food. The director of the University of Gastronomic Sciences, which was founded by Slow Food, will be attending. Along with other distinguished University guest from around the world. Slow Food Bedford has been asked to Host the event at The Plough in Wavendon

. Head Chef Grant Hawthornev will be creating a menu using local produce and Presidia and Ark listed ingredients. Grant’s passion for food was developed at an early age, whilst growing up in the seaside village of Hout Bay, Cape Town. After completing his formal training under British Master Chef William Stafford, he worked in a variety of restaurants serving quality food to the discerning guest. Having been head chef of 3 critically acclaimed seafood restaurants, his journey brought him to Buckinghamshire, where he has resided for the past several years. Most notably Grant has trained with Master Pastry Chef Claire Clark and Celebrity Chef Jean Christophe Novelli, and has cooked for Nelson Mandela, Ernie Els and Middle East Royalty amongst others. He contributes various articles and recipes for The South Africa Times, London and has been a finalist in 3 categories for Restaurant Magazine’s UK Best Dishes awards for his soup, cheese plate and dessert.Grant’s ambition is to achieve Master Chef accreditation in 2009 along with a Michelin star.Slow Food Bedford are honoured to have such an accomplanished chef cooking at this event. Geoff Andrews new book on The Slow Food Movement  will be a talking point at the event, plus Slow Food Bedford have invited local school heads who are involved in our Project 2008 to discuss the subject of gastronomy in schools.

It’s a question that is exercising newspapers and politicians.  And it’s a question that SFB’s members and committee are wrestling with.  We’d be really interested in your comments about Bedfordshire’s local “farmers’ markets“.  Should they be FARMA certified?  What should the convivium be doing about this issue?

Please leave your comments by clicking on the link below (or emailing Sue directly).  Don’t worry if your comment does not appear immediately – they are moderated by the Website editor before they are published.  (And she’s not always logged-in!)  This filter is simply to ensure the site remains free from spam, unsolicited adverts and ‘adult’ material.

On 26 April Slow Food UK will hold its Annual General Meeting.  The AGM documents will be distributed to members on 1 April.   Our convivium’s leader, Sue Miller, will be standing for re-election to the Board.  (Her manifesto will be available on this website soon.)

This AGM taking place in Kendal, Cumbria.  If you are interested in attending, contact Sue for further details.  There will be additional events held over the weekend.

Details: SFUK website (follow the link to the members’ area)

The first phase of the SFB’s Park Wood Community Orchard project has started.  Here are some pictures of the Shuttleworth Horticultural College students working on the allotment patch.  For more details of the project, see the February Newsletter.

Photos:  4 February 2008

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.

Just a reminder that 25th February – 9th March is Fairtrade Fortnight.  Bedford has many traders who offer fairtrade products.  Look out for the fairtrade sign to support many of the world’s producers who are still finding it very hard to make a living from their produce. Slow Food’s Foundation for Biodiversity is a supporter of producers worldwide.

Buying produce where you see the fairtrade sign or switching from your normal produce to Fairtrade maybe just a small change but it can make a big difference to those producers who strive to make a daily living from their produce. The attachment below details some great events going on in Bedford during Fairtrade Fortnight supported by The Bedford Borough Council.  And Bedford’s Thursday Gourmet Market has a regular fairtrade stall.

Details: Fairtrade fortnight events