A Celebration of Local Food and Drink

The slow food movement started up in the late eighties in Italy as a response to the fast food revolution, and all of which it entailed. It has since grown into an international concern, connected with the anti-globalisation and the ecology movement. The movement promotes well-cooked local food, as being better tasting, better for you, and better for the environment. This weekend the local branch of Slow Food has teamed up with the Transition Town lot from both Brighton and Lewes to organise a ‘Summer Celebration of Local Food and Drink’.

‘Local’ is the operative word here. Among the farmers selling their produce are Graham Love from Greenaway Fruit Farm and Robin Williams of Namayasai. Graham works on the 45-acre farm he was born on near Herstmonseux: cherries are in season at the moment. “The flavour of ripe fruit, eaten soon after it has been picked, far surpasses the fruit picked for supermarkets for its superior shelf-life”, he says. Robin grows Japanese leaf and vegetables from his holding in central Lewes: the produce he sells to local shops and restaurateurs is picked on the day and delivered by bicycle. He recognises fuel as being the biggest rising cost in farming, and uses no pesticides, no heating and no irrigation.
There will be locally sourced barbequed meat on offer, as well as Harveys beer, wines from Plumpton and Battle, and local juices, cheeses, chocolates and cakes. There will also be music from Michi Mathias - local songs, of course, played on the banjo, fiddle, concertina and melodeon.