Locks Heath People - do you know it’s British Food Fortnight?

This is the second week of British Food Fortnight, the ‘annual celebration of British Food’ and is supposed to be a showcase for regional food and drinks with thousands of events taking place across the country. However, I was disappointed to be unable to find much happening close by, although the Ketch Rigger in Hamble is participating with special deals on the menu to mark the fortnight.

In Portsmouth there’s the South of England Autumn Show and Game Fair next weekend (2-3 October) and the National Trust’s Winchester City Mill is holding flour milling demonstrations on Saturday 2 October from 2.00 to 4.00pm, where visitors can watch locally grown wheat being milled and buy the flour afterwards.

This is the ninth year the British Food Fortnight has taken place and the event is organised to coincide with Harvest Festival. It’s run by Love British Food which was set up in 2008 in response to requests from people participating in the food fortnight and wanting information on how to eat British produce all year round.

So it seems a bit of a shame there’s so little going on around here.

The Love British Food website is quite good. It has a section on where to buy British food locally and where to dine out on home-grown fare, plus tips on how to buy and cook with British food during the recession.

Also featured are recipes.

I tried the warm salad of smoked haddock with butter sauce and chives and it was excellent – although I don’t know why the ingredients were listed in ounces and the amount of butter used in the instructions didn’t tie up with the amount listed under ingredients. It also didn’t say how many the ingredients fed – but with doubling amounts I catered for four.

Anyone else found this site and cooked any of the recipes or used the information on it to buy British food?

And has anyone been to any of the British Food Fortnight events, perhaps eaten at the Ketch Rigger?