FoodFutures communications coordinator Nick Lakin reveals what you can expect at this year’s annual Harvest Feast…
The annual FoodFutures Harvest Feast – which takes place at Kanteena in Lancaster next Sunday September 20 – is a chance to gather, share food and recipes, learn about local community projects and celebrate the joy of working with local food.
Everyone is welcome to join in, bring a dish to share, and eat in a “long table” fashion with live music playing in the background.
You are also invited to bring your own apples for juicing on the day and seasonal veg surpluses to BBQ, there will be kids (and adult) craft activities with Molly Bland, and seasonal food tasters with Good Things Collective, along with live music from Ken Johnston and Friends, and The Balkanics.
There will be space for swapping too. All attendees are invited to write out the recipes for the dishes they bring, so they can be shared with others after. A stall will also be made available for swapping seeds and surplus home-grown fruit and veg.
Harvest feasts, or harvest festivals, traditionally celebrate the time of year when crops have been gathered from the fields, and communities come together to celebrate the bounty and show gratitude for the food.
2026 has been a difficult and worrying year for food growers across the country due to the exceptionally dry and hot summer. The UK’s wheat, spring barley, and oats harvests are substantially below average, marking the poorest season since detailed records began in 1984. Local resilience has become key as the climate becomes increasingly more unpredictable.
There will be opportunities at the Harvest Feast to share food growing ideas and experiences, find out more about the types of things you can grow locally, as well as learn about events and training opportunities across the district.
If you’re bringing food, please remember to clearly label it with an ingredients list, and bring the recipe along too if possible.
You can book free tickets for the Harvest Feast here: https://www.trybooking.com/uk/GRND.
For a full list of events happening in the district over the coming months, including foraging and preserving produce workshops, talks on soil life and fertility, crop planting and hedge laying and lots more, visit www.foodfutures.org.uk/whats_on.
