Last Friday Lancaster’s market square was full of community art projects, local food producers and community groups that are trying to do something new and different around food and sustainability. Whether that’s intercepting ‘waste food’ and serving it on a pay as you feel basis; growing food as a community and sharing surplus with those that need it; producing food locally, within 20 miles of Lancaster, with the aim of selling it direct to customers; sharing skills around fixing clothes, the Spring market showcased the range of excellent projects and businesses organising and working locally.
LESS is now organising a Local Food Festival on the 6th May from 10:00-16:00 at Halton Mill in Halton- to showcase the faces behind our local food scene. The festival aims to celebrate the final stint of the Faces Behind Our Food photographic exhibition and will involve a day of local-food themed activities and tasters at Halton Mill.
Activities will include a pop-up farmers market and local food themed café from 11:00-16:00. The Faces Behind Our Food exhibition will be on display from 11:00-16:00 and some of the artists will be available to discuss what has happened since the exhibition launched. This exhibition uses photography to explore the personal stories of 12 food and drink producers in Lancashire, using imagery and stories to delve into the complex issues that shape the food that we eat.
The Fig Tree will be running a chocolate making workshop from 10:00 -13:00 (£15 per person). You will make chocolate from scratch whilst learning about what goes into making a chocolate bar ‘fairly’.
Julia Russel will lead a forage walk along the River Lune and surrounding area from 10:30-12:30, which will include a cook up of the season’s treats (£10 per person). You will learn how to identify plants, will learn about their properties and how best to prepare them, as well as some historical and folklore uses. If there is enough demand, we will also run an afternoon forage walk for families, so get in touch if you are interested!
Taster stop-motion animation workshops will run from 13:30-15:30 with Ginny Koppenhol, and LESS will showcase the animations that have been created by a number of community groups and members of the general public during the Faces behind Our Food project.
To book on the chocolate making workshop or forage walk, or to find out more about the Local Food Festival, contact anna@lessuk.org. Spaces are limited on workshops so book sooner rather than later to confirm your place.
Follow the event on Facebook to keep up to date on what else will be happening.
