“British Food Fortnight is growing bigger and more influential each year.”
Tom Parker Bowles, Mail on Sunday

1.A taste of what’s to come
2.Best consumer initiative award for British Food Fortnight
3.20,000 pubs & 42,000 restaurants to put British on the menu
4.Cookery on the curriculum this Autumn
5.Food of the Month

1. A taste of what’s to come
Welcome to the second British Food Fortnight e-newsletter keeping you informed in the build-up to this year’s national celebration of Britain’s diverse and delicious food.

Over the last month, 35,000 shops, pubs and restaurants have been sent advice about sourcing and promoting British produce, 34,000 schools have been sent guidance on teaching cookery within the curriculum and 9,000 chefs have been invited to team up with their local schools to introduce children to the delights of our national cuisine.

Details of activities around the country, recipes and advice on eating British are available on www.britishfoodfortnight.co.uk

2. Best consumer initiative award for British Food Fortnight

Musgrave Budgens Londis has won best consumer initiative in the Grocer Gold Awards 2007 for its sponsorship of British Food Fortnight. The campaign was deemed a ‘unanimous win’ by the judges and beat off stiff competition from Sainsbury’s, Tesco and Waitrose who were all short-listed for the award.

Musgrave’s activities during British Food Fortnight, which included local produce samplings, ‘Design a chef’s hat’ competition for schools and in-store promotions, helped to boost footfall in Budgens and Londis stores by 25% and sales of products offered for tastings by 50%.

The judges saluted the initiative for enhancing “the messages of local community, provenance and total family engagement.”

As Malcolm Bodell of Londis Stores in Bow says: “I would recommend any retailer to get involved with British Food Fortnight. It creates so much awareness for the store.”

3. 20,000 pubs & 42,000 restaurants to put British on the menu

Look who’s taking part!:

Five of the large food service organisations: ARAMARK (who is also sponsoring the event for the second year), Brakes, Compass Group, Sodexho and 3663.
Four of the biggest pub groups: Enterprise Inns, Marston’s Pub Company, Mitchells & Butlers and Punch Taverns.
Three of the main tourism organisations: the National Trust, Youth Hostel Association and VisitBritain.
And the leading catering association: the British Hospitality & Restaurant Association.

Together they represent over 20,000 pubs and 42,000 restaurants – a clear indication of the extent to which the catering sector is responding to customer’s growing demand for quality, seasonal British produce.

4. Cookery on the curriculum this Autumn

Have you arranged yet for a chef to give a cooking lesson in your school during British Food Fortnight? All the advice you need to do so is on British Food Fortnight’s Teacher Zone.

The resources have been hugely well received by teachers. Here are just a couple of comments:

“‘Putting the Ooo back into food – A Resource Pack for Schools’ is by far the best and most comprehensive guide that I have ever received – there are so many ideas; it will keep me going for years!” Alison Jones, Dolfor Community School, Wales

“We have very limited facilities but a great deal of enthusiasm and finding the British Food Fortnight website has inspired me to get on with it and not worry!”

Lynn Marriott, Secondary school teacher

And to complement their sponsorship of the British Food Fortnight’s ‘Cook for Life’ Challenge and to celebrate their 60th anniversary, Kenwood has developed an online cross-curricular resource to enrich primary schools’ delivery of Food Technology. The resource is free to download and it explores creativity in the kitchen using the themes of Lifestyle, Food Culture and British Produce in support of a number of primary National Curriculum objectives. To find out more visit their website by following [this link]

5. Food of the Month – Chicken

Did you know..? More than 40 per cent of the meat we eat in Britain is chicken making it the nation’s favourite choice by far1.

And no wonder it’s so popular – as well as being tasty and versatile, chicken is lower in fat and higher in protein than red meat.

Love chicken…buy British
While research has shown that more and more of us prefer to eat chicken that is born and bred in Britain2, the amount we import rises by around 10 per cent each year3. So if you want to make sure that you’re buying a British chicken, it’s worth asking your butcher where it’s from or checking the label if you’re choosing pre-packaged meat.

The Red Tractor label
Look for the country of origin on the label – if you choose chicken that also carries the Red Tractor, you’ll know you’re buying a bird that can be traced back to the farm it came from and has been produced and packed in the UK to a high set of standards covering every stage of the food chain – from rearing to processing. The standards cover aspects such as bird welfare, housing, feed, farm biosecurity and health and hygiene. For example, chickens must have enough space to walk around, turn, sit, preen and flap and stretch their wings. All farms and processors involved are independently inspected each year to ensure they continue to meet these standards.

So look for the Red Tractor label the next time you are buying Chicken!

Sources

1. TNS, 52 w/e 20 May 2007

2. MORI 2006 – 63% of consumers said it is important to them that the chicken they eat is reared in Britain (up from 52% in MORI 2003 research)

3. British Poultry Council