The tenth national food promotion, British Food Fortnight, takes place from 17 September to 2 October 2011 during Harvest Festival, the traditional time for celebrating our food.

The event will celebrate the diverse and delicious range of food that Britain produces with promotions and tastings in shops, all-British menus in pubs and restaurants, food and cookery lessons in schools and glorious food festivals. Whether you are shopping in supermarkets or local shops, eating in pubs or restaurants or looking for fun activities to do at the weekend, you will be able to enjoy the best of British food during the Fortnight.

As well as being the event's landmark tenth year, the 2011 running of British Food Fortnight fires the starting gun on the event's plans for 2012 when it will take place at the same time as the London Olympics. [see this page] Let's show off the best of British food when the eyes of the world are on us! Use British Food Fortnight 2011 as your warm up for the biggest promotion of British food ever during the Olympics!

Look out for:

The launch of British Food Fortnight's Olympic School Challenge: details will be announced in the new year, watch this space...!

Menu promotions in pubs, restaurants and hotels: 9 of the largest food service organisations, 8 major pub groups, the National Trust, Youth Hostel Association and all the chef associations regularly take part in the event. [ See our caterers pages

Tastings, meet-the-producer events and special promotions on the high street: hundreds of independent shops take part every year and there is always a rush of British promotions in the supermarkets during the event. Last year one independent retailer increased sales by £400 in one day during the event and others report sales increases of £2,000 during the two weeks. See: See our retailers pages

Is it British? Yes, Minister! major hospitals, school catering services and even the Cabinet Office are enthusiastic participants. The event is proven to increase the uptake of school meals by between 20 - 50% so expect to see more British school dinners in 2011. See: See our public-procurement pages

Healthy eating activities in universities in conjunction with the Department of Health's 5 A DAY programme: 20 universities took part for the first time in 2010. Expect to see British Food Fortnight promotions in student cafes and canteens; stalls at Fresher Fairs promoting the healthy benefits of British seasonal food; and cooking demonstrations of simple recipes for students. See our advice on eating British on a budget.

Cooking classes for Mums and Dads in Sure Start Children's Centres: expanding on the 8 pilots that were run last year (some of which were three-times oversubscribed), we will be sending chefs from British Food Fortnight's volunteer network into centres across the country to teach parents how to cook healthy family meals on a budget using British seasonal food.

“Buy British” message promoted through an extensive media campaign: coverage of the event is seen or heard over 300 million times every year.

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