Celebrate the best of British
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History of British Food Fortnight
British Food Fortnight was conceived in response to the fact that, though there are numerous food initiatives, projects and events taking place across Britain, there was no overall flagship event to bring them to the public's attention. It was held for the first time in Autumn 2002 at the same time as Harvest Festival, the traditional time for celebrating our food.
Since its launch, the event has quickly become the definitive national celebration of our British food, and the health benefits and pleasures of eating quality, fresh, seasonal and regionally distinct produce. It has established itself on the national calendar extremely quickly. By focusing effort on a calendar date it gives people involved in the food business something to aim for and helps concentrate their efforts. It is therefore much more than a mere date in the diary. It is proving an important influencer in engaging the retail, catering, education and volunteer sectors and in establishing a more robust market for Britain's food.
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Achievements in the education sector
- 35,000 schools provided annually with information on including food and cookery activities within the curriculum as part of the Fortnight's activities.
British Food Fortnight is an established event on the school calendar
all schools are invited to hold special food lessons during the event. As part of the event activities all schools in the UK have been sent the definitive guide to teaching children about food within the national curriculum: 'Putting the 'Ooo' back into food - A Resource Pack for Teachers'; and the first ever guide to including cookery within the national curriculum.
The response from teachers has been tremendous.
Examples of school activities: Schools have organised masses of fun and imaginative events during the Fortnight. Children enjoy talks by top chefs, local butchers and producers; are given fruit and vegetable tastings; visit farms and local allotments; learn how to make their own healthy snacks and meals; dress up as farmers, green-grocers and bakers; organise mini farmers markets in school halls; hold Teddy Bear's Picnics and Mad-Hatters Tea Parties using local produce; create healthy and nutritionally-balanced lunchboxes and design cook books to raise school funds. Some schools incorporate food activities in ALL their lessons during the Fortnight. There has even been a special British Food Fortnight edition of Blue Peter!
- The first nationwide network of private sector organisations that can offer food-related activity based teaching and learning facilities for schools has been established. Many chefs, producers, butchers, delicatessan-owners, local market authorities commit their support to working with schools during the event.
Many retailers, restaurants, chefs and visitor attractions work with schools during the Fortnight. For example, members of the Guild of Quality Butchers offer tastings and special events for children; members of the Restaurant Association offer kitchen facilities to support cooking lessons; the leading caterer Aramark offers its catering units as cooking facilities for school lessons; Local Authority markets and Farmers' Markets hold talks on the benefits of eating fresh, healthy food; and the National Trust hosts special events in its kitchen gardens, orchards and farms.
Organisations representing over 9,000 chefs volunteer their support to schools to help teach children how to cook during the Fortnight.
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