Kent County Council organises Kentish Food Week during the national food promotion in a bid to showcase locally grown produce and traditional Kentish recipes. At least 350 schools in Kent ran a special British Food Fortnight menu prepared by the Council’s caterers.  The menu included dishes such as Appledore Chicken Pie, Huffkin Rolls and Gypsy Tart. Schools were also invited to participate in a competition to decorate the service areas with pictures of fruit and vegetables. “There was a significant increase in school meal uptake during the week. This event is widely supported by Head teachers, teaching staff, pupils and parents alike. I would love to see the whole of Kent adopting this. So you’d get pubs that would do Kentish food, also hospitals and hotels. It would be wonderful if that happened.” Mark Sleep, Client Services Manager for Kent County Council. For further information on how Kent Council takes part please see this link.

The Royal Brompton Hospital on Sydney Street, London is passionate about seasonal, local British food and takes part in British Food Fortnight every year with menus incorporating British ingredients for patients, staff and visitors. “British Food Fortnight increases the enjoyment of tasting different foods and increases the income in the staff restaurant by 12%” Mike Duckett, Catering Services Manager, the Royal Brompton Hospital. For further information on how the Royal Brompton takes part please see this link.

Bolton Council regularly organises activities during British Food Fortnight. For example, budding chefs at Rivington and Blackrod High School and Mount St Joseph have received cooking tips from well-known local chefs to encourage them to develop a taste for British food; shoppers across the area have been given healthy recipe-cards; and students at the University of Bolton Fresher’s Fair have received free fruit and vegetables all as part of the Council’s Love British Food celebrations.

Oxford Waste Partnership has hosted a series of live cookery demonstrations across the country during the event to try and reduce the 10bn worth of food wasted in the UK each year. For further information on how Oxford Waste Partnership takes part please see this link

The Cabinet Office regularly takes part switching all their dishes to British e.g. English bacon not Dutch for British Food Fortnight. 

The British Army is another regular participant.  They have organised an inter-services field cooking competition during the event; sent chefs into local schools to teach them how to cook; invited pupils to magnificent regimental feasts to mark the national food promotion; and one year held a special curry night York’s Guildhall where the 246 Queens Gurkha Signal Squadron from Nepal, who are stationed at Impham Barracks near York, prepared an authentic Nepalese Gurkha Curry with all the trimmings using local ingredients of course!

Shropshire County Council usesthe national food promotion to give a boost to school meals.  They organise a special British Food Fortnight menu for all schools in the county during the event and have enjoyed a tremendous response.  “The number of children eating school meals in Shropshire Primary Schools increased by 20% as a result of the British Food Fortnight menu we ran.” Bill Campbell, Operations Manager, Shropshire School Meal Service.

Oxfordshire County Council’s school catering service, Food with Thought, have also used the event to increase the uptake of school meals, developing special menus to celebrate traditional food from around Britain.  Over 80% of Oxfordshire’s primary schools have taken part. “We had a fantastically successful British Food Fortnight with our Taste a Bite of British Menu; the number of children eating school meals doubled in some schools!” Sue Edridge, Food with Thought Development Manager, Oxfordshire County Council.

Staff and visitors to Blackpool Victoria Hospital's restaurant, Oliver's, and other food areas on the hospital site took advantage of the excellent British food and drink available by offering a special British dish each day throughout British Food Fortnight.

Nottingham City Hospital created 5 dishes to put on sale for British Food Fortnight. Staff and patients got to try dishes like beef in red wine sauce, and lamb pasties. All the meals were taken from a recipe book by Keith Floyd, who was famed for his commitment to fresh British ingredients.

Kent and Sussex Hospital decorated the whole canteen with British Food Fortnight posters and highlight a traditional English meat/dish each day.

Halton Council in Cheshire organised a My Halton Foody Fortnight by running a range of activities across the borough with the common themes of food and health. Events included a Artery of Life with 'Fungal Punk' Dave at Runcorn Hill; various Chefs on Stage presentations at Widnes Market; a Great British Food Taster Day across all schools in Halton; and a Quince Garden Walk at Norton Priory.

Sussex Tourism Partnership encouraged over 50 hotels and B&Bs to serve quality Sussex Breakfasts. For instance Netherwood Lodge near Glynde provided guests with a free loaf of freshly baked bread and a pot of local jam, honey or lemon curd to take home; Paskin Town House in Brighton offered a free glass of Sussex bubbly with a smoked salmon and scrambled egg breakfast; Englewood B&B in Chichester offered a free pack of local farm free-range bacon to guests; Longleys Farm Cottage in Hailsham offered three nights for the price of two; free Sussex fruits at the Ambassador Hotel in Brighton and more tasty offers.

The Visit Peak District and Derbyshire Tourist Board used British Food Fortnight to launch a new initiative, Taste Derbyshire, to encourage businesses ranging from take-away food shops to large hotels to guarantee the best possible standards in eating out. There were prize-winning places to eat, special events, food trials, local recipes and much more.

Colchester Borough Council has encouraged residents to think about buying British Food during the Fortnight. Schools in Colchester also support the campaign by running ‘kids cook and serve’ evenings for parents.

Bradford Council is another regular participant.  One year they held a dinner at Bradford City Hall to celebrate British Food Fortnight. The dinner raised £3000 for charity and was attended by Jeanette Orrey, one of the UK’s most well-known, widely respected and inspirational experts on school food policy.

North Yorkshire Council has usedthenational food promotion to push ahead with its policy of buying food as fresh and as local as possible. All North Yorkshire schools served top quality local and regional produce for school lunches.