News & views

Posted on: 16/03/11

Two towards the Ark

UK Slow Food's Ark Commission entered both Red Ruby Beef and The Dittisham Plum for approval to the International Commission.
Watch this space!

Posted on: 01/11/10

Taking a Masters in Slow Food

Slow Food has its own university and Saskia Falconer attended the masters course for a year. Here is a first instalment about her experiences, photos and more info to follow.

A year in the life of Slow Food.
Two years ago this November I graduated with a Masters in Food Culture and Communication after an incredible year attending the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Colorno, near Parma in Italy. Founded in 2004 by Slow Food the 'Università degli studi di Scienze Gastronomiche' has its main campus in Pollenzo, Piemonte just down the hill from Bra the home of Slow Food and is dedicated to the education of people in the science of gastronomy. Until the end of this year the Masters programmes run at Colorno, an half hour bus ride from the home of ham and cheese in Italy, Parma. (Well one of many homes really!)

Learning covered not only the science and production of many of Italy's most famous food stuffs but also the necessary skills to communicate our learning to the world. Ranging from food technology, sensory analysis and statistics through production and tasting via anthropology, sociology and psychology of food all the way to journalism and photography, the year developed my palate, my knowledge and my skills and taught me how to tell the world about it.

Consisting of lectures, tasting workshops and field trips within Italy and Europe, the arts and sciences were covered over the course of the year. My year comprised of 25 people from 11 different nations so, not only did we learn from our lectures and visits, we gleaned knowledge from each other and our experiences.

After graduation we have dispersed back around the globe and hopefully are taking our knowledge and enthusiasm with us. Jobs post graduation have been diverse. Some have set up businesses (a gelateria and a coffee roaster so far), others are working for large corporations and small family run businesses in sustainability and local food supplies, winemaking, education, journalism and literature.

Coming back to reality after a year submerged in eating, drinking and thinking food with like minded people has been a significant change. It is surprising, even outside the intense world of food, how much my year in Italy has changed the way I think about eating and drinking. It has possibly, more importantly, changed how I am educating others around me and developing their awareness of food and drink and the impact it has on the world around us.

Posted on: 01/11/10

Visit to Transylvania

4 of us went to Transylvania in August to take part in the annual food and culture festival there - here are Freddie?s impressions of the visit and the resulting plans that came from it.

Terra Madre, which has just happened, is a network of food communities, each committed to producing quality food in a sustainable way. In August this year we were lucky enough to be part of this community when four Slow Food Devon members were invited to Slow Food Cluj to visit their food festival in a small village in the centre of Transylvania called Biertan.

Slow Food has been in action for some time here. Under the guidance of the Raitu foundation workshops have been happening, working with producers who passed on their production and marketing expertise. Other initiatives here include the Prince of Wales? Save the Meadows campaign. The festival itself was set to give producers in the area an outlet to sell their produce. Romania became a member of the EU only three years ago and whilst that brings vital funds into the area for roads and infrastructure, work is very slow and Carrefour and Tescos are already infiltrating the surrounding area. The work of Slow Food is invaluable.

The countryside is stunning. Picture Devon a hundred years ago, lush green rolling hills, forest, lots of rain. The area itself is host to hundreds of churches, the most distinctive being the Saxon fortified churches. Near the bottom of the Biertan church was a cottage used for couples wanting to divorce. It is said there had not been a divorce there for 300 years: any couple in trouble was locked in a small room in the cottage for a minimum of six weeks (or until they sorted their differences out) with one chair, one fork, one knife and one spoon!

Slow Food hospitality was of course, overly generous as we are coming to expect from people in the movement. A visit to a traditional weaving museum and lunch with the local family (the homemade wine was something to savour) followed by a visit to a local bee keeper with a passion and enthusiasm for beekeeping I doubt I will ever see again. Of course I brought some of his honey back with me. The next day a trip to a local shepherd in the back of a van up into the hills. Jane Langdon-Davis took some of her mother?s cheese for tasting. In the meantime, Holly (Manna from Devon) was cooking madly with some volunteers from Oxford Brookes University for a dinner in the forest that evening.

Transylvania is of course, famous for its fruit. The harsh winters mean that jams and pickles are essential for survival. Polenta was introduced by the Romans and is a staple here. Pork is the meat of choice and the classic Salmale (stuffed cabbage) was available in most restaurants and consumed with great gusto. The local drink, Palinka, a plum brandy was taken as a digestive, with the locals claiming that it did not give you a hangover!

An exciting country with amazing land and possibilities. So where do we go from here? The hand of friendship has been presented by Slow Food Cluj to Devon and alongside Valdera in Tuscany another piece of the Slow Food jigsaw is put into place. Rares who runs the Cluj festival came to visit the Dartmouth Food festival and a cycle ride is being planned next year from Devon to Transylvania to raise money. If you are interested in any aspect of the link or would like to get involved then please get in touch. I know we have a great producer interested in learning more about the jam and pickling production in Transylvania, a farmer interested in their community farming, a ranger interested in the ecology and more. We will hopefully be able to support exchanges and from there the real ethos of Slow Food comes to life.

Posted on: 01/11/10

Dartmouth Food Festival 2010

After months of planning by a large voluntary organising team, it turned out to be a fantastic weekend ? 10,000 visitors enjoyed the perfect weather of the festival located by the sparkling river Dart, 100 exhibitors 90% of whom came from Devon, talks, dems and workshops from local and national chefs and writers and a fantastic atmosphere of celebration. Additionally our new friend Rares from Transylvania came over to help with the festival, share his experiences of organizing theirs and learn from ours. Next year?s dates are already set as 21-23 October 2011 and you can see more of what went on on the official website

www.dartmouthfoodfestival.com

Posted on: 01/11/10

Report on Terra Madre 2010

Read all about the visit on 21-24 October to Turin and Barolo by Saskia, Freddie and Marc (and view the photos).

http://www.quaypress.com/winefood/devonkitchen/terramadre2010.html

Posted on: 05/07/10

Bramble Torre Open Garden by Sally Vincent

We opened our Dittisham garden in June this year for the second time in aid of the National Garden Scheme. We passed the stringent test after following those strict instructions to ?Weed, weed, weed? and here we are in the Yellow Book once more.

Oh my, have I weeded. Borders were trimmed, flowerbeds tended, vegetables planted out, poly tunnel tidied, grass cut and cut again. The embothrium remained in flower obligingly late, shining scarlet against a blue sky. Roses exploded into bloom in the blistering sun. I begged the poppies to hang on and the delphiniums to hurry up. The iris lasted the week and the poor winter damaged ceanothus managed a few more blue clusters, even a sweet pea or two showed an early flower.

It?s been a difficult year with everything very late. The unusually cold winter hit so many plants; some struggled through and slowly came into leaf and flower. Many simply vanished as drought followed ice and snow. The lack of rain this spring has been bad for the garden but much worse for pasture. Like our neighbouring farmers, we are moving ewes and lambs round and round as a little growth appears in each field.

I can?t believe ten years have passed since we were ravaged by flood, water crashing through the valley devastating all in its path. I look with horror at pictures of the battered landscape when the water had subsided, our work destroyed. I can still smell the rank mud. I remember my old goose floating in his water filled house, banging his head on the roof before rescue arrived, chickens quickly learning to swim, our huge old tractor sliding and aquaplaning in the yard, sheep fleeing safely up the hill and donkeys paddling in their stables.

Ten years on and a peaceful garden runs along the bottom of the valley. The stream, very low now, trickles beside the vegetable garden. Chickens peck happily in the orchard. All the while I do my best to hold on to my cultivated strip through the centre, holding back the wilderness. It is the wildness I love; the contrast of the wild and cultivated thrills me as each harmoniously march side by side from house to farmyard. I love the silence broken only by shouting birds, fat clouds scudding on blue sky, long grass blowing in the wind, changing light, changing seasons, sheep grazing quietly, donkeys eeyoring for tea. And above all I love having the opportunity to share this small part of the valley for two days of the year with anyone who cares to look.

And the visitors flocked in; no rain this year, no lorry stuck for hours in the lane by the gate. Thanks to all our friends who helped with teas and parking, we had time to walk around and do our best to answer the many, many questions about house and garden.

A garden stroll completed and an afternoon-long orderly queue formed for cream teas. We set tables and chairs in the now tidy farmyard amongst tubs of lavender and daisies. Plate after plate of scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam flew out of our make shift kitchen. Will, from the wonderful Anchorstone Cafe in Dittisham, generously baked piles and piles of gloriously light golden scones. Of course the cream debate re-emerged; in Devon, jam then cream, in Cornwall, cream then jam or is that the other way round? My roots are Devonshire, my husband, a Cornishman; the arguing continues but the teas were a triumph!

You can read more of Sally?s garden and see lots of photos and recipes on her website

http://www.rainingsideways.com

Posted on: 05/07/10

Slow Food In The Balaerics by Colin Hawkins

On our May visit this year to Mallorca Bini and I sought to find out if the Slow Food Movement had penetrated to that corner of the Mediterranean.
A little research led us to the tiny but charming hamlet of Caimari in the foothills of the Tramuntana mountains. In a discreet sidestreet is the restaurant Ca Na Toneta, run by the sisters Maria and Teresa Solinellas. Maria is the chef and also vice president of Slow Food in the Balearics. Sister Teresa is front of house.
Ca Na Toneta is only open on Friday nights and weekends, which allows them to do their day job of catering for parties and festivals.
You might expect foodies like the sisters to have a go at international cuisine but no, their theme is to enliven the normally very dreary local favorites. We had the six course tasting menu for 30 Euros, not including wine, using ingredients all sourced locally, including olives grown and preserved by their own mother.
It was in the best Slow Food tradition. One course in particular stood out, a kind of gaspatcho soup, cold and consisting of creamed spinach, pine nuts with a few slices of strawberry, fantastic.
Apparently, the Slow Food movement in Mallorca is struggling to find members prepared to actually do something rather than simply belong, a familiar cry.

P.S. A note about the wines of Mallorca. There is more and more wine grown on the island, most of it irrigated. Two reliable producers are Jose Ferrer of Binisalem and Macia Batle of nearby Santa Maria. A decent white we have yet to find, the summers may be too hot for these more delicate grapes. Generally speaking the so called Crianza wines which have by law to have been oak aged in a barrel are always preferable but understandably somewhat dearer. The best red that we have found on the island, if you can run to 14 or 15 Euros, is Son Bordils from Inca, it is powerful stuff. This vineyard is unique in growing the more familiar to us varietals such as cabernet sauvignon and shiraz rather than the traditional local ones.

Posted on: 02/07/10

Topsham Food Festival and Nello's Longest Table

On Sunday June 20th, more than 2000 people sat down at a ?single table? stretching almost the whole length of Topsham to enjoy a feast of local and locally sourced foods in honour of Topsham restaurateur Nello Ghezzo, who died in 1999. Hundreds more were strolling around just taking in the spectacle. The sun was shining gloriously and the animation of so many people simply there to enjoy themselves through the sharing of food, wine and friends was absolutely wonderful.

Nello's Longest Table was the highlight of the Topsham Food Festival, a homegrown 3-day food festival that included the screening of food films, chef's and producer's demonstrations, an international cheese challenge, beer and wine tastings, talks and masterclasses and more, taking place at various venues throughout the town, notably The Globe Hotel, Darts Farm and the Pebblebed Tasting Cellar. On Saturday evening there was an outdoor evening of food and music on Topsham Quay that brought hundreds out in the sunshine.

The Festival was organised by Slow Food Devon members Marc and Kim Millon and Liz Hodges of The Globe Hotel. Slow Food Devon was at the heart of activities throughout the weekend, with Slow Food Devon co-leader James Dart organising a varied range of events at Darts Farm and a hog roast on Topsham Quay on Saturday. Freddie Dudbridge was at Nello's Longest Table with Slow Food committee members Colin and Bini Hawkins and Natacha du Pont de Bie. Other Slow Food members included Peter and Henri Greig of Piper?s Farm, broadcaster Sally Sedgman, Devon caterer Antonia Makeig-Jones, and Phil Sweeney, co-leader of
Slow Food Bristol, who came down especially for the event.

www.topshamfoodfestival.org.uk