Food Group

Events

The Big Feast at CAT, 3rd October 2009. A foody extravaganza of produce, workshops, talks and activities!

Autumn is the season for food festivals, and this year the Centre for Alternative Technology is joining the smorgasbord of harvest events with its very own sustainable food fayre.

The Big Feast will be held on Saturday October 3rd on site at the Centre for Alternative Technology where visitors to the site will be able to access the festivities as part of their regular entrance fee. Visitors will be able to enjoy all the usual benefits of a visit to CAT, yet will discover in addition a site transformed to celebrate and accommodate the food events. Features will include a farmers market selling local produce, tasty meals and snacks provided by our restaurant team, demonstrations by food producers, pedal powered smoothies, and a whole day of talks and activities. We will be joined once again by our visiting apple expert Ian Sturrock who will be encouraging visitors to bring their apples to be identified, and supplement their orchard by purchasing young trees.

Food is a hot topic these days, as the way we consume and eat food accounts for a very large slice of our greenhouse gas emissions pie. If you would like to find out more about the issues behind the emissions and discover the challenges and opportunities of a low carbon food future, then you will be making your way to the ‘Lunchbox Marquee’ for a series of inspiring and informative talks by resident experts. If you prefer to get stuck into something practical, then you might be interested in our food preservation and seed saving workshops. And if you are looking for light hearted family fun, there will be a host of activities and theatre for all ages taking place around the site, ranging from pumpkin bowls or apple juicing, to lunchbox detectives.

Whatever your taste, you’ll find plenty to feed your tummy and your brain!

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Education

Despite the fact that our food from plough to plate accounts for at least 20% of our global warming potential in Britain, and also represents a whopping 25% of our eco footprint (an eco footprint measures the amount of land needed to produce all our resources, deal with our waste, and sequester our C02 emissions), general awareness of and about food sustainability issues is limited. When people do discover that they can significantly reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and their eco footprint by changing from a diet high in meat and processed food to one that is more fresh, local and organic with less meat and dairy, their reaction is usually one of optimism and relief – it’s something they can do relatively simply and immediately themselves, which really does make a difference.

Action so far has been to share information about these activities, and work together to make our current systems more efficient and sustainable. The group has plans to work more effectively with the local community, contribute to food related articles and information, develop teaching materials, and host food events at CAT.

For this reason, sustainable food is a crucial element of CATs education and communication work. The education officers work with students, teachers and pupils of all ages and subject disciplines, and with members of the public, to deliver education for sustainability, both to visitors at CAT, and as part of our outreach programme. We offer a wide range of programmes and training, delivered in the context of climate change, global poverty and biodiversity loss and how to address these global environmental problems with practical solutions that actually make a difference. Food education then is an important feature, and slots in conveniently to other initiatives – there has been a recent push for healthy eating in schools, and a renewed interest in growing and cooking. Luckily a healthy diet equates to a low footprint diet, so our food education programmes add relevance and meaning to current education initiatives.

Most of CATs food education is delivered in the context of eco footprinting. For younger pupils What’s in Your Lunchbox? is an activity which investigates the stories behind the sandwiches and squeezy cheese, and Food Footprints is a presentation for adults and older pupils which explores food sustainability issues. Where’s the Impact? is our popular activity for all ages and levels (available to buy as a resource) and which investigates the wider global impact of everyday objects, is also perfect for finding out about the wider impact of various food products. The education team also deliver tailor made programmes and continuing professional development for staff with a foody flavour, and can be booked to give sustainable food talks and workshops at events and conferences.

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Slow Food Machynlleth comes to CAT

February 2009

From field to fork, food accounts for a whopping share of our greenhouse gas emissions. About half of this is due to the meat and dairy industry, with large amounts of energy being used to produce feed for livestock. Then of course there’s processing, packaging, methane emissions, and transport. We can significantly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by tonnes, simply by choosing a fresh and local diet with less meat and dairy in preference to a diet high in meat and processed food. Food then is an important feature of our work at CAT, and in recent months a ‘Food Group’ has been formed among CAT staff to bring together growers, cookers, researchers, policy makers, sellers and education officers, in order to share information, improve efficiency, and cooperate on all matters foody.

On the 6th February, two events were held in the CAT restaurant. In the morning, local growers braved the snow and joined a meeting to discuss local food procurement for the restaurant and Quarry café. A lot was learned – we discovered that it is possible to be self sufficient in meat, dairy and vegetables at 700 feet, and that farmers in the area used to grow plots of easy maintenance potatoes, runner beans, blackcurrants and rhubarb before sheep subsidies were introduced. We also learned that the ‘Fresh and Local’ group, who are a cooperative providing a forum for local growers and producers to sell their goods at a weekly market stall, sell as much as they are supplied with – the message from them was loud and clear – if we want to buy more local food then we need more people growing it – the responsibility is with us all. But even our much in demand local producers have gluts now and again, and with up to two hundred students to cater for at a time, Natalia at the CAT restaurant is keen to buy anything on offer, provided she is contacted on a Friday when the menus are being planned.

The growers meeting was followed by a Machynlleth Slow Food group lunch, cooked by the restaurant team. Machynlleth Slow Food is a forum for those involved in the business of supplying, cooking, or simply enjoying well prepared food cooked from fresh ingredients. The group meet regularly at varying venues, and are involved in various initiatives to strengthen the local food economy. The Slow Food motto is good, clean, and fair, with an emphasis on celebrating regional food and sustainability. We were treated to a veritable feast which included hazelnut haggis, celeriac fritters, and delectable crumbly Welsh apple pastries…

If you want to find out more:
CAT Food Group - Julie Bromilow at julie.bromilow@cat.org.uk
CAT Restaurant – Natalia Mascaro at natalia.mascaro@cat.org.uk
Machynlleth Slow Food group - Cath Smith at cath@midwalesfoodandlandtrust.org.uk
Machynlleth Fresh and Local – Kate Bartholomew at catherine.batholomew@virgin.net

And if you’d like to find out more about food sustainability issues, this months edition of Clean Slateis well worth a read.