The seventh British Food Fortnight was the biggest ever national celebration of the diverse and delicious range of food produced in Britain.
From September 20 to October 5, more shops, pubs, restaurants, schools and food festivals took part than ever before.
The ‘Buy British’ message reached an unprecedented number of people during this year’s event, thanks to food festivals across the country, a national school cooking competition sponsored by Kenwood, a series of grow-your-own competitions, a giant picnic at Whipsnade and Apple Days at National Trust properties, among other activities.
The retailers threw their weight behind the campaign, with four supermarkets, 200 Budgens stores and hundreds of independent stores offering a mass of British food promotions and tastings.
The catering industry also played its part, with more British food consumed through the catering sector over the two-week period than ever before. Eight of the country’s largest foodservice organisations, led by Aramark, and six of the biggest pub groups, all put British food on the menu.
And for the first time, the public sector supported the event en masse: the NHS, schools and many major government departments put British food on their menus, including the Cabinet Office, the Treasury, Portcullis House (where MPs have their London offices), the department for transport, the department for work & pensions, HM Revenue & Customs, the department for culture, media & sport, many NHS trusts and school catering services. Hundreds of schools also participated.
Alexia Robinson, organiser of the event, said: “The success of this year’s British Food Fortnight proves that, even in these gloomy economic times, consumers care about where their food comes from. Yes, value for money is paramount, but value is not just about price, it is also about quality. Long gone are the days when British food was the poor relation to our continental neighbours - it is now synonymous in people’s minds with quality. The proof in the pudding is the effort that retailers are putting into increasing their local lines and highlighting British in store, and the fact that the catering sector got behind British Food Fortnight this year in a bigger way than ever before.”
British Food Fortnight was sponsored by Budgens, Aramark and the department of health’s 5 A DAY Just Eat More (fruit and veg) programme, as well as being supported by more than 40 organisations, including Brakes, Compass Group, Sodexo and the National Farmers’ Union.
British Food Fortnight 2009 will take place on September 19-October 4.
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