“Food, Glorious Food” was a sentiment immortalised by Lionel Bart in the hit musical Oliver but recently I have come to realise just how diverse the opportunities are for it in terms of retailing.

The extent of the phenomenon, and how it is shaping our shopping habits, was brought home forcibly to me during a social sojourn at Emmsworth, between Portsmouth and Chichester.

The visit coincided with Emmsworth’s Food Festival which claims to attract more than 50,000 people over three days - who scramble to buy everything from the refreshment provided by local micro-breweries to cheese, butchery and, of course, fresh fruit and vegetables.

The festival is obviously big business for fresh produce, and if proof of this were needed it was underlined by the presence of the Dorset Blueberry Company (DBC), Barfoots of Botley (with Bob Cob in tow), and several garlic suppliers including Colin Boswell. David Trehane, md of the DBC, told me later he believes such events are now even outgunning farmers markets in popularity.

Back home, the following weekend found my Home Counties village launching its own farmers market, despite there already being several in the area of varying sizes. Meanwhile, there was a new, unrelated, food festival going on near the same site.

This might be bad planning, but while both were in their infancy, they were already hatching plans for next year and local growers and distributors, including an organic veg box supplier, were on parade. And if this was not enough, in the post the following morning I received a flyer from one of its local competitors.

So habits seem to be changing, or are they? There is no denying the success of such events comes down to their being tinged with a strong shade of green in many shoppers’ minds and linked in some way to an organic or healthy lifestyle.

Coupled with the combination of freshness and “local”, these are now powerful selling tools, enhanced by the fact that the concept of food miles - once disregarded as a marketing slogan - appears to resonate strongly with the public.

But have farm shops, with their range of products extending beyond British agriculture and horticulture, actually become rural mini-supermarkets in the process? And don’t farmers markets and food festivals simply put a modern slant on traditional street markets, which in some regions are still part of retailing life?

What I did find interesting at the festival was that shoppers seemed to pay scant attention to whether products were a statutory or voluntary size, or their shape or colour, as practised by the six major supermarkets - in my case within just three miles of this recent vortex.

While with so much retail activity on my doorstep I am unlikely to starve, I must confess a certain sadness that among it all, both amateur and professional, good, independent “fruiterers”, as they like to be known, are becoming harder and harder to find.

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