Last June I wrote about how I had received an interesting email from Ed Haigh, a disillusioned ‘corporate executive’. He had discovered BigBarn and was so impressed that he sent me an email volunteering to work for us for a few days. To test his commitment I suggested that he join me, ‘Carrot Man’, for a day at the East of England Agricultural Show dressed as Apple Man.

I was very impressed when he agreed and like the Knights Of The Round Table as King Arthur drew the sword from the stone, in awe at the way the apple fitted snugly on Ed’s head. And so the ‘dynamic duo’ of Fine Food Crusaders spent the day handing out leaflets and talking to people about locally produced food. This process confirmed to Ed that there was a growing demand for locally produced food and that BigBarn needed his help to promote local food and make buying it more convenient.

Unfortunately back in June Ed had committed to taking his lovely girlfriend, Emma, travelling round the world. He is now back, full of worldly karma and has officially joined BigBarn team. Ed will be writing the next piece in this section to introduce himself and some of his opinions and ideas for BigBarn. He may even be inviting more Fine Food Crusaders to join the team. To be kept up to date on this news simply register here

If you run a food shop then you’ll know that staying ahead of the game in the speciality food market means a constant search for the best products, from the best suppliers, at the best price. So, if you were told that you could source a great product, from a great supplier, free of charge, you’d be more than a little interested, right?

Well, good news, folks, because the drive towards local, seasonal and speciality food has opened up a new market that delivers just that. You see, the more that people are finding out about what’s growing locally, and in season, the more they are becoming interested in what’s growing wild. And growing wild usually means growing free.

What’s more, with the likes of Ray Mears and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall as popular as ever, the wild food market is getting the sort of TV coverage that highly paid PR executives couldn’t manufacture in a lifetime of champagne quaffing. And in turn, what that’s breeding is a growing number of armchair foragers, who are eager to accompany Ray Mears on his journey into the woods from the comfort of their armchair, but aren’t making the transition from telly to welly once the program’s over. And there’s the opportunity.

An increasing number of farmer’s markets are now sporting some sort of wild food stall, run by intrepid foragers who’ll do the welly-wearing and the food gathering for you. One of them is professional forager Andrew Sartain. Andrew used to work as a chef in a number of Michelin-starred restaurants, but left to pursue a new life foraging for the best wild food and selling it back to the restaurant trade and the general public. His website (www.gourmetfungi.co.uk) now lists more than 80 ‘products’ for sale at various times of the year and his business is going from strength to strength.

So perhaps, with the growing season stretching out in front of us, now would be a good time to follow Andrew’s lead, swat up on your samphires and your ramsons and get yourself down to Mother Nature’s No Cash and Carry to see what’s available. In fact, wild garlic is growing rampantly in many places at the moment, so there’s a good place to start. Andrew’s website has a Wild Food Code that’s worth reading to make sure you’re foraging ethically, and also points out a number of books that will help to turn you into a wild food expert.

A bit of wild food in your shop looks interesting and attractive, often smells wonderful, creates a talking point and differentiates you from your competitors. And the mark-up is big enough to make your eyes water.

We’re keen to add more foraging spots to the BigBarn map, so if you find one and don’t mind letting others in on the secret, get in contact with us via the website (www.bigbarn.co.uk)

’sunny D’ taken off the shelves, reduced fat crisps, new FSA rules on salt. Maybe good food is winning over smart marketing?

Just as I got home, after writing my last piece about the food industry changing, an advert popped up on my TV screen with Gary the footballer telling me that the salt and saturated fat in his crisps had dropped significantly.

This well known brand used to market their produce by entertaining us but now feel they must make their products more healthy to meet our need for better food. Their advertising campaign really says, ” We know we have been persuading you to buy a bad product for years and we may have contributed to killing one of your relatives, but hey, you can trust us, really, this latest variation is much better, eat up.”

Apparently too much salt is bad for us yet we don’t notice if the level of salt drops in our food. Heinz have dropped the amount of salt in their beans by 30% recently and have not had one complaint. So why was so much there in the first place? And why are there so many preservatives and additives in most foods? Supermarkets sell pork chops that have had an injection of salty water. To make them more succulent, or is it to add a bit of weight?

We are all getting a bit miffed by these dodgy practices and the battle for better food has begun. We the consumer seem to be winning over the marketeers. Lets keep up the pressure.

Really good food is fresh and unprocessed. Local and seasonal is the freshest so join BigBarn by registering your email and postcode here for our monthly emailed newsletter. We can then keep you up to date on local food news entered by local farmers who have joined BigBarn as members. So tell your local farmers to join. We want to get our newsletter full of ‘community led’ local food information and will eventually give you the ability to add local foody news.