Thanks to our friends at the Real Food Festival, we would like to offer you a special ticket offer for the Real Food Festival – it’s the most exciting foodie event of the year and one you won’t want to miss!

Bringing together top chefs such as Raymond Blanc, Giorgio Locatelli, Willie Harcourt-Cooze, Thomasina Miers and Oliver Rowe and over 400 of some of the best food and drink producers you will find anywhere, this is food and drink heaven. With our own Mad Hatters Tea Party, chef demos, livestock including a water buffalo from Laverstoke Park, milking and butter-making demos, tastings, grow your own and live music, this is a fantastic day out for all the family.

TICKET OFFER
The Real Food Festival takes place at London’s Earls Court from 7th-10th May and tickets are selling fast.
Get your taste buds at the ready and don’t miss out on this amazing ticket offer of just £7.50* for a standard ticket and £13.00* for a VIP ticket, that’s a saving of £7.50 on the on the door price if you book by 5th May 2010.

Simply quote RFFBARN when booking tickets. Click here to book tickets (www.realfoodfestival.co.uk) or call the ticket hotline on 0871 231 0827. This offer is valid until 5th May 2010
*booking Fees apply

We should see an effect on the availability of fresh produce with some retailers warning that customers could see depleted shelves by early next week.  Great news!  I hope it will highlight the type of produce that is flown in and make people think.

When it is available again perhaps more people will realise that they survived perfectly well without it, and wonder whether they should really be buying such, high carbon footprint, produce.

Air-freighted imports are only 1.5% of the fresh fruit and vegetables total, but still a huge amount when the total in 2008 was 5,268,000 tonnes (Defra). And when you consider we live in such a productive green and pleasant land.

I would love to see supermarkets become more responsible by having sections or clearly displaying produce that is flown in, imported, national and local.  Until they do, I suggest you change your shopping habit an go local every week for food and leave the supermarket to once a month for everything else.  Or perhaps take up the opportunity or greater demand for local food and start cropping for your local shop.

This change will save you money by buying cheaper seasonal produce and by avoiding BOGOFs and impulse buys.  So simply use the BigBarn map and look out for a our ‘cheaper than the supermarket flag‘ where you can ask questions about what is available at the best price.

Apparently the last big eruption from the Icelandic volcano, in 1861, lasted for two and half years.  Perhaps this story has only just begun!

To help more people find local food we are giving the BigBarn  map and MarketPlace, free, to other websites to look as though it is theirs.  This means more people finding and buying local food and in turn encouraging those on our map to grow more, update, and add to, their details.

If you know a suitable ‘foody’, ‘green’ or ‘local’ website that would like their own version of BigBarn please send them this white label link to see what it looks like and instructions on how to set up the pages.  They will keep their branding and have the BigBarn map as great content, as well as earn commission from any trade through the BigBarn MarketPlace.

You will also be doing your bit for the environment by promoting local food as well as increase local agricultural diversity as demand for local food grows..

This initiative helps us grow the BigBarn Community and hopefully, as word spreads that local food is cheaper and better, herald a new ‘local’ era for the food industry reducing the negative dominance of the big retailers.