British Food Fortnight: Week 39 of BigBarn’s food and drink weeks

British Food Fortnight is about buying British food. Post Brexit we hope even more people demand British, and even better, local!

With every type of food so readily available all year round, it is easy to lose track of the seasons and come to expect that we’ll be able to find everything from tomatoes and strawberries, to asparagus and broad beans on our shop shelves all year long. Another very good reason to read the label is that prices can vary dramatically when out of season. I noticed that asparagus was priced at £15/kg in a supermarket last week compared to £7/kg in season.

The fortnight is a fantastic time to remind ourselves with what is truly British and take some time to understand the wonderful seasonality of British produce and some of the fantastic fruit and veg available right on our doorsteps.

Right now apples, pears, plums and quinces, are at their best but watch out for Eastern European apples over 1 year old! Yes, stored for a whole year using chemicals and cold stores.

Squash are at their very best and you should still be able to enjoy some delicious British berries – raspberries and blackberries. But sadly beans, strawberries and tomatoes are on their last legs, so if you’re lucky enough to track some down, enjoy your fill before they’re gone.

If you want to make the change to seasonal food for 52 weeks of the year, not just two, then www.bigbarn.co.uk is a fantastic place to start. Switch to your local farm shop/butcher/grocer for your weekly shop and save money by buying fresh, in season, food.

BigBarn local food map with Crop for the Shop & Cheaper than Supermarket flags

You can use our local food map or Marketplace offering produce from 530+ food producers and independent food stores, which can all be purchased online here.

You can even join the food industry and grow your own the Crop for the Shop by selling excess produce to your local shop on the BigBarn map flagged with a rosette. All helping build a social, local, food industry to replace the ant-social national one.

If you have a favourite recipe using British produce, and would like the chance to win a prize, please video your recipe and add it to KIS (Keep it Simple) Cookery. Please have a look at existing videos here and try and keep your video less than 2 minutes long.