I have certainly never been accused of being an eco-warrior, in fact my cars have to be over 4 litres, & switching lights off I feel is a waste of my own energy. However, for some reason I was invited to the inaugural ‘New Forest Local Food Summit’ last Wednesday. I suspect this had something to do with my involvement in Milford on Sea Food Week, or more likely because of the copious amounts of food I consume? Intrigued, I decided to go along. The first challenge was for Colin, my fellow attendee & driver for the day, to find the Treehouse Study Centre hidden in the depths of the Beaulieu Estate. Thanks to Colin’s numerous irritating techy gadgets, the treehouse was found & we were soon clambering across the rope bridge to the Food Summit meeting.
The assembled group of around seventy people was an eclectic mix of local producers, local farmers, hoteliers, restauranteurs, food buyers, allotment holders, environmental groups, Julian Lewis MP, the New Forest District Council, the National Park Authority, and some suits & sandal wearers I didn’t identify - plus Colin & me. Indeed any and every group in the forest associated with local food appeared to be represented. The event was hosted by Richard Barnett the chairman of New Forest Transition. Having met Richard before, I had learnt not to pigeonhole vegans as weird green hippies. In fact, Richard is a ‘normal, warm and interesting bloke’, & his arguments are compelling, even to a global warming sceptic like me.
As I understand it, the New Forest Transition’s objective is to support local communities, and to develop local community sustainability & self sufficiency. I can totally understand why they see ‘local’ as being a long term solution which can contribute to solving the ‘ticking bomb’ we all face. To explain, I think most people accept that oil & fossil fuels are running out, and that there will be unpleasant consequences in the not too distant future. It also appears insane that we regularly eat beef from places like Argentina, chicken from China or runner beans from Outer Mongolia or somewhere else.
Transition simply want us all to grow & eat more local food for lots of good reasons, and who can really argue against this. It is likely that in the next ten or twenty years we will see a major change in food availability & food costs, so planning to address the resulting issues now sounds worth considering. Whilst I draw the line at riding a bike, growing vegetables (none of which appear in my ‘Top 1000 Favourite foods List), or turning lights off when I leave a room, I can certainly buy into the Transition concept.
The summit attendees were broken into groups to discuss the issues facing local food & the resulting presentations were quite fascinating. Just a few of the issues that were discussed in the groups included, the need for more farming land, more growing land, more local producers, more produce for sale, a local abattoir, consistent standards, better local distribution, more supply outlets, cheaper prices, clearer marketing and more. There were also some ingenious solutions, & whilst some may say it can’t be done, I could see that it could. No doubt it is a massive project, but I was taught that ‘The only way to eat an elephant, is in bite size chunks’. If the commitment of the assembled group turns into action, & just as importantly, the local authorities are supportive, rather than bureaucratically obstructive, we could see some exciting developments in the coming years.
The morning was concluded with a fine lunch containing a fantastic spread of local bread, local cold meats, local cheeses, local pickled onions & local chutney. If the argument for local food needed any more support, the lunch certainly achieved that!
On returning home, I attempted to explain the morning activities to my wife. But, when I started with; ‘you need to consider what you eat more’, she went off at a tangent, replying: ‘Why, am I putting on weight? - You are a fine one to talk fat boy.....etc!’. I soon gave up, & decided that I will just wait for her to start talking to me again after she has read what I actually meant.
To see the film, ‘The challenge for Local Food’ , please click link: (You may recognize a somewhat large contributor!)
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To find out more about New Forest Transition please visit:
