Submitted by John on Fri, 08/08/2008 - 16:21
Posted in
Frome Festival 2008
It's August already - nearly a whole month since the Festival and time to look back at Food Frome's contribution to the sensational 2008 Frome Festival - 'Best in the West' (although Glastonbury's not bad either). In the end we sponsored or ran four events:
Deep Soup
This was certainly the longest event of the Festival. Artist-cuisinière Miche Fabre Lewin prepared a healing Deep Soup over two complete days (Friday and Saturday).
Sometimes alone, sometimes with members of the McFadyen family (it took place at their home in Frome), sometimes with friends, sometimes with a crowd. The soup was slowly, oh so slowly, prepared from local, seasonal plant-based produce, enlivened with a flourish of global condiments, created in the hearth of a home kitchen.
Miche’s culinary performance ends with a Deep Soup Ceremony in which diners participate in embodying a collective dedication to Mother Earth.
For those given to talking about food as well as eating it, a focused conversation took place on the Friday afternoon: “What is food? - Visioning an ecological gastronomy”
Green Fair
Cheese and Grain Hall, Sunday 6 July
The Food Frome Stall was a large affair. On one table we had our continuous loop exhibition set up with a projector and small screen, explaining the various aspects of our work.
On a second table, we were busy helping people to fill in forms about their interest in growing, cooking and shopping for food. We also referred people with specific interests to other stalls around us (Vallis Veg for those who wanted to order vegetable boxes; Fair Trade for those who want to shop ethically; and so on).
We also had on display some examples of heritage vegetables and something about the work of the Heritage Seed Library at Garden Organic. These live exhibits were Bath Cos lettuces, Martock Broad Beans and Bridgwater (French) beans. Perhaps we could have a corner of our web-site devoted to this subject?
Many thanks to those who helped to staff the stall on what was a busy day for most of us with an interest in ‘green’ matters in Frome and District.
Quince, Venison and Peas
The world premiere of the film of our seventeenth century feast took place on Monday 7 July at the Lamb Inn. Like all the best world premieres it was a sell-out. Food Frome wants to acknowledge all the work of the talented team who put the film together but especially the organisational skills of Fred Rolfe, the inspirational skills of Di Wells, and the film editing skills of Tim Manning.
There will be further showings in the autumn, as part of the Mendip Food Festival. The first showing will be at Trinity Hall in Frome on Saturday 25 October at 8pm. We are negotiating to show it at Radstock Museum (yes, the fabulous Heritage Museum of the North Somerset coal-mining industry) on the afternoon of Saturday 1 November. Watch this space for details of how and when tickets go on sale.
Copies on DVD will be available in November - free to schools, community groups etc, and at a small cost to members and supporters of Food Frome.
Apple Source and Ciderland
Wednesday 9 July, 7.30pm Rook Lane Arts Centre
With Sue Clifford (Common Ground) and James Crowden (poet and orchardman).
The best part of 100 people crammed into Rook Lane to listen to our speakers, ably marshalled by Dan Keetch. This exploration of Somerset’s rich heritage of orchards, apples and cider was not just theoretical either. During the interval, the audience were able to sample carefully selected Somerset Cheddar cheeses, apple juice, perry and farmhouse ciders. We are especially grateful to those commercial organisations who supported this event and enabled us to price the tickets at just £6 (including cheese and cider). These were KG Consultants for apple juice (on sale at Frome Farmers’ Market), Heck’s of Street for perry and cider, Parsonage Farm cider, and Rich’s cider (on sale at Grape and Grain, Badcox, off-licence) and on draught at the Lamb Inn. Thanks to Nicky Hillman of Sagebury Cheese, John Payne and Peter McFadyen of Food Frome who were mainly responsible for the refreshments.
See the gallery for some pictures of these events.