I love food. I love cooking. I love Edinburgh Farmers Market too! Local, in season, fresh – always got to be the way to go. By the way are you a slow food member? They are introducing ‘Slow Suppers’ (non-members welcome) – might interest you if yu are a foodie?

From their mailing list:

The idea behind the
Slow Supper is that it¹s an informal gathering to which anyone ­ Slow Food
member or non-member ­ is welcome. There¹s no agenda, no theme, no need to
book and no need to eat with us if you don¹t want. It¹s a chance to share a
relaxed, convivial evening with some good food available when we can take
the chance to chat about Slow Food activities, food issues in general, or
anything else which takes your fancy. It might be a good occasion to find
out more about Slow Food, or to meet some local members, or to put forward
your ideas.

We hope that our Slow Suppers will become a regular (monthly) event. Victor
& Carina Contini have very kindly agreed to give us use of the private room
at Centotre on George Street. By special arrangement for the evening a bowl
of pasta and a glass of wine will be available for £10. You¹re not obliged
to have the supper if you come along ­ you can just have a coffee or a glass
of wine or anything else off the normal menu if you¹d prefer.

Our first Slow Supper is on Monday 14 November, from 7.30pm till about
10ish, at Centotre, 103 George Street, Edinburgh.

Bon appetit!

Mark

Or do a Food walking tour with discover the taste: http://www.discoverthetaste.com/

If you sleep in and don’t make it to the Edinburgh Farmers market, try ‘The Store’ in Stockbridge (Comely Bank Road) for all sorts of delights and Iam Mellis cheese shops for excellent cheeses.

By the way bit short notice (sorry!) but there is a Food Festival in North Berwick tommorrow which might interest you? (About 30 minutes train ride from Edinburgh, trains go at half past every hour I think). North Berwick also has some nice beaches and Tantallon Castle and Seacliff beach are both worth a visit if you have a car (Both about 3 miles from North Berwick) Anyway here is the Food festival info:

—
The North Berwick Food Festival will take place in a giant marquee on Sunday 30th April (May holiday weekend) on Anchor Green (opp the Seabird Centre) from 12 noon to 5pm.

Following its successful debut at the Seabird Centre last autumn, this will be the first of a series of Food Festivals this year. It is being organised by Slow Food UK, headed up by John Tiller, who lives in North Berwick. The Slow Food Association was originally set up in Italy as an antidote to fast food and is all about rediscovering the pleasures of natural produce. Scotland has a rich natural larder and East Lothian is home to an emerging source of specialist producers and suppliers, many still relatively unknown. The festival will bring together some of the best of these for the festival with some 20 individual stands featuring food and drink to try, taste and buy on the day.

The companies taking part range from Ballencrieff Bacons and hams to Belhaven Smokery’s trout and salmon, Geoge Hood’s local honey to Trusty Crust’s home made organic breads, specialist cheeses from Cheasy Peasy to Seafood and specialists food and drink from The Fisherman’s ktichen, Brodie’s of Musselburgh’s hand made chocolates to Luca’s delicious icecream, wines, spirits and liqueurs from Locketts and fragrant coffees and teas from Howdah to whisky tasting from Glenkinchie. A veritable feast. There will also be activities to keep the children happy, including a quiz and face painting. Entry will be 50p which includes entry to the free prize draw with lots of delicious food and drink to be won.

Lots of good info here! Makes me wish I was still in Ol’ Reeky ;-)

Anyhow, I read what you said about in season/fresh produce food most likely tasting better and I agree!

Here is a website I use called World’s Healthiest Foods

It gives information on healthy foods, when they are in season, and how to select quality produce.

Cheers,
Sissy

Here’s a summary of the Edinburgh slow Food programme for July.

Monday 10 July, 7.30pm
This month’s Slow Supper at blue bar café, Cambridge Street (above the Traverse Theatre, beside the Usher Hall). If you need a reminder, these are informal gatherings to which anyone – Slow Food member or not – is welcome. There’s no agenda, no theme, and no need to book. It’s always a relaxed, convivial evening where you can find out more about Slow Food, chat about food in general and enjoy a light meal and a glass of wine for £10. Please come along and bring friends or colleagues who might be interested.

Saturday 15 July, 9.30am–1pm
next proposed stall and cooking demo at Edinburgh’s Farmers Market.

Wednesday 19 July, 7.30pm
A chance to find out about one of Slow Food’s most interesting and ambitious international projects. Slow Food Edinburgh is hosting a reception and supper in the new Storytelling Centre on the Royal Mile to welcome a group of 15 students from the University of Gastronomic Sciences, an institution created by Slow Food in Pollenzo in Italy. The students, all undergraduates on the university’s three-year degree course, are on a 12-day stage, or field seminar, in Scotland learning about the history, traditions and modern realities of food production in different parts of Scotland. Prior to reaching Edinburgh they will have spent time learning about scallop diving off Skye, crofting in Lochalsh, milling in Golspie, brewing on the Black Isle, whisky distilling on Speyside and salmon fishing on the Dee. During their visit to Edinburgh they’ll be enjoying a masterclass in haggis making from Joe Findlay of Portobello and visitng an exhibition on the traditional “guid Scots’ diet” in the Borders.

The drinks reception for members and guests will begin at 6.30pm. At 7pm there will be a presentation from our visitors about the University. The meal will commence at 7.30pm. This will be prepared by Richie Alexander of the excellent Spoon Café on Blackfriars Street who also now runs the Storytelling Café. The meal will consist of a light starter, main course, light dessert and coffee. Wine is also included in the ticket price of £20 for members, £25 for non-members. To confirm your place for the meal, please send a cheque for the appropriate amount (payable to Slow Food Edinburgh) to me at the address below.

Sunday 23 July, all day
A farm visit to Chris and Denise Walton of Peelham Farm in Berwickshire. As well as finding out about the farm, there will be the chance to roll our sleeves up to help with the oat harvest and enjoy a top-notch farmhouse lunch involving produce from Peelham and surrounding good food producers from both sides of the Border. Chris and Denise are committed members of Slow Food and we hope the visit will offer an insight into the realities of trying to produce top-quality food according to Slow principles. There are plenty of us townies who would appreciate the chance to find out at first hand the issues surrounding agriculture and the farming of our food. (Read more about the farm below.)

There’s space on the trip for around 40. A coach has been organized which will leave at 9am from central Edinburgh, and we plan to be back by 6pm. Peelham is about an hour and a half from Edinburgh. Children are welcome, and no-one will be obliged to help with the harvesting! There will no doubt be other logistical queries but please just ask as we’d like as many people as possible to come along. We’ll go whatever the weather. The cost will be £25 per member (£30 non-members; £12 for under 18s) - the breakdown of this is that coach will be £10-12 depending on numbers and around £15 for our lunch (lamb barbecue, wine and lots more). Please let me know as soon as you can if you’re intending to join us.

More about Peelham:
Peelham Farm is located on the southern edge of the Lammermuir Hills and close to the Berwickshire Coast, Peelham overlooks both the Tweed and the Eye Valleys, with expansive, panoramic views of the North Sea and North Northumberland. Family-run, Peelham is a mixed farm with a diversity of habitats influenced by its proximity to the sea. The farm is self-reliant in livestock-food and forage (including oats) and is currently undergoing conversion to organic farming. They rear free-range rare breed Tamworth pigs, Lamberton lamb grazed on upland pastures and veal (as enjoyed at our fundraising lunch in May) from their herd of Scottish Luing cross suckler cows. Their produce is sold via stalls at Edinburgh, Kelso and Berwick-upon-Tweed farmers’ markets. www.peelham.co.uk

Thursday 27 July, 4–8pm
‘The Eating Place’, the new, continental-style market derived from the local Farmers’ Market, will take place on Castle Street. Stall with cooking demos.

Looking forward to seeing you at any of these if you can make it.

Here’s a run-through of some of the Slow Food related events going on in the next month or so.

€ Slow Supper, Blue Bar Café (above the Traverse Theatre), Monday 7 August, 7.30pm. Slow Suppers are our monthly informal meals where there are no themes, no speeches and there’s no need to book. Just turn up for a convivial evening open to both members and non-members; £10 will get you a light main course and a glass of wine.

€ Slow/Soul Food lunch, Thursday 10 August, 12.30pm. Special Slow Food price £5. Again, no need to book – just turn up and bring along friends and colleagues too. Soul Food queen Momma Cherri from Brighton (best known from her appearance on Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares) is serving up her ‘Soul in a Bowl’ every day during the Festival in the Pleasance Dome on Bristo Square. We’ve arranged a special Slow/Soul Food lunch to meet Momma Cherri and find out what it’s all about. The Soul Food Shack is one part of the inaugural Edinburgh Food Festival, which has been set up by jazz musician, food lover and Slow Food supporter Andy Richardson. As part of it, there’s a small daily fresh food market outside the Underbelly in Bristo Square running from 5–28 August. More on Momma Cheri and the market at: http://www.edinburghfoodfestival.com

€ There will be a Slow Food stall at Edinburgh Farmers’ Market on Saturday 12 August from 9am to 1pm. We’ll be telling people about Slow Food and there will be cooking demos using fresh market produce.

€ On the afternoon (4–8pm) of Saturday 12 August there’s a ‘Local Food Shindig’ on Portobello Beach at the end of Brunstane Road North (or in St Philips church hall if wet). PEDAL (Portobello Energy Descent and Land Reform Group) invite you to a free local food meal to help shape a sustainable future for Portobello. Bring some food to share (locally grown, bought, baked, bottled or brewed…), check out the local gardeners’ market stall or enter the sand sculpture competition. More at www.pedal-porty.org.uk

€ Saturday 12 August also sees the start of the Edinburgh Book Festival. You can catch food-related offerings from Sue Lawrence (A Cook’s Tour of Scotland) on Saturday 12 August at 2pm, Joanna Blythman (Bad Food Britain) on both Sunday 13 August at 2pm and Thursday 24 August at 7.30pm (teaming up for the latter with environmental author Graham Harvey), wine writer Hugh Johnston on Tuesday 22 August at 8pm, Claudia Roden (Arabesque) on Friday 25 August at 3pm, and Shirley Spear on Saturday 26 August at 5pm. Tickets go fast – book on 0845 373 5888 or www.edbookfest.co.uk

€ For the evening of 24 August we’re lining up a beer tasting to find out what they’re up to at Edinburgh’s only independent brewery, the new Stewart Brewery (www.stewartbrewing.co.uk) out at Bilston Glen. We’ll have a tour and tutored tasting, as well as something to eat – maybe some pies? Let me know if you’re interested and I’ll let you know full details when we’ve firmed them up.

€ Scottish Food Fortnight takes place between 1 and 17 September this year. The website (www.scottishfoodfortnight.co.uk) has just been launched and while there aren’t that many events listed for the Lothians just yet, more should be posted in the coming weeks. We do know about a Stockbridge Village Festival involving a number of the local food shops on Saturday 2 September at Edinburgh Accies rugby ground and there’s our own North Berwick Slow Food Fair on Sunday 24 September from 11am.