Tuesday, 29 November 2022

Festival of Food and Drink Announces Thoresby Park as Its New Home for the Celebratory 10th Anniversary next year

The Festival of Food and Drink, the East Midlands' largest celebration of local food producers and global flavours, has confirmed it will be moving to a brand-new location for its tenth year, taking place from Saturday 16th to Sunday 17th September 2023.

Loyal visitors to the established festival, which boasts in excess of 170 food and drink traders will not have to travel far however, as the event which was previously held at Clumber Park, will be moving to a new location just minutes away.  

Thoresby Park is a vibrant neighbouring estate, making it even easier for residents of Nottinghamshire and surrounding areas to enjoy a great day out at one of the region's best loved foodie festivals!

In addition to a veritable feast of fantastic street food traders, bars, and artisan producers, the family-friendly festival also offers a wide-range of have-a-go activities for visitors to take part in, from wine-tasting sessions and cocktail masterclasses, to a specialist Children's Cookery School allowing younger visitors to make their very own tasty treats, which in previous years has included pasta, butter, gnocchi and ice cream.

The festival's hugely popular Cookery Theatre will also return for 2023, with a fantastic and stellar line-up of well-known faces from the culinary world. Previous guests have included Masterchef's John Torode, Bake Off's John Whaite, TV chef Phil Vickery and food author Rosemary Shrager, who have hosted delicious cookery demonstrations in the 500-seat theatre, whilst sharing special hints and tips with audience members to recreate at home. The line-up for the event's tenth anniversary will be announced in the coming months.

The jam-packed weekend will also include a range of fun activities for families to enjoy, including circus skills workshops, face painting, fairground rides and a large selection of unique gifts, handmade crafts and homewares to be browsed in the event's Shopping Area.

After indulging in a feast of mouth-watering food and drink, visitors can sit back, relax and soak up the family-friendly festival atmosphere while enjoying live music and DJ sets.

Gareth Evans, Event Manager at Thoresby Park commented “Thoresby Estate is extremely pleased Festival of Food and Drink has chosen the beautiful surroundings of Thoresby Park to host their anniversary event in 2023.  The amazing quality of food and drink on offer at the event is testament to the high numbers of visitors the show attracts each year.”

The festival's hugely popular VIP tickets have returned for 2023, offering visitors priority parking, fast-track entry, a goody bag, and entry to the VIP Marquee, which offers a chance to meet the special celebrity guests for just £25.00.

Early bird tickets for Festival of Food and Drink cost just £10.00 and will be available online from Tuesday 29th November at https://festivaloffoodanddrink.com.

Sainsbury’s supports low-income families in Wales and Northern Ireland in time for Christmas

For the first time, Sainsbury’s is extending its £2 top up coupons that accompany the Government funded NHS Healthy Start scheme to Wales and Northern Ireland.

Until 11th April, eligible customers will automatically receive a £2 printed coupon every week they shop at Sainsbury’s, whenever they check-out using their Healthy Start card.

The coupon is valid when purchasing fresh, frozen and tinned fruit and vegetables, helping families to access affordable, nutritious food

Sainsbury’s has announced it will be rolling out its £2 top up coupon that accompanies the Government funded NHS Healthy Start scheme to Wales and Northern Ireland. The move comes as the cost-of-living continues to rise, as the coupon extension could to help feed an additional 47,000 pregnant women and children over the coming months.

The roll-out follows Sainsbury’s announcement last month that it would be re-introducing its £2 coupon over the next six months to customers using a Healthy Start card in England.

The NHS Healthy Start scheme helps to encourage a healthy diet for pregnant women, babies and young children under the age of four from low-income households.

Customers in Wales and Northern Ireland who use a Healthy Start card when shopping at Sainsbury’s will now automatically receive a printed coupon worth £2, every week, to use towards fresh, frozen, and tinned fruit and vegetables, until Tuesday 11th April 2023.

The Healthy Start cards, which are provided by the Government to low-income families, provide pregnant women or families with a child between the age of 1 and 4 years old with £4.25 a week to use when purchasing milk, fruit or vegetables. Families with a child under the age of 1 will receive £8.50 each week. Sainsbury’s top-up means that families that use their Healthy Start card each week in a Sainsbury’s superstore could receive either £6.25 or £10.50 worth of healthy and nutritious food per week.

Sainsbury’s first introduced the £2 top-up coupon in 2021, helping families during February half term and beyond. The coupon was then reintroduced last Christmas to provide extra help to those struggling over the festive period.

Ruth Cranston, Director of Corporate Responsibility & Sustainability at Sainsbury’s said, “We know how challenging things are at the moment and as the cost-of-living continues to rise, we’re committed to helping ensure that everyone has access to affordable and nutritious food. 

"We are really pleased we can extend our £2 top up for the NHS Healthy Start scheme to eligible customers in Wales and Northern Ireland and hope the additional coupon will provide some relief to many people over the coming months. Through our Nourish the Nation community programme, we remain dedicated to helping tackle food insecurity now and in the future.”

Rebecca Tobi, Senior Business and Investor Engagement Manager at the Food Foundation said, "Many families are really struggling at the moment as cost of living challenges intensify. Our latest data tracking in the UK finds that one in four households with children have experienced food insecurity in the past month, with four million children living in households experiencing food insecurity.

"Sainsbury’s decision to extend its coupon offer to families in Wales and Northern Ireland will help to reduce health inequities by ensuring that all Healthy Start recipients are eligible for the £2 top-up. We know that good nutrition during the first few years of life is critical for healthy growth and development, so it would be great to see other retailers follow Sainsbury's lead and boost their support of the Healthy Start scheme."

The step comes as last week, Sainsbury’s announced its new Nourish the Nation programme, a long-term aim to support communities with access to food now and in the future, working with longstanding charity partner Comic Relief.

As part of the programme, Sainsbury’s will be donating £3 million to support communities with access to food now and supporting projects that help prevent people and communities falling further into food poverty in the future. This includes a £1.5 million donation to long-standing partner Comic Relief, FareShare and key redistribution partners to support communities this Christmas.

From 23rd November until 24th December, the retailer is also asking customers to donate, if they can, when shopping in-store at Sainsbury’s and Argos, online at Sainsbury’s, or donating Nectar points on the Nectar app or website. Sainsbury’s will match all donations up to the value of £1.5 million. Customers can also donate food products at the food donation points in selected Sainsbury’s stores, which will go to local food charity partners.

Full terms of eligibility can be found here: https://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/frequently-asked-questions

Coupons are printed in superstores and not convenience stores. However, coupons can be redeemed in both superstores and convenience stores.

The NHS Business Services Authority deliver the NHS Healthy Start scheme on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

Monday, 28 November 2022

Cranachan Cake for Burns Night - 25th January

Cranachan Cake for Burns Night - 25th January

The traditional dish to finish a Burns night celebration, cranachan is a delicious mix of cream, raspberries, oats and honey - a true taste of Scotland. 

We've married these crowd pleasing ingredients (including Trewithen Dairy's Cornish stamp of clotted cream) with a whisky soaked sponge cake. Best served with an extra wee dram of Scotch - just in case.

Ingredients

6 Eggs

410g Trewithen Dairy Salted Butter

410g Caster Sugar

410g Self-Raising Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Real Vanilla Extract

30g Trewithen Dairy Natural Yoghurt

200g Trewithen Dairy Cornish Clotted Cream

500g Fresh Raspberries

45g Oatmeal (or you can whizz up regular oats)

45ml Whisky

1 tbsp Honey

Icing Sugar to decorate - optional

Method

Preheat the oven to 180c. Grease and dust flour in three 20cm cake tins. 

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. If the mixture starts to curdle, add a little of your weighed flour. Add the vanilla extract. Combine the flour and baking powder before adding to the mixture. Finally, stir in the yoghurt.

Bake in the centre of a preheated oven for approx. 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to stand in the tins for 5 minutes, before turning out onto a cooling rack. When just slightly warm, brush or drizzle all the whisky evenly over the cakes.

Toast the oatmeal, either on a dry pan on the stove, or grilling in the oven. Keep an eye on it - it will turn colour quickly! Take it off when it starts to brown and smells beautifully toasty.

In a medium bowl, combine the clotted cream and three quarters of the raspberries, reserving the remainder for decorating. Using a fork, combine the two together while pressing down the raspberries to break them up. Stir through the honey and toasted oatmeal. Chill until you're ready to assemble the cake.

To assemble, layer up the sponges and cream, reserving just a little mixture to spread over the top. Finish with a dusting of icing sugar and the remaining raspberries. Enjoy with a dram of whisky. 

https://www.trewithendairy.co.uk.

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New reports reveal best ways to label plant-based food products

Consumers surveyed on terms like “100% plant-based”, “meatless” and “vegan”

Two new reports published today by global food awareness organisation, ProVeg International, provide insights into the most effective ways to label plant-based products.

The two reports are called “Plant-based labelling: How common labelling language impacts consumer perception of plant-based products” and “‘Plant-based’ vs ‘vegan’: understanding consumer perceptions of food-labelling terms.” 

Based on consumer surveys, the reports give valuable insights into how the food industry can label their products to ensure clarity about ingredients, draw in target consumers and present their products in the most appealing fashion.

“With the plant-based food industry experiencing massive growth, there are now many products on the shelves to meet consumer demands. But this means targeting consumers with the right labelling is  becoming more important than ever,” Stephanie Jaczniakowska-McGirr, Director of Corporate Engagement at ProVeg, pointed at.

“These reports provide companies with insights which will help them more precisely hone in on their customer base with the right words for the right products,” she said.

In the first report on the impact of common labelling language, 1,000 consumers in the UK were asked in July 2022 to describe and rate their views on the terms ‘animal-free’, ‘meatless’, ‘meat-free’, ‘100% plant-based’, ‘plant-based’, ‘veggie’, ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian’. 

The survey came up with the following key findings:

Consumers were most likely to choose a plant-based product with the label ‘100% plant-based’, ‘plant-based’ or ‘veggie’, whereas ‘meatless’ and ‘vegan’ were the least preferred labels. 

Labels most likely to be perceived as being good for the animals and eco-friendly were ‘animal-free’, ‘vegan’ and ‘vegetarian.’ 

‘Animal-free’ and ‘veggie’ sounded like the most enjoyable and tasty options, according to the survey respondents, while ‘100% plant-based’, ‘vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ were seen as healthy, safe, and nutritious. Consumers rated the labels  ‘veggie’ and ‘vegetarian’ as the most affordable and easy to access. 

Consumers told ProVeg they weren't confused by plant-based food products labelled as ‘nuggets’. Only 3.6% of respondents said they'd previously chosen a plant-based product referring to ‘nuggets’ by accident, while 96.4% agreed that they'd chosen the product consciously. 

 Over 80% of consumers said it's obvious products labelled as ‘vegan’, ‘vegetarian’ and ‘plant-based’ don't contain meat and 76% stated the labels helped them understand and identify the nature of the product. 

"It's great to see consumers are in fact not confused by 'meaty terms' like 'nugget'. Our hope is these results will contribute towards creating a favourable regulatory and labelling landscape for plant-based products, particularly at a time when we're seeing uncertainty around such topics in Europe,” Jaczniakowska-McGirr said. 

"It's really interesting to see consumers prefer 'plant-based' labels to 'meat-free' or 'vegan' terminology. These results echo many brands current labelling strategies, with the use of 'plant-based' labels becoming very common, particularly in the UK, where this survey was conducted." 

The second report, on understanding consumer perception, draws on the results of an online survey conducted in October 2021 to establish the level of consumers’ understanding of the terms used to describe food products in the UK, plus the US. 

The key findings from that survey are as follows:

The majority of respondents had an excellent understanding of the term ‘vegan’, with 69.4% of UK consumers and 61.3% of US consumers choosing the correct definition, saying they thought these food products don't contain any meat, dairy or eggs. Even so, more clarification and education is needed around the term. ProVeg strongly recommends highlighting the exclusion of dairy/eggs from these products. 

About half of consumers surveyed (50.3% in the UK and 49.2% in the US) understood the term ‘plant-based’ correctly. Some consumers (17% in the UK and 26.1% in the US) were confused about whether ‘plant-based’ food products contain dairy/eggs. The same went for the term ‘vegetarian.’

Whilst 72.6% of consumers in the UK  and 75.4% of consumers in the US understood a ‘dairy-free’ food product doesn't contain any dairy, the term still left consumers unclear about the product’s meat content. 

In the same way, whilst 74.9% of UK consumers and 76.8% of US consumers understood a ‘meat-free’/‘meatless’ food product doesn't contain any meat, the dairy/egg content of the product remains unclear.

"This report offers insights into consumer knowledge around plant-based terminology in the UK and the US, with a deep dive into the way different dietary groups understand key terms,” Jaczniakowska-McGirr said.

“Such research is critical to help brands effectively target the growing number of flexitarian consumers and understand the best terminology to use on their products to ensure consumers know exactly what they are purchasing." 

To learn more about Pro Veg visit https://proveg.com.

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Sunday, 27 November 2022

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