See, smell and taste really fabulous, sustainably and ethically produced food direct from small producers… up close and personal!

The Real Food Festival 2010 is back for the 3rd year and will again take place in London‘s Earls Court 7-10 May 2010. The Real Food Festival, is much, much more than a just a food event, or farmer’s market - it’s packed with events for the whole family, including some very friendly livestock and provides a unique platform for hundreds of smaller producers for whom attendance at such shows is normally too costly and unrealistic. The festival selects the best small producers it can find and subsidises their attendance, thus giving them a fabulous opportunity to grow their businesses and offering visitors a one to one introduction to Britain’s real food heroes. 

This is increasingly important as recognition grows that ‘business as usual’ is not an option as far as food production is concerned and that the major issues of climate change, population growth, water scarcity and peak oil mean that Food Security is now firmly on the agenda at the highest governmental levels.

The Real Food Festival is addressing these issues head-on by suggesting an alternative to the current, industrialised systems of agriculture, food manufacture and distribution. With an existing food system that has evolved to be a generator of profits rather than a system to feed people, the Real Food Festival promotes a different approach that aims to feed people good, nutritionally-dense food and drink that has been produced in a sustainable and ethical way.

There is a growing desire to learn more about the provenance of our food and The Real Food Festival is the perfect place to connect with over 400 producers of some of the most wonderful food and drink you will find anywhere. Tapping in to this alternative system of more localised food production and by increasing our consumption of more traditional and nutritionally-dense food has a host of benefits ranging from health, through to benefits for the environment, animal welfare, bio-diversity and the simple basic pleasure of enjoying delicious wholesome food.

Our simple idea is to re-connect people back to where their food comes from and to promote the idea of buying directly from the people who actually produce our food.

NEW THIS YEAR
We are delighted to announce that this year, tickets to the Festival will cost much less than before. In an effort to make the show as accessible to as many people as possible you can now buy a ticket in advance for only £9.50 (compared to other major London food events which normally charge around £20). We have to charge a ticket entry fee, because this is part of the money we use to subsidise our small producers – but, unlike other commercial events, when you buy a ticket you know you are helping to support a small producer, even before you buy anything from them. Also, this year, courtesy of our sponsor Sacla, children under 16 go absolutely free.

The Real Food Festival clearly demonstrates how choosing food that is fresh, in season and produced with care not only tastes fantastic but won't blow the budget either. Speak to the experts that produce your food first hand and buy from them time and time again. A visit to the Real Food Festival could change your eating habits forever.  Highlights of this year’s show include
:
The Real Food Market
Come and meet over 400 producers of the some of the best food and drink you will find anywhere. Buying direct from the people who produce your food can prove more cost-effective than you might think and you and your family will enjoy better, healthier food. At the same time, when you buy direct you are ensuring that producers are getting a fair reward for their work and that your money stays within local communities instead of feeding faceless institutional shareholders all over the world.

Top chefs in action
As usual we have an exciting array of chefs including Raymond Blanc, Oliver Rowe, Willie Harcourt-Cooze, Thomasina Miers, Giorgio Locatelli, Cyrus Todiwala, Jun Tanaka, and Ashley Palmer-Watts and new to this year’s festival are Carlo Cracco, Henry Harris and Vineet Bhatia. All of our chefs give their time for free, because each and every one of them embraces our core philosophy of supporting small producers.

Chocolate Unwrapped
Chocolate Unwrapped is a dedicated chocolate show which takes place as part of Chocolate Week each October. They will be bringing 15 of their favourite chocolate companies, from the very best of the UK’s chocolatiers, the pick of some international chocolatiers and exciting new chocolate companies that you won’t have experienced before. At the October event exhibitors included Artisan du Chocolat, Sir Hans Sloane, Melt, Paul a Young, Rococo, Chococo, Paul Wayne Gregory, Chocolate by Trish, Lauden, Galler, Gorvett and Stone, DeAngelis, Ooh La La, Hotel Chocolat, Choc Chick and Thorntons.

The Oxford Real Farming Conference (on Tour)
Every year in early January “the establishment” of British agriculture gathers in Oxford for two days of debate on their selection of the farming issues of the day. This year the massed ranks of land agents, company agronomists, financial advisers, supermarket buyers, grain traders (and some farmers) busied themselves with debate on the retirement age of farmers and market prices in a global economy.
Frustrated at the lack of engagement with the true failings of modern agriculture, a fringe conference event was launched this year – The Oxford Real Farming Conference. Its organisers, including biologist and writer Colin Tudge and journalist Graham Harvey, are convinced that the Earth’s natural resources are easily able to provide a good, healthy diet for everyone living on the planet today – and everyone likely to be living on it 50 years from now and beyond. All it will take, they say, is an agriculture based on principles of sound biology rather than economic dogma.
We are delighted to announce that an interim conference is taking place at this year’s Festival with the theme “One Million new Farmers, why we need them and where they will come from”

Growing Food
Increasingly we are getting more and more interested in growing our own food. There has been a phenomenal explosion of interest among the public for home-grown produce and healthy eating and this area within the show has been designed to help you with tips and knowledge to get started.
Offering practical demonstrations on composting, planting seeds, digging up root crops, feeding worms and much, much more. Learn how to plant seeds, try it for yourself and take them away with you to grow at home.
You can also come and see the Real Food Festival ‘Capital Growth’ Garden on the roof of Earls Court – part of Rosie Boycotts Capital Growth scheme which offers practical and financial support to communities around London, helping people get access to land and create successful food growing spaces. We have built a growing garden on the roof space of the Earls Court Exhibition Centre which is providing an edible garden for office workers of Earls Court and the Real Food team.

Linking to Schools and Education
The renaissance of a new food culture has to start with our children and the Real Food Festival aims to help support and deliver initiatives that will encourage children to actively engage in producing and preparing their own food. We are delighted to have teamed up with the School Farms Network and School Food Matters to create a ‘Weaner to Sausage’ Competition where we’re asking school farms to produce a festival-worthy sausage which will catch the eye (and the taste buds) of a panel of food experts and celebrity chefs.
On the Friday and Monday of the festival, we will also be inviting schools to come to Earls Court to experience the event first hand. This is an extension of our schools initiative from last year, which proved massively popular and really enthused and excited the children to learn more.

Livestock
To demonstrate the idea of where our food comes from there will be an impressive array of livestock on show, from Petal the water buffalo (courtesy of Laverstoke Park Farm), pigs, chickens and the ever popular return of the Sheep Show.

For more information about the Real Food Festival visit: www.realfoodfestival.co.uk
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Notes for editors:
For festival enquiries please contact:
Fabio Diu:
Tel: 020 7370 8627
Fax: 020 7244 3128
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For all media enquiries please contact:
Nilam Jadav: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
Tel: +44(0) 20 7420 3550
The Real Food Festival 2010 will take place on 7-10 May at London’s Earls Court.
The 7th, 8th and 9th of May are open to the public. Tickets cost £9.50 in advance and £15.00 on the door. Under 16’s go free.
The trade day is Monday May 10th, from 10am – 6pm. Admission for trade visitors is free, visit: http://www.realfoodfestival.co.uk/ to register or to buy tickets
Over 400 small producers that have been hand-picked by the Real Food selection committee and subsidised to take part will come together to showcase delicious food & drink produced ethically, fairly and sustainably in the UK and around the world.
Driven by a passion for food that is fresh and grown or reared on healthy soil, free from chemical pesticides, fertilisers and new-fangled additives so that it is packed with flavour and essential nutrients, the Real Food Festival brings together food champions, artisan producers and food lovers in a single fabulous event. 
With a focus on buying locally, sustainability, fair and ethical production and healthy food, the Real Food Festival 2010 is leading the debate on the quality and sustainability of food production.

The Soil Association is the official Charity Partner of the Real Food Festival 2009. The Soil Association has long been regarded as the UK's leading campaigning and certification organisation for organic food and farming, and a champion of human health. It campaigns for safer, healthier produce and production methods, and to build public awareness to influence government and industry attitudes to issues such as genetic engineering in food, animal welfare, use of pesticides and antibiotics and the harmful effects of intensive farming on food quality and food safety.

Sacla is the sponsor of all children’s and educational activities. For seventy years, Sacla’ have been making food with care, flair and love. They have a real respect for tradition, honouring the wisdom of age-old techniques in growing and preserving vegetables and following the rhythm of the seasons wherever they possibly can. They’ve spent decades developing and nurturing intense and supportive relationships with their farmers and growers and investing in quality and sustainability. Together, they work to get rid of the use of pesticides and other nasties, preferring instead to encourage a more organic approach to farming. They celebrate and champion real food by using generations’ worth of expertise and resource to make sure that future generations will continue to share in Mother Nature’s endless bounty.

Laverstoke Park Farm sponsors the main event. Laverstoke Park Farm is an organic and biodynamic farm owned and run by former F-1 driver Jody Scheckter. It aims to become self-sufficient and self-sustaining, producing the best-tasting, healthiest food without compromise.

Wales The True Taste are a major regional sponsor. It was created to promote excellence in Welsh food and provide a recognised benchmark. It works with partners throughout the industry to build on this natural strength and to add value to Welsh food at every point in the supply chain, as well as working with Welsh food and drink manufacturing and processing businesses to help them achieve business growth in the Welsh, UK and International marketplace.

Ecover sponsors the main event. As the pioneer of ecological cleaning, Ecover has been developing sustainable cleaning products for the home for over 30 years. Ecover’s range currently includes more than twenty-five different cleaning products that clean effectively as well as having a minimal impact on the environment. Ecover operates with sustainability at its core; using plant-based and mineral ingredients in all of their products, ensuring that they respect the environment and biodegrade quickly and completely after use.

Jersey Enterprise sponsors the main event. It is tasked by the States of Jersey Economic Development Department to grow the economy by assisting Jersey entrepreneurs and businesses succeed and encouraging new investment into Jersey.

Real Food Festival, Earls Court Exhibition Centre, Warwick Road, London SW5 9TA