Members of the Food Group aim to promote healthy eating, home cooking and encourage people to eat what’s in season and local by:

• Eating less meat and sharing vegetarian/vegan recipes Veggie recipes
• Growing veg with Edible Abingdon – our new project to grow bee-friendly herbs and vegetables in demonstration beds on Abbey Meadow, outside Old Station House, and in Abbey Gardens
• Cooking with Carousel Cooking Club mother and toddler group: a weekly, Thursday morning cooking session at the Carousel Family Centre in South Abingdon
• Loaning out our kit of apple crusher, press and pasteuriser, encouraging better use of our local apple crop, including all those windfalls!
• Buying local food at the quarterly Local Excellence Markets

What is the outlook for our food supply? At almost every point, it depends on cheap fossil fuels for production, processing and transport. But there are local suppliers who are working to produce and market fresh food ethically and sustainably, with very few “food miles”. One scheme that some members of ACC subscribe to is the Tolhurst Organic Veg Box scheme – bags of vegetables are delivered to central Abingdon on Thursdays for you to collect every week. There’s also the Cultivate mobile veg van,  which has weekly stops all over Oxford.

What can we all do?

Do you use your loaf?

LOAF is a good set of principles for food choices:
Local
Organic
Animal friendly
Fair trade

We think it makes sense for everyone to:

• eat foods that are in season in the UK whenever possible;
• buy locally produced food;
• try home cooking – switch from prepared meals to fresh foods – see some favourite recipes here;
• reduce waste by making use of leftovers – you can get great recipes from Love Food Hate Waste;
• try growing their own – did you know there’s a gardening club at Peachcroft Farm? (contact ) And, there are courses available at the Oxford Garden Project.

The group are always looking for more people to get involved. Why not contact us.