Viva Brighton Issue #56 October 2017

COMMUNITY
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Edible Brighton
Making a meal of the city
Photo by Rob Orchard
Brighton and Hove
is an increasingly
edible city. There are
a number of ways
that we can produce
a feast for ourselves
and our communities.
In the fields
surrounding us
during the warmer
weather you’ll see
the city flocks of
Herdwick Sheep
grazing. Brighton and Hove Sheep Share, run by
Brighton Community Agriculture, works to get
those sheep onto city plates. Fattened up over
the summer, the sheep are slaughtered humanely
and butchered locally, with orders for the meat
taken online. There are plans for a similar pig and
market-garden scheme.
The Brighton and Hove Food Partnership is a citywide
initiative that works to get people growing
and cooking food. Amongst many other schemes,
it is involved in: community gardens, the newest
one being at Saunders Park; ‘gleaning’ days, where
unharvested produce is picked and redirected to
those in need; a Casserole Club, linking those with
an extra portion of food to share with an isolated or
elderly neighbour that would benefit from the meal
and the company (more on pg 19); and a community
composting scheme, with food waste paying
dividends for local gardens or allotments.
There are just over thirty community kitchens
across the city - places where groups can come
to learn about food, cook and eat together. The
Food Partnership is planning to open a city-centre
kitchen and cookery school next year. It will be
launching a crowdfunding campaign soon to
bolster the support
it has already
received from local
businesses.
For a drink to
accompany your
locally reared and
grown food, Old
Tree Brewery have
a call out for your
surplus apples and
pears. Old Tree is
brewing a Brighton
Blend cider from donations, offering 500ml of cider
or cider vinegar per 12kgs of apples, or a litre of the
fresh juice straight out of the press if you take your
own bottles.
Brighton and Hove Honey can be found in shops
all over the city, made from rooftop and garden
hives by our bees and apiarists. The Brighton
and Lewes Division of the Sussex Beekeepers Association
spans from Portslade to Newhaven, and
north to Haywards Heath, and runs taster days for
anyone interested in taking up beekeeping. Hove
councillor Robert Nemeth, an avid beekeeper, tells
us: “Aside from loving nature and being outdoors, I
became a beekeeper to do my bit to solve the problem
of bee numbers declining. Rather than protest
or sign petitions, I thought that I’d just get on with
it. The same goes for food supply chains. If we can
produce locally, we should.”
Brighton and Hove is a city that is bountiful for
its residents, and its food culture grows community
interaction as much as it does produce. The
Council, Brighton and Hove Food Partnership
and Brighton Permaculture Trust, as well as all
the groups mentioned here, can help you to get
involved. Cara Courage
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