Welcome to the first Slow Food Cornwall Newsletter
There has been a great deal going on behind the scenes here at SFC and
at SFUK.
We know that communication with membership has not been regular and we
are attempting to remedy that, as well as get a full and varied calendar
of events for you to attend or get involved with. Please do note that we
have a beautiful website kindly donated by Jump Media with full events
listings and contact details available for your use. Speaking of
websites, Slow Food International have just sent news that their website
has been relaunched, go and check it out!
www.slowfood.com
IF YOUR MEMBERSHIP HAS LAPSED NOW IS A GREAT TIME TO GET BACK INVOLVED!
SFUK News
Some very exciting news that will make a lot of things simpler for us
volunteers on the SFC committee is the opening of the SFUK office in
Ludlow this winter. After everyone’s great support with fundraising,
Fiona Richmond of SFUK will be taking up her post in Ludlow on the 4th
December.
EVENTS – See website for full details of all events
www.slowfoodcornwall.com
Lindy Van Welie, a valued member of our committee who usually puts up
with our presence at her home as host venue for most of our meetings,
has organised the Pottery, Pippins and Pork event for the 18th October.
This event is fully booked, but please let us know asap if you are
interested in anything similar or have an idea to suggest for an event.
Tales from Turin - Friday 10th November 2006
Prepare for an Italian influenced feast at Barclay House, Looe on Friday
10th November 2006, which will be prepared by eponymous Chef & Slow Food
Member Nick Barclay. The theme of the lunch will be inspired by his
visit to the Salone del Gusto and Terra Madre held in late October in
Turin – which is attended by thousands of people from all over the
world.
Nick Barclay is looking forward to the trip and says, “It is an honour &
a privilege to be invited and my head is spinning with anticipation.”
Find out more about the events in Italy on
www.terramadre2006.org &
www.salonedelgusto.com
The cost to Members is £20. To book, email
katy@slowfoodcornwall.com or
call 097813792968
Forthcoming Events tbc – Updates on the Website
‘How to use game’ Demonstration
Riverford Organics – visit and demos
Wild Food foraging and cooking
‘Windswept Winter Walk’ – based at Windswept Café with their Pudding
Club in Newquay
AGM – March/April 2007
SFC Coffee Mornings and Updates
Truro Decorative and Fine Arts Society/SFC joint event
SFC at Bedruthan Steps Hotel…and many more!
Also see the website for reports and pictures from past events!!
www.slowfoodcornwall.com
Committee Member Profile!
Nick & Mithe Howell @ The Pilchardworks
After selling our fresh fish business in 1990 (which had a turnover of
£3m), I went back into salting at the Pilchard Works which was rather
smaller (turnover £110,000). It had one product, salt pilchards, and one
customer in Italy whose family had been buying the product since 1905.
The business needed to diversify and some of the ideas included
capitalising on the business’s 90-year heritage as a museum, and another
was to re-look at pilchards and find out why people didn’t buy them
fresh.
We found that people didn’t particularly like pilchards but they did
like sardines; the two species had very different images. One was of
tins, tomato sauce, school meals and a horrible taste, the other was
beaches, barbecues, Spain and sunshine. As the sunshine image of a
sardine was more acceptable and a pilchard is just a mature sardine, we
decided to re-brand the pilchard as the “Cornish Sardine” in 1997.
That bit of marketing has really made a difference to the Cornish catch.
With other merchants and boats capitalising on the idea, landings have
gone from about seven tonnes a year to 1,400 tonnes in 2005. Defra still
estimates the sardine and pilchard stock around Cornwall are between
600,000-800,000 tonnes. Of course to drive that demand it was crucial to
work closely with the major retailers, and M&S have been fantastic in
developing recipes and ideas. They were the leaders in pushing the
Cornish sardine that other multiples have followed.
In 2001 we looked back at why tinned pilchards weren’t more popular.
Though some people loved them, there was an awful lot of the population
who didn't. It was mainly the sludgy taste of the products that were on
the shelves coupled with memories of school dinners or even the war that
put people off. So we found out how to make them taste better and, to
make the tin appealing, we put a Newlyn School painting on the front. We
aimed the taste and look to appeal to a Waitrose-type customer and
Waitrose were very helpful and launched the new line in 2002.
The Eden Project were our first Cornish customers and they were good
enough to place a good sized order that helped to get the project off
the ground. The tins have been a great success. We’ve added a smoked
variety since then and are launching a special tomato one and the first
Cornish line caught mackerel tins in early 2007.
And here’s a recipe from them!
Chargrilled Sardines served over Greek salad Recipe - Serves 4
Ingredients
8 sardines gutted and scaled
250g block of Cornish Feta diced
Handful of good quality black olives
1 cucumber thinly sliced
1 red onion thinly sliced
4 ripe tomatoes
½ fennel bulb sliced
Handful of rocket salad
200ml extra virgin olive oil
1 lemon cut into four wedges
Method
1) Place the sardines on a hot chargrill for three minutes on each side
– this should be more than enough.
2) Arrange the rocket leaves on a plate, then add the Cornish Feta,
olives, cucumber, red onion, tomatoes and fennel bulb to the plate.
3) Top the salad with the sardines and a wedge of lemon and drizzle with
the olive oil.
Last Word…
As valued members we would like to know what you want from Slow Food
Cornwall and what you can provide to help support us. If you want to get
more involved, please let us know. Any ideas or comments are welcome as
we would like to get Slow Food Cornwall moving in a positive and
energetic direction.
All the best, I look forward to hearing from you, please do get in
touch!
Katy Davidson, Chair, Slow Food Cornwall 2006.
www.slowfoodcornwall.com
katy@slowfoodcornwall.com
07813792968
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