Foodie fun with local flavours
Year 5 and 6 children from Bishop’s Waltham Junior School had their taste-buds tickled last week when local home economist Davina Tibbetts and The Southern Co-operative store manager Sam Freemantle dropped in with some tasty local flavours for them to try.
The workshops form part of a joint project between The Southern Co-operative, Bishop’s Waltham Chamber of Trade and the Junior School, through which it is hoped the children will learn about the food produced in and available from the local area.
During the four 45-minute workshops, 120 children were encouraged to taste an array of local produce including food and drink from The Southern Co-operative’s ‘Local Flavours’ range, Durley strawberries from Hylands and freshly baked Barringtons sourdough bread.
The sessions have provided inspiration for the children’s next challenge to design a two-course menu using local ingredients. The winning menu will be cooked and served to the winning team in local restaurant Piccola Roma.
Sam Freemantle, who manages both of The Southern Co-operative stores in Bishop’s Waltham, was thoroughly impressed with how enthusiastic the children were. She said:
The children were really eager to try new foods. These included Hill Farm apple juice, local trout pate, Lyburn cheese, Dorset Blue Vinny cheese and Isle of Wight tomatoes from our Local Flavours range. I’m looking forward to their recipes following this tasting session.
Davina added: “These workshops were the start of the competition, and gave the children inspiration for their menus. They embraced the opportunity to taste, and were keen to participate.”
On the Bishop’s Waltham What’s On Facebook page, Debbie Stimpson posted:
My daughter thoroughly enjoyed this.... She loved trout, apparently, and nettle cheese! I think the parents should have been invited along too.
This event marks the start of more formal collaboration between The Southern Co-operative and Winchester City Council’s Market Towns Development initiative. With a store in each of the market towns covered by the initiative (Alresford, Bishop’s Waltham, Denmead and Wickham) and clear crossover in aims for the community, The Southern Co-operative is supporting specific projects being undertaken by the Market Towns Development Officer. As well as financial support, colleagues from The Southern Co-operative will get in involved in projects such as Apple Days in Alresford and Denmead, “Taste of Wickham” festival in Wickham and further food and community-centric projects in Bishop’s Waltham.