Scotland’s largest one day food and drink festival has partnered with local charity, Community Food Initiatives North East (Cfine), to put food waste and accessible food at the forefront of the event.
The Aberdeen-based charity which operates across the north-east and Highlands will bring a range of activities for all ages to take part in.
It will also showcase the variety of services and enterprises it runs while highlighting how it distributes food across the region from its warehouse in Aberdeen to support those most in need.
Some of the activities taking place at Taste of Grampian at P&J Live in Dyce, Aberdeen on Saturday June 4, will be focused around families, with plenty for children to enjoy.
Get involved
Youngsters will be able to pot their own fruit and vegetable plants in the community garden the charity will be creating in the event’s Kids Zone.
With compost and a range of seeds to pick from, children of all ages will be able to take their plant home and watch it grow.
For those feeling peckish, the charity will be selling fresh fruit pots from their mobile pantry vehicle which helps bring their services to remote and rural areas and reduce reliance on foodbanks.
James Martin and The Hairy Bikers will also get a flavour of what the charity has to offer when they cook up a storm during their demonstrations with the produce. Cfine will provide the chefs with a range of fruit and vegetables that they will use in their recipes throughout the day.
There will also be the opportunity for the public to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables to take home from the charity’s stand.
Cfine partnership
Fiona Rae, chief executive of the not-for-profit, is delighted that Cfine, who partnered with The Press and Journal for The Big Christmas Food Appeal in December last year, will be working with the festival run by the publisher.
She said: “This fantastic recognition is hugely appreciated by the team of staff and volunteers at Cfine who work tirelessly to ensure we can continue to make a positive impact on the lives of families and individuals across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire.
“Cfine’s range of support services and projects will be showcased at the event and we look forward to engaging with the festivalgoers and raising awareness of the work we do across the local communities.”
Sustainability is at the forefront of Taste of Grampian this year and Cfine’s ethos lies in line with the festival’s commitment to making the event more sustainable.
Martin Carle, sustainable food coordinator at Cfine says that sustainability has never been more important within the food system.
He says the partnership shows that the region is striving to be a leader in food sustainability and will help build a food system where people can readily access sustainable and affordable food.
“Granite City Good Food is leading through partnership to create a truly local sustainable food system, and is soon to be amongst the first food partnerships in Scotland to apply for a Sustainable Food Places Silver award.
“This would be amazing recognition of some fantastic work ongoing to tackle lots of different issues, from food insecurity to the climate and nature emergency, supporting good food business, and everything in between.”
The Press and Journal is proud to once again be supporting the local cause and is encouraging those attending to pay the different touchpoints a visit to really capture the essence of Cfine.
Editor in chief at the publisher, Frank O’Donnell, said: “The local community is hugely important to our newspaper and being able to partner with Cfine, who operate throughout the north-east and Highland region, is fantastic.
“We have seen huge support for the charity from our readers when we launched our The Big Christmas Food Appeal and it is great to be continuing this relationship within our events, especially one as big and family-orientated as Taste of Grampian.
“It sounds like Cfine will be running a whole range of activities to connect with all ages.”