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Tropical Wholefoods have got funding from the Department for International Development to develop berry growing and drying in Uganda with their partner Fruits of the Nile.
The berries are Physalis (Cape Gooseberry), Strawberries and Blueberries. TW are working with the Henry Doubleday Foundation on this 2 year programme.
Tropical Wholefoods (Fullwell Mill Ltd) is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more
We are very pleased that Tropical Wholefoods Fairtrade Apricot Kernels were the winner of the Green Familia Gold Leaf TGF Rated Awards for Food and Drink for 2009. This is a reader voted award. Results were announced on December 31st so a great end to 2009 for the kernels. Says Kate Sebag, director of Tropical Wholefoods: the tamari and chilli kernels are proving extremely popular – and now are available in sharing/catering tubs 500g from our website shop.
Tropical Wholefoods (Fullwell Mill Ltd) is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more
Learn how to propagate fruit trees by grafting on this practical course.
14 August 2010
Brighton Permaculture Trust is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more
New Edition of Vegan Cookbook Published to Meet Demand. Lancashire, UK.
In order to meet worldwide demand for her cookbook, Lancashire UK author Catherine Greenall has published a second edition of her vegan cookbook, ‘Vegans Can’t Eat Anything!‘ available now from Ingram distribution, booksellers, publisher Lulu and on-line retailers. The publisher and author apologise for the lack of availability of the first edition in some countries.
Catherine Greenall, as featured by BBC Radio Manchester, Lancashire Life, Lancashire Living, Ormskirk Champion and Mensa magazine, uses fresh, healthy, organic ingredients and the recipes range from regional Lancashire fare to international dishes. For example, ‘Bonfire Pie’ is based on a Lancashire dish eaten with pickled red cabbage on Bonfire Night and ‘Crispy Fried Tempeh and Vegetables in Indonesian Satay Sauce’ is based on a dish from Holland. The titles of the book and chapters originate from what some restaurants actually said when asked for their vegan options.
Catherine Greenall said “Many people are worried about heart disease, strokes and cancers. A vegan diet is excellent for reducing the risk of these diseases, for reaching and maintaining an ideal weight and improving general health. It is naturally high in fibre, vitamins and minerals and low in saturated fats.”
The meat and dairy industries use huge amounts of land and water and generate carbon emissions. This is one of the major contributors to global warming. Changing to a healthier diet not only improves health and reduces the risk of obesity but benefits the planet.
Available from:
Ingram Book Company: http://www.ingrambook.com/retailers/default.aspx
Publisher Lulu.com: http://www.lulu.com/content/paperback-book/vegans-cant-eat-anything/7149029
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1409283852/ref=sr_1_olp_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254925288&sr=1-2
How to indulge yourself AND feel good about yourself? Ethical Consumer’s new report awards best buys for chocolate brands in time for Chocolate Week 09 (12th-18th October).
Chocolate was one of the first, flagship Fairtrade products. Since 1998 sales of Fairtrade chocolate have grown from £1m to £26.8m in 2008.
But outside of the ethical leaders, who ensure human rights and environmental standards in their supply chains, there’s a dark heart to the chocolate trade. More than a third of cocoa (from which chocolate is made) traded globally comes from the Ivory Coast, West Africa. In August this year INTERPOL rescued 54 children, victims of organised slave labour, from Ivory Coast plantations. A US State Department report found child labour, forced labour and people trafficking in the Ivorian cocoa trade. Ethical Consumer’s new report examines industry responses to the human rights challenge.
Ethical Consumer’s new report rates the companies behind 38 chocolate brands across 17 ethical categories in four main headings – Environment, Human rights, Animal rights, Politics.
Best Buys for boxes of chocolates: Booja Booja, Divine, Traidcraft.
Best Buys for chocolate bars: Divine, Montezuma, Tradicraft, Plamil, Vegan Organica.
Ethical lagards at the bottom of the ranking table were Mars (with an ‘ethiscore’ of 2 out of a possible 20), Nestle, Tesco and Asda (each with zero out of 20).
Ethical Consumer’s report is independent of and not endorsed by Chocolate Week 2009.
The latest title from Transition Books covers the whole gamut of Local
Food. It is packed full of ideas, reviews of projects and details of
resources.
Click here to read the review of the book on the New Forest Food Challenge site….
The
Arthur St Trading Co is giving a free fruit or veg box away when you
try their produce over the summer, to encourage the people of Hull to
eat healthier and feel the difference.
Hull, 5th
June 2009 – Hull based Co-operative, Arthur St Trading
Company, today announced a new incentive to help the people of Hull to
eat healthier and more local, and generate awareness of organic growers
in Yorkshire. The promotion is designed to challenge the often common
belief that organic or local food is no tastier than non-organic, and
promote the fact that people tend to feel better and healthier if they
prepare and eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.
A promotion is
available now at www.arthursorganics.com
until 31st August 2009. Customers receive a free fourth veg box when
they buy three by 31st August 2009.
The company, that
was among the final candidates at the Outstanding Young Persons Awards
2008 for their achievement in ethical leadership, reinvests all profits
back in to the co-op and has a passion for sustainability. Their
approach supports local and organic farming, which avoids the use of
pesticides, and helps the environment.
Arthur St Trading
Company Director, Graham Brooks said There is still a lot of news
around at the moment surrounding the credit crunch, and an endless
promotion of cheap food from the supermarkets. Our theory is that
eating healthier is a simple change you can make in your life to feel
better!. Research from the Soil Association has shown people who do buy
some organic produce are not cutting back on un-processed organic food,
but are tending to cut back on leisure spending and ready-meal /
prepared products. This is a strong indicator that they FEEL the
difference by eating organic, and so we believe that your quality of
life can be better with a fresher more organic diet.
The Soil
Association reported this year that although sales are down overall,
consumers are getting smarter and saving money by cooking from scratch
and cutting waste. Their research shows that over a quarter of
customers that dont currently buy organic ‘would like to know more
about organic products than they do’.
Alison Wileman,
Interactive Marketer for Arthur St Trading said To me this statement
illustrates how powerful the media can be. There is so much conflict
and debate about organics, its confusing most consumers. The upshot is
that we care about peoples health, local businesses, and how our
customers feel. Many people believe that eating organic food can make
you feel better, and a growing body of research as cited by the Soil
Association shows that organic fruit and vegetables contain higher
levels of vitamin C and essential minerals, as well as cancer fighting
antioxidants and Omega 3. At the end of the day, if you were presented
with two lettuces, one that had been sprayed with pesticides, coated
with chemicals to make it last longer, and travelled quite a few
hundred miles, compared with one that has been grown in Yorkshire using
naturally occurring substances or traditional methods used for
centuries, which one would you choose?. Were just asking people to
actually taste the food, and see if they can tell the difference.
Arthur St Trading
Company know from some of their own customer feedback that once
customers start to eat more fresh produce, they are reluctant to
compromise by purchasing fruit and vegetables that could potentially
have been grown in artificial conditions and sprayed with a myriad of
chemicals. However for those that havent converted, or indeed for
those that simply cannot afford it, what is the answer?
As Graham told us
To put it strongly, whilst we recognise that our produce is more
expensive than non-organic we do compare very well with the supermarket
organic ranges and are often much cheaper. You will usually find that
items like our salads are from down the road, whilst Tescos lettuces
are from Cambridgeshire. We can source some of our products very
effectively and obtain a lot of seasonal produce from local growers in
places like Rise and Nafferton. We pass those savings on to customers.
When you also add up the free delivery (instead of you taking the car,
we use a solar charged milk float for a proportion of our deliveries
where we can) and the fact that many of our products are simply not
available in the supermarkets, we feel we have a very powerful
offering.
On another note,
we are very mindful of those families that are struggling financially,
and we are hoping to get involved with a funded scheme that will help
certain families obtain produce at a reduced rate.
The company
itself did see a significant downturn in sales with the onset of the
credit crunch last year, although an online buying shop created in
September 2008 saw a 20% increase in new customers.
The promotion is
available now at www.arthursorganics.com
until 31st August 2009. Customers receive a free fourth veg box when
they buy three by 31st August 2009.
In these cash-strapped times,
local food producers offer consumers a way to not only save cash but
eat healthier too. It’s a little known fact that locally produced
food can be cheaper than that available in the supermarket, the problem
is people just don’t know where to look. Until now. BigBarn,
the UK’s leading local food website, has just made finding out how everyone
can save by buying local that much easier.
While
many Farm Shops have signs showing price comparisons with local supermarkets
and others check prices and are confident they are cheaper, consumers
only find out they are saving money when they visit the shop.
Thanks to BigBarn all this has changed. BigBarn already puts consumers
in touch with local producers through its popular postcode-generated
map technology and has now introduced a new £ flag to its maps, showing
producers who are cheaper than the local supermarket.
All people have to do it visit www.bigbarn.co.uk and type in their postcode.
Over 6,500 producers and retailers have icons on the BigBarn map from
farm shops to Farmers Markets. Clicking on a producer’s icon
reveals what they offer, ratings and feedback from the public and the
ability to get in touch direct with the producer themselves. Over
400 of these local producers and retailers have already registered cheaper
products.
How can this be? The
supermarkets huge buying power does mean they can buy cheap, but the
supply chain costs mean that farmers only get 9p in every £1 spent
on food in a supermarket. The maths is simple – if the producer
can sell direct for even 50p he will be getting five times as much and
giving the stretched consumer a 50% discount on supermarket prices –
a win-win, for all but the supermarket! No wonder the new BigBarn
flag is proving so popular!
Thousands of people have already
recognised the difference and changed to shopping locally every week
for essentials and the supermarket once a month for dry goods. Many
are even making extra savings by avoiding BOGOFs and impulse buys.
