Wandsworth Guardian Coverage

Nice pics but a better report can be found at Tooting Online.  Meanwhile Thanks Gillian for sharing the Crafty Pint pics here

Foodival 5, A Great Success

A busy second day of Foodival was enjoyed by hundreds at Tooting Market today where food, fun, stalls, music and comedy made us all forget the bad weather outside.  The punters swarmed like Tooting bees to buy their Tooting £s to exchange for local Tooting delicacies made from yesterday's donated food.

We'll be adding to the slideshow below which includes pictures of the whole weekend's activities. 
Thanks to Lahore Karahi, Al Mirage, Ricks Restaurant, Pooja and Spice Village who all did Tooting proud with their amazing cooking.  Remember you can use your Tooting £s as a voucher to take advantage of special offers at these brilliant purveyors of culinary excellence!  (As long as it is stamped or ticked appropriately!).  Stalls meanwhile, included EcoPeace, Alizarin Wine, The Fabulous Felt Lady, Crafty Pint, S.M.A.R.T, Tooting Community Garden, Doddington Estate Roof Garden, Friends of the Earth, Streatham Cemetery Bees, Bottletop Magic and the Happiness Project.  Thanks also to our entertainers: we enjoyed music from Jonathan Buckley, Vince Burke, Giles Read and Larry Sparkle plus comedy from Sam Quinn.

Thanks lastly to everyone who helped out - many of you are in this photo. 

Roll on Foodival 6!

Together We Grow This!

Yes it is possible to grow rather attractive food not very far from the Upper Tooting Road!  A big thank you to all the growers who donated at today's event at Mushkil Aasaan.  And also a big thank you to local chef Volker Nissen for his fabulous cooking, turning unlikely looking ingredients into something delicious as if by magic right before our eyes.  Volker made a spicy beetroot soup, a marrow pasta and a pumpkin risotto - recipes please!

Don't miss tomorrow's second half of this annual food festival at Tooting Market from 12, where we can sample the homegrown Tooting produce cooked by local restaurants.  See you there.

Counting Down to Foodival

Transition Town Tooting has been running the Foodival since 2008, so this year is the 5th incarnation. Foodival connects local growers of vegetables and fruit to local restaurants and local people, aiming to tap into and share expertise around growing and making food as well as being a fun event for all the family. 

One of the key ideas behind the Foodival is that food in Tooting can be more sustainably produced.  Food grown and sourced locally has less of an impact on the planet with an almost negligible carbon footprint.  At next weekend's Foodival you will be able to eat a dish that has only travelled one or two "food miles" and then maybe on foot or the back of a bike! 

Don't forget to bring any fruit and veg that you can spare on Saturday.  You may even see your produce cooked on the spot by our Michelin background chef Volker!

On Sunday don't miss the chance to try locally grown food cooked by a variety of local restaurants while perusing the stalls and relaxing to an eclectic of musical and comedic entertainment at Tooting Market! 

Foodival 2012 promises to be even bigger and better (is that possible?) and we look forward to seeing you there.

A good haul for the Foodival

Jeni was busy out and about in Tooting today 'harvesting' buckets to decorate tomorrow night.

If you want to do some decorating come along to the Foodival Prop making evening at Mushkil Aasaan 222 Tooting High Street tomorrow from 7 -9 pm. We need all hands on deck to get these done and the banners - no previous artistic ability needed, just enthusiasm and old clothes.

Foodival 2012 Poster

Foodival 2012

This year's Foodival takes place over the weekend of the 22nd & 23rd September.  As in previous years we are looking for local gardeners and food growers to donate any surplus produce you can spare to be used by local chefs and restaurants to cook up delicious local food.  I am doing my best with out of control Rocket plants!

On Saturday 22nd we will collect food donations at Mushkil Aasaan between 11 and 4pm and as well as our familiar Restaurant Cook-up Challenge, this year we also have Pop-up cookery demonstrations from a local Michelin background chef.

On Sunday 23rd, the main event takes place in the wonderful 1930s Tooting Market from 12pm-4pm with free entry, free live music, activities for kids including recycled bottle-top art, competitions with recycled prizes and a heck of a lot of food tasting!                 David