Foodival Video & Press

Some video snapshots from the Foodival plus last week's Wandsworth Guardian article.

"I Never Thought A Salad Would Win"

 Top Tooting cook reports "Crushing Shame"

The Top Tooting Cook competition was a resounding success at the weekend with a dozen entrants and a wide range of dishes carefully tasted by our judging panel of Claudia Ruane (Director of Abel and Cole), Rex Osborn (Labour Councillor), Mark Watson (Chair of Sustainable Bungay) and Hoosen Randeree (Deputy Head of Gatton School) to whom we are very much indebted.

However, no one could have predicted that all the assiduous judging over forty minutes would result in the clear winner being "What's For Dinner?" with her Jazzy Garden Salad. All fine so far. However, scandal broke when it became clear that "What's For Dinner?" was actually competition organiser, Malsara Thorne, who now takes up the story. 

Spot the winner!

"It’s taken me a while to come to terms with what happened at Sunday's cooks' competition. When the judges finally came up with a winner, horror of horrors it turned out to be me!  To be crowned Top Tooting Cook in front of the good people of Tooting, after so many had spent hours over a hot stove was not what I had imagined in my craziest dreams. I was too embarrassed to accept any prize bar the hat I had made for the winner, ... that fitted me perfectly! 

My Embarrassing Moment of Victory

I confessed my shame and embarrassment to my boss who said: "you mean to say that you organised a cookery competition, set the criteria for scoring and won it by producing a salad? Did you pick the judges as well?!" No! I did not pick the judges or offer any bribes and yes, that is exactly what happened, I never thought a salad would win! I am sure if the judging criteria had been on taste alone, I would have been nowhere.

Lessons have been learnt, next year the scoring system will be simplified and “What’s for Dinner?” will not be featuring!

Well done to Mal who deserved to win despite her embarrassment! Recipes from the day can be found HERE

Foodival 2013 Photos & Donors

Here are a few photos of the weekend's activities at the fabulous Foodival 2013.  What a great event!

And special thanks to all the lovely people who donated their locally grown fruit and veg including but not limited to (!):

Tooting Community Garden, North Drive
Potatoes (pink fir apple, duke of York), elephant garlic, garlic, onions (white and red), runner beans, radishes, parsley, thyme, rosemary.

Rose, Stephen and Margaret, Longley Road and Becmead Avenue
Pears, Quince, Apple Hilary, Trevelyan Road Plums

Mal and David, Ramsden Road,
Sage, cabbage, rocket, marrow, tomatoes, kohl rabi

Delia, Southcroft Road
Potatoes, onions, cabbage, cauliflower, bay leaves

Amee and Indrajit, Tooting Pharmacy
Epsom Swiss chard, cooking bramley apples, garden figs, thyme, rosemary, rocket

Maggie, Burntwood Lane
Parsley

Gary & Gillian, Fallsbrook Road
The largest marrow in Tooting!

Swarna, Blakenham Road
Curry leaves, spinach, gotukola, chillies

Brendan and Libby, Longley Road
Kale, cabbage, chard, spinach, russet apples and other local apples

Susan, Cornford Grove,
Dessert grapes (grown outdoors!)

Valerie, Fishponds Road and Jane, Woodfield Avenue
Apples, bay, chard

Lucy, Woodnook Road
Nasturtiums, chard, apples

Mark, Suffolk
Sage, roses, peppermint, lemon balm, yomogi, anise hyssop, toronjil, plantain, lemon verbena, hawthorn, rosehip, mugwort, st john’s wort – all for use in herbal teas!

Susie, Earlsfield
Courgettes, rondes de nice, goldie

Belinda, Beechcroft Road
Courgettes, sage, kale

Geraldine, Beatrix Potter Allotments
Utterly delicious cucumbers

Kath, Khartoum Road, Garratt Park Allotments
Spuds, beetroot, cabbages and marrow

Kelly and Miranda, Bramford Community
Garden Herbs (rosemary, basil, sage, thyme, chives, mint, lavender) horseradish, potatoes, parsley, cauliflower leaves, nasturtiums, marigolds, fennel leaves, rocket leaves

Lillias and Rose
Cake made from pears from Tooting

Dan, Tooting Bec
Cooking/braeburn apples, & drinks

Stephanie, Wesbury Court,
Oregano, mint, rosemary, sage, thyme, rocket, bell peppers

Sarah and Teo, Spar Hill Allotment
Tomatoes and potatoes

Lea, Price Close
Tomatoes, chillis

Jenny, Share Community Garden,
Tomatoes, potatoes

Abel & Cole
A whole variety of fantastic fruit and veg

We Grew All This!

Thanks to all the fabulous donors at Foodival earlier today!  Here are most of them.  Come and try local food cooked up by a wide variety of Tootingites on Sunday at Tooting Market as Foodival continues. 

Saturday night and it’s ‘half time’ in the weekend Tooting Foodival.

In the first half:

• We’ve had a brilliant day of walk-in fruit and vegetable donations today: thanks so much to everyone. These ranged from the traditional to the unexpected – all fabulous. From cabbages, kale, carrots and mighty marrows...to Tooting-grown south Asian curry leaves, outdoor dessert grapes from Balham and Pink Fir Apple potatoes grown by Gatton School.
• And much more….some grown in allotments; some in backyards; some in pots on a fifth floor balcony above Clapham South.
• We enjoyed cooking and food preparation demonstrations: squash soup, and later penne pasta with beetroot from Volker; freshly-cooked dosas by Mango Palace; mackerel filleted before our eyes by Rick from Rick’s Restaurant and prepared raw or lightly cooked. All tasting fresh and delicious, and the recipes will be online soon.
• Visitors talked about healthy eating and diet with Morgan and her colleagues, did some drawing with Jeni, played our Community Garden Seed Game, signed up for the TTT email list – and chatted with each other about all their impressions of the day.
• Thanks to all today’s volunteers who helped create such a good atmosphere – and as ever to Mushkil Aasaan for supporting us by providing the premises.

Tonight and tomorrow morning it’s time for team talks and strategy.

• The local restaurant chefs and home cooks involved are preparing their dishes – many of them using ingredients collected today.
• The distinguished judges in the ‘Top Tooting Cook’ informal competition are studying the criteria for tomorrow’s analysis and taste-off.

All welcome tomorrow for the action-packed second half.

• 

  We move to the Sunday venue Tooting Market, starting from 12:00. Top Tooting Cook judging is between 1:00 and 1:30 (with the results announced at 3:00). Visitors can sample local produce prepared by all the participating restaurants: all the details in the blog post below.
• There’ll be plenty of varied dishes, plus music and comedy, until the referee’s whistle closes the 6^th Tooting Foodival at 4:00.

6th Tooting Foodival, this weekend 28th & 29th September. All welcome!

Transition Town Tooting present this year’s two-day Tooting Foodival which promises to be even bigger and better than the previous 5.

Foodival is a celebration of local growing and cooking

- with a sustainable slant.

This year we've made a comprehensive booklet which describes all the whys and whats of the Foodival - plus giving more background on the many partners. It's a proud record of community activity in Tooting.

Click here to read or download a copy of the Foodival booklet

In summary, the Tooting Foodival is a free event for all the family which

runs over two days:

- on Saturday 28th Sept from 11:00-4:00 at Mushkil Aasaan, 222 Upper Tooting Road, SW 17 7EW

- on Sunday 29th Sept from 12:00-4:00 in Tooting Market, 21-23 Tooting High Street SW17 0SN

(click here for a copy of the poster)

Cooking demonstrations on the Saturday at Mushkil Aasaan by: Mango Palace, Rick's Restaurant, Volker Nissen, and guidance on healthy eating from Morgan Serres

Local restaurants who are cooking for the Sunday feast in Tooting Market, using the local produce collected on Saturday, include: Al Mirage, Lahore Karahi, Mis Bar Mleczny, Naked Loaf, Pooja, Rick's Restaurant, Spice Village

Also on Sunday in the market there'll be music and comedy from: Jonathan Buckley, Vincent Burke, The Bara Bara Band, Sam Quinn. Plus local stands and more activities...many thanks to all!

Top Tooting Cook

There is still time to enter this fun and informal competition.

See the video clip on the right of this blog and please call Mal on 07980 611704 if you are interested to take part or find out more.

Would you like to see the 'competition rules'? Please click here. Entrants to the cooks' competition will take away fruit and veg on Saturday to cook overnight for Sunday’s event at Tooting Market from noon to 4pm, vying to be crowned Top Tooting Cook.

We grew the wheat in the Tooting Community Garden
- then we ground it into flour, in Tooting
- then Naked Loaf used the flour in sourdough bread
- and it's soon to be eaten in the Tooting Foodival!

Why do we run the Foodival? This will whet your appetite:

Foodival has always relied on donations of fruit and vegetables from local growers, and on support from local enterprises and home cooks who help create the Sunday feast.

Even in the busy city environs of Tooting, many people are growing fruit and vegetables in their back gardens or allotments, in pots or on windowsills. Foodival aims to show that locally grown food is good for you and can be as tasty as food imported from elsewhere, while of course having a much smaller carbon footprint.

We will showcase dishes with close to zero food miles.

And there will be more to get involved with on both days from local enterprises, community groups and artists.

We'd like to say a big thank you to Wandsworth Borough Council for event support through the WBC Eco Fund.

Come along and enjoy the fun,

and we look forward to seeing you there!

Who Will Be Top Tooting Cook?

Would you like to see the 'competition rules' for the Top Tooting Cook challenge? Please click here.
And you can still join in: please call Mal on 07980 611704 if you are interested to take part, or to find out more.
Or email malsaraw@gmail.com
All welcome to cook!

Foodival Poster

Countdown to Foodival

Transition Town Tooting present our 6^th Foodival on the 28^th and 29^th September 2013, and this year’s two day event promises to be even bigger and better than the previous 5! 

Foodival is a celebration of local growing and cooking with a sustainable slant.  Even in the busy city environs of Tooting, many people are growing vegetables and fruits in their back gardens, allotments, in pots or on windowsills.  Foodival aims to show that locally grown food can be just as tasty and good for you as food imported from elsewhere, while of course having a much smaller carbon footprint.  We will showcase dishes with close to zero food miles. 

Competing Cooks

Foodival has always relied on donations of fruit and vegetables from local growers and this year is no different.  On Saturday 28^th Sept., at Mushkil Aasaan in Upper Tooting Road, volunteers will be accepting donations of any tasty Tooting fruit and veg from local people.  Local chefs and home cooks will then use all this lovely produce to create fabulous Tooting dishes while there will also be several professional cooking demonstrations using the donated food. 

Entrants to the cook’s competition (want to join the cook's here?) will take away fruit and veg to cook overnight for Sunday’s event at Tooting Market, vying to be crowned Top Tooting Cook. Local restaurants have also accepted the challenge to do likewise meaning that Sunday’s event will have a wide variety of Tooting food cooked up by Tooting people. All that’s needed is some Tooting Eaters to sample and enjoy the bounty!  Sunday in the market will have live music, comedy, local stalls, games with prizes, the cook’s competition and a wide variety of food to sample.  

Foodival is a free event for all the family.  Come along and enjoy the fun, 

For more information on Foodival 2013 or to get involved in any way, please contact Dave Mauger via foodivalttt@gmail.com

Cooks Wanted!

Can you cook a tasty vegetable dish?

As part of this year's Tooting Foodival, we are looking for talented home cooks and budding local chefs to share their culinary skills with other Tootingites. Could this be you?

We need volunteers to cook up a dish made from locally grown fruit and vegetables for our 6th Foodival, which will be held in Tooting over the weekend of 28th & 29th September 2013. We will provide you with home grown produce donated from the gardens of Tooting on Sat 28th, ask you to cook it in whatever way you please and then bring along your dish to Tooting Market on Sunday 29th for others to sample. The tastiest dishes will win prizes, with the winner crowned “Top Tooting Cook”.  It’s all in the name of fun, but also to show how locally grown, locally cooked food can be tastier and a whole lot healthier for you and for our environment.

Please call Mal if you are interested in taking part or in finding out more on 07980 611 704 or email : malsaraw@gmail.com

Foodival 2012 Film

Courtesy of our very own award-winning film maker Garry Samett, TTT is proud to release this awesome short film of Foodival 2012. A great memory of a very enjoyable event. Very cool Garry, thanks.