Vegetables, Fruit, Creativity ...

The Tooting Foodival on 14th Sept would love and appreciate your veg and your fruit to help us co-create our low food-miles community feast! You can donate produce on the day or the evening before - from 6.30pm to 8.30pm at Mushkil Aasaan (SW17 7EW). When you see the range and quality of what grows locally, you'll be amazed! Thanks so much for any contribution you can share - simple or exotic, small or large. Here are some examples from recent years, starting with Tooting tomatoes picked in the heat last Sunday (they'll last until the 14th if we make them into sauce).

How will you feed your imagination at the Tooting Foodival? The Foodival mixes sustainability, food, growing, fun, wellbeing and reducing waste. We're going to offer an activity which will inspire you to be creative: all ages welcome. We'll have fruit peel from Tooting's juice bars, Foodival veg scraps, beautiful saved-from-waste materials from Work and Play Scrapstore - South London and Wandsworth Oasis and stories from our Jellybrella project to help you create playful magical micro worlds. We'll tag photos of what you make on Instagram at #createfoodival and once you start creating, you'll see the potential for imaginative re-use everywhere! 

Enjoy our examples in the photos - subtle objects of mystery and fascination! We look forward to what's dreamed up on Sept 14th. As well as creative activities there's the main event: community cooking and the shared feast. Plus live bands, the soap box, boutique stalls and much more...for free! 

Sophie Rushton-Smith To Run TTC

We are delighted to announce that Sophie Rushton-Smith from The Corner Plot will be coordinating this year's Top Tooting Cook Competition at Foodival on the 14 September. 

Sophie was Top Tooting Cook in 2015

In 2015 Sophie won the prestigious TTC award for her use of locally grown vegetables to make a delicious colourful roast vegetable medley. 

Who will be this year's Top Tooting Cook? Could It Be YOU?

There are lots of lovely prizes to be won. Want to take up the challenge? 

See here for TTC FAQs and the 2019 Registration form.

Email transitiontowntooting@gmail.com with any queries.

Three Weeks to Foodival 2019

This year’s Tooting Foodival is only three weeks away! 

Our annual sustainable food celebration takes place in central Tooting between 11am and 5pm on Saturday 14th September. We will close half of Hereward Rd and fill the street with cooking activities, stalls showcasing local products and organisations, creative activities, music and soap box talks. 

The premise of Foodival as ever is that we seek donations of fruit and vegetables from local growers that will be cooked up by local Tooting chefs and served to you, the hungry public, as the central part of our street festival. We seek to show that you don’t need to import food from miles away; you can enjoy sustainable locally grown low food mile delicious fare right here in SW17. 

I Grew This!

We collect donations of fruit and vegetables the evening before (Friday 13th September, this year) where we also hope to immortalise each of our growers in the now famous “I Grew This” photos. This is also the time when prospective entrants to the Top Tooting Cook Competition can pick up produce to conjure a prize winning dish for the following day’s competition. There will be some great prizes! 


If you would like to get involved there are several possible ways to do so: 

1) Are you growing any vegetables or fruit that you could donate? We would be ever so grateful, as Foodival only happens due to home grown produce. 

2) Would you like to help out on the day? We have a reliable team but can always do with a hand from anyone who wants to get involved in some random community fun! 

3) Do you fancy entering the Top Tooting Cook Competition? What is your speciality dish that will wow the judges? Or would you like to be a judge? Here is all the TTC info you need: details of the TTC and the registration form. Good luck and we look forward to what you make!

4) Do you have something to say... about food, sustainability, plastics or anything a bit related? You could book yourself a spot on the Soap Box! 

Whatever, contact us on transitiontowntooting@gmail.com to find out more, check us out on Instragram @tootingfoodival or on facebook

We look forward to celebrating local food and local cooking with you on the streets of Tooting in September!

What Are You Growing?

It's been a strange old summer, what with torrential rain for much of June and scorching weather for quite a lot of July. As usual some of my vegetable patch has done well despite this, while other parts have got a bit confused!

One area of success is runner beans which are cropping plentifully. 

Tooting Foodival is on Instagram these days and as of this evening we have 1,029 followers so we hope we are doing something interesting in our local community! Amazing that this event has been going since 2008!

Tooting Community Garden at the weekend

Do get involved as a grower, a cook or an eater on 14th September or join the gang who make the whole thing happen - you can do as little or as much as you like!

We enjoyed meeting loads of you at the National Park City Celebration at Tooting Community Garden yesterday and hope to see you again in September if not before.

Time to be growing for the Foodival!

There are over two growing months until the Tooting Foodival.

That's plenty of time to grow local vegetables from scratch to donate or cook for the Foodival community festival on September 14th.

What can you grow well in your garden, containers or window box in a couple of months?
Who can you get involved? There's a school summer holiday soon, and could the children be in charge? The RHS has a guide to getting children interested in gardening, here.

 
The varieties below will all grow fast.
Click on the vegetables in the list for more information from gardening websites.
Are some of these new to you? Try them out:

Coriander

Cress

Lettuce

Mizuna

Mustard greens

Radish

Rocket

White turnips

Kohl Rabi  and Beetroot
are worth a try too.

Click here to download a copy of these suggestions with the links to the gardening websites.

What else could be grown quickly? Please share your ideas with us all: Tooting Foodival and Tooting Community Garden are on Instagram, and the garden is on Facebook too.

Happy growing and see you at the Foodival - it will be great to see your produce!

Foodival 2019 - Sat 14th Sept

The 12th annual Tooting Foodival takes place this autumn on Saturday 14th September. The festival aims to encourage people to grow fruit and vegetables locally, cook healthy food with local produce and connect with others to enjoy eating the results!  We are in the planning stages for this year's event and welcome anyone who wants to get involved.

We will create a street feast for up to 500 cooked up from home grown and donated vegetables and fruit, there will be and array of local live music and of course your chance to win the Top Tooting Cook Competition.

We already know we need help with the following:

• Co-ordinating stalls 
• Social media and PR
• Connecting with community groups

and probably lots of other things we haven't yet thought of!  It's a great team effort to create Tooting Foodival and you can get involved in any way you like.

EMAIL US to find out more.

A Magical Festive Feast

St Marks URC Church in Balham festooned with vine leaves, fairy lights and candles, offered the perfect backdrop for a magical festive evening at TTT’s Christmas Dinner last night. The invite to “Norah’s Magical Feast” promised a festive culinary celebration and what a feast it proved to be!  Norah won the overall Top Tooting Cook competition at Tooting Foodival in September scoring not only for the taste and look of all her entries to three categories, but also for her exceptional use of locally sourced ingredients including fruit, vegetables, eggs and honey.

In true MasterChef style, Norah delighted the guests with a sumptuous three course meal starting with a platter of sharing plates of courgette and haloumi fritters and three different kinds of homemade vegetable dips. Generous mains of roast salmon, lamb shank or a winter vegetable tagine followed. Dessert was a splendid affair of sticky fig pudding with salted caramel & coconut topping, roasted fruits with black cherry sorbet or a selection of artisan sheep & goats cheeses served with a variety of chutneys and oatcakes.

Aided by her assistants Dani and Chris, Norah gave us a Christmas dinner to remember for years to come. If you want to sample the delights of Norah’s Kitchen please get in touch with her here. 
Thanks to Bryony Williams #findmeintooting for her photos.

Video: A Walk Through The Crowd

Thanks to Belinda for this smartphone video of her walk through this year's Foodival crowd. Can you spot yourself? Anyone else take some video?

You can also seek out some great memories of the event from our volunteer photographers.  Click these links to see their fabulous work. 

Bryony Williams   Franco Ruarte   Riccardo Sai

We would love to do an exhibition of all our many years of Foodival photographs some time, so if you might be interested in helping make that happen or in offering your photographic handywork please do get in touch with us at TTT.

Thank You Everyone at Foodival 2018

It takes many people to make Tooting Foodival happen.  Here is a short thanks to (hopefully) most of you!

GROWERS

Without your generous contributions of locally grown produce we would not have been feasting!

• Charles & Lesley, Foulser Rd - tarragon & bay leaves 
• Elisabetta, Dahomey Rd - Tuscan kale, cima di rapa, marrow, leeks, chard, pumpkin
• Jane, Furzedown - rhubarb, squash
• Unnamed Tamworth Farm Allotment growers - marrows, squashes, cucumbers, peppers
• David & Mal, Ramsden Rd - radishes, grapes, tomatoes, runner beans, kohl rabi
• Kath, Khartoum Rd - beetroot, carrots, courgette
• Susan, Cornford Grove - grapes
• Michael, Ullathorne Rd - grapes, courgettes
• Hilary, Tooting - plums
• Tooting Community Garden - blackberries, greengages, garlic, Picasso & Maris Piper potatoes, pumpkins
• Rachel, Tooting Bec Rd - courgettes, cucumbers, tomatoes, mini aubergines, chillis, peppers
• Richard, Upper Tooting Park - mint, rosemary, beetroot, courgettes, tomatoes, curly kale
• Charles, Cornford Grove - sprouting microgreens
• Debbie, Furzedown - pumpkin, runnerbeans, cucamelons, squash, courgettes, apples
• Egle, Derinton Rd - pea shoots, mustard sprouts
• Susie, Earlsfield - carrots, yellow courgette, potatoes, tomatoes, runner beans, rosemary, sage
• Belinda, Beechcroft Rd - flowers, marrows
• Poppy & Teo, Streatham - patty pan & butternut squash
• Al, Tamworth Farm - snake gourds, squashes & marrows
• Sue, Furzedown - butternut squash, pumpkin, courgette, green leaves 
• Ollie, Clapham Junction - squash

CHEFS
Volker Nissen of Essential Ingredient for co-ordinating the cooking on Saturday with three notable local chefs: Manisha from Pooja Sweets, Rick Gibbs of Rick’s Tooting & Elisabetta Costantini from Minestra Supper Club.

COMMUNITY PARTNERS 
Mushkil Aasaan - A special thank you to Project Director Naseem Aboobaker who has been a rock-solid friend and partner to us throughout the last 10 years. Letting us use their space and land for free which has allowed us to run projects such as the Tooting Community Garden, Foodivals and countless meetings at Mushkil Aasaan Hall over many years. 

Thanks to Sarah and Deborah at Share Nurseries who have supplied plants to for our pop-up raised beds and to Beate and family who ran the Think Outside stall showcasing their outdoor learning workshops in schools.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Thank you so much to photographers Bryony Williams - findmeintooting, Franco Ruarte and Riccardo Sai.  Click the links to see their amazing work.

LOGISTICS

• Brian Joseph for his generous gift of electricity, water and lending us his forecourt. 
• St Anselms for gazebos
• Gatton School for tables. 
• Work & Play Scrapstore for various making materials
• Volker Nissen for all the catering equipment 
• Miss U stationers for giving us top rates on all our printing
• Al Mirage Restaurant for letting us use their ovens 
• The Phantom Knitter of Old Tooting Town for knitting the Foodival banner

MUSIC
Dermot Jones for curating a splendid "Meltdown" ably helped by Mark on the mixing desk.  All our brilliant artists:
Vincent Burke, Tai Li Ling, Babar Luck, Slim Estrada & Ingrid, The Troubadours de l'Avenue Verte, Emma And The Hot Tub Men and the Unconfirmed. & Ranjit for the dhol!

MEDIA
Rachel Husband for taking Foodival onto Instagram and Tooting PRS for giving us publicity throughout the year.  Everyone who have tweeted/liked and mentioned us in various posts.

TOP TOOTING COOK
TTC local Prize donors: Abel & Cole, Al- Mirage, Deelicious Nazish’s Kitchen,Meat & Shake, Nando's, Unwined, Walker Wyatt Cafe, Bring Your Own Zero Waste Shop.

TTC Judges: Brian Albuquerque, Lillie Langford, Nazish Omar and Rick Gibbs
All cooks taking part in the TTC

STALLHOLDERS
Field and Flower,  Richard Glassborow and 15,000 honey bees, Debbie Morey – Good sorts, Jane Haskings, LSx - Abshir Weli and Charlotte Hawthorne 

VOLUNTEERS

• Ben and Sharon – sustainability games and fun 
• Eleanor and Richard – waste management 
• Barbara and Emily – choppers (and furniture-moving, Emily) 
• Esther and Hilary – manning tables 
• Jenny and Caty for taking your money! 
• Christine for wool-spinning 
• Rosalind & Resina for hard work at the welcome table, and selling plants 
• Leon for fetching and carrying at the clear up 
• Eleanor for looking after cash donation buckets 
• Millie & Lewis for helping out with the food.
• Ranjit & Mita for helping clear up. 

All the Foodival visitors who helped create an enjoyable atmosphere on the day and many of you who helped us tidy up after and take rubbish away. Everyone who very kindly put money into the donation buckets – we need this to make the next Foodival happen so thank you to you all. The residents of Hereward Road – thank you for putting up with us again. 
Tim and the rest of the Metropolitan police team who joined us.

With big love from the Organisers:
Chuck, Volker, Belinda, David and Mal

Tooting Foodival 2018: Congratulations to this year’s Top Tooting Cook competition winners!

Thank you so much to the competition entrants, the judges and to the local enterprises who donated prizes for each class in the 'Top Tooting Cook' competition.

We had fabulous entries made with love and delicious fresh local ingredients...all adding up to good tasting and decision-making challenges for our panel of judges. The panel judged several classes as well as the overall 'Top Tooting Cook'.
Thanks loads to Bryony Williams for her beautiful photographs in this post.
 

Overall 'Top Tooting Cook' Winner: 

Norah Jane Brasington - not only for taste and look of all her entries to three categories, but also for her exceptional use of locally sourced fruit and veg, eggs and honey. 

Her choices symbolised the fundamental reasons of this festival which are encouraging the community to consider sustainable living by Growing Local and reducing the air miles our food travels -  thereby reducing carbon emissions.

A fabulous example of a community action response to addressing climate change!

Winner in the Savoury Class:

Farhana Wahab who made delicious Spinach and potato burgers from locally grown vegetables. The judges commented that 'they are amazing and have great texture'.

Winner in the Dessert Class:

Rachel Crosby who made a blackberry and mint cake using locally grown fruit and mint. The judges were impressed especially by her beautiful presentation.
 

Winner in the Apples and Pears Class:

Nora Jane Brasington for her “beautifully moist" gluten-free apple and honey cake from locally sourced apples, eggs and honey!
 

Winner in the Jams and Pickles Class:

Debbie Morey of Good Sorts won with her “delicious" Damson Jam with fruit sourced from a local allotment.
 

Special Commendation to ‘Baked Bean Boy’ for his hot kale and tomato salsa with “great heat”, all ingredients sourced from donations to Foodival 2018.

The judges cogitate!

The audience enjoying a taste of the entries

 

Why not enter 'TTC' next year in Foodival 2019!

Yum!