Published in the Real Food on-line supplement

At it’s heart, the Slow Food Movement is about real food made by real people. Nothing brings this home more than joining a local Slow Food group and getting stuck in. I’m fortunate to live near both the Oxford and Wiltshire group. Their activities thus far this year have included a memorable game evening at Sheepdrove Organic Farm, in Lambourn (t. 01488 71659 www.sheepdrove.com) which had me plucking local pheasants and watching muntjacs being skinned ; standing in one of the UK’s rare organic asparagus plantations, happily munching the sprue at Iain Tolhurst’s exemplary organic box scheme holding on the Hardwick Estate near Reading ( t. 01189 843428 email:tolhurstorganic@yahoo.co.uk), and sampling asparagus cooked by Sophie Grigson; learning how to use chocolate at Burgers of Marlow Tea Room and Swiss chocolatiers in Marlow ( t. 01628 483389 www.burgersofmarlow.co.uk) a local institution founded 50 years ago, whose violet creams are renowned far and wide; and pitching up at the inaugural Appleton village cum farmers’ market, near Abingdon, once home of Lady Fettiplace, whose 17^th century recipe book by Hiliary Spurling is on my shelves. Amongst other goodies there , I scooped up a magnificent proper free range chicken, reared for 6 months, dry plucked, and hung for a week from Butts Rare Breed Farm and Butchers ( t. 01285 869414 www.thebuttsfarmshop.com ) , as well as feasting on Lady Fettiplace’s saffron buns, cooked by organizer and former fish guru, William Black.

As I have discovered, through Slow Food you quickly realize the abundance of local foods out there to be sampled, enjoyed, inspired by, and learned from. Each region is stuffed with real food if we care to look for it. It’s like a web; one real food producer leading you on to the next. Each producer, too, comes with their own feel good quota about his or her products; How can we help but not support them and be enriched by them?

I’m fortunate to live in Henley on Thames which borders Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, and Oxfordshire , an area that boasts several farmers’ markets and a multitude of producers. Here’s a taster of a few more ten of the many I admire around my bit of Oxfordshire , who all go the extra mile, and who have captured my imagination recently. The main course (red meat) first:

Ranger Organics , Reading. t. 01491 682568. email ; ranger. organics @ virgin.net. Slow Food member, Theresa Whittle is that rare combination of being both producer of excellent organic beef which graze on chalk downland and Thames meadows, and someone who enjoys eating it to the extent that she took herself off to learn French butchery. She butchers all her own meat, and can tell you how to cook the joints we’ve all forgotten . Her mince is the best quality ever. I commend her bavette onglet too. Find her at local farmers markets, and Saturdays at Notting Hill LFM ( London Farmers’ Markets).

Challow Hill Meats, Wantage . t. 01235 765792. www.challowhillmeats.co.uk Another favourite beef supplier, run by mother and daughter, whose rich tasting well marbled pedigree Dexter herd are smothered in tlc, raised on mother’s milk , slaughtered locally and hung for 21+ days. Find them at local farmers’ markets.

Cumbers of Theale, Abingdon t. 01865 391327/391840 www.cumbersoftheale.co.uk. I do like clean farms. This one you could happily eat your dinner off. A third generation farming family, producing organic meat, milk and ice cream who practice impeccable husbandry (closed herd, home grown feed) and who are passionate about both their animals, farm and customers. They’ve installed a state of the art automated voluntary milking machine (yes!) which means that their beautiful Brown Swiss cows milk themselves when they want – the rest of the time they are free to graze and play. It’s designed for the intensive industry but they’ve adapted it to be comfortable for the cows who are also milked to the sound of Mozart, which they love. Why?. Mozart produces alpha waves, which stimulates the right brain. For cows this means stimulating oxytocin, necessary for the mammary glands to express milk (which is why, incidentally milking involves massaging cow’s teats – which the machine does as well). Cumbers produce free range Gloucester Old Spot pork, organic lamb, beef , rose veal, and South Down mutton, another speciality of theirs, and their own bacon. A local ice cream maker makes ice cream from their milk. Farm shop open Mon – Sat 10am- 1pm. Meat is sold vac -packed and frozen. They only kill one beast at a time, so check what’s available first.

Northmoor Trust Little Whittenham Lamb, Abingdon t. 01856 407792 (general) ; 408196 (meat orders) www.northmoortrust.co.uk. Chilterns countryside conservation trust who manage Little Whittenham Nature Reserve . Their lamb is raised to highest animal welfare standards and are lucky enough to feast on grassland rich in wild flowers and herbs in rural idyll, and which they sell fresh at local farmers’ markets. Great value and lovely lamb!. Also currently organizing the Children’s Food Festival , July 14-15^th. For info email: info@childrensfoodfestival.co.uk.

Tree Range Eggs. Bampton, Brize Norton. t. 01993 851364. email: annmaclean05@aol.com. As someone who used to keep 4 pet chickens for their eggs, a good egg is something I crave for. Charles and Ann Maclean have decided to go one further. They’re rescuing spent organic hens , who would otherwise be slaughtered at the ripe age of one year old, and giving them a second life on his smallholding. The chickens roam (and perch) in woods, kept in small flocks of 100, and feast on a diet of grubs and grain. They arrive knackered; within a week or two are happy and producing large beautifully rich eggs. He’s going to experiment with no artificial lighting, which means truly natural eggs, and will also be producing tree range turkeys this Christmas. I can’t wait. His eggs are currently doing a storm in London’s new organic, wild and artisan food store, The Natural Kitchen, in Marylebone High St (t. 0207 486 8065. www.thenaturalkitchen.com

Quince Products, Aston Rowant t. 01491 614664 www.quinceproducts.com. I first met quince devotee Elspeth Wainwright 5 years ago, when she came and picked our crop of quinces for her then fledging venture. Then, as now, she did everything by hand – and if you’ve ever tried to peel and chop a quince then you know what kind of devotion that requires . She makes minute quantities per batch in the old fashioned way – pectin is anathema to her in her jellies – and is now feted by the best food shops in the land who all want her award winning hand made quince products. She has her eyes on medlars next. Look out for her products in the Whole Foods and Daylesford in London, and local farmers’ markets.

Well Preserved Wantage t 0777 1967 633 www.well-preserved.co.uk
Jeanette Howse is one of a handful in the preserve makers in the country who make their preserves as nature intended , using her own or neighbours’ fruit and vegetables, or picking them from the hedgerows, and producing them in her kitchen, which gives them that real home made flavour, much appreciated by the late John Thaw. Plus she uses fair trade sugar. Her lemon curd is made with local organic eggs too. She will even make your favourite grandmother’s recipe for you, and gives talks on preserving (her website begins with definitions of what, say, jam is, which makes revelatory reading compared with what you usually find on ingredients lists of bought jams these days). Find her in local farmers’ markets and events.

And finally….

Bothy vineyard , Frilford Heath, Oxfordshire t. 01865 390067 www.bothyvineyard.co.uk Oxfordshire boasts a clutch of very good vineyards but they don’t come any more artisan than this. Richard and Sian Liwicki, who are also Slow Food members, produce handcrafted medal winning white wines from Oxfordshire’s oldest vineyard, a 3 acre plot of neat, well tended vines and spotlessly clean boutique winery. The vines are 30 years old, the grapes are picked by hand, and meticulously pruned to yield quality not quantity (which means removing up to half the bunches at flowering) They use minimum sprays and are committed to environmentally friendly viticulture. The vineyard is rich in wild flowers, always an eco- heart warming sight; so much so The Ashmolean Society for Rare Plants visits every year to record the early wild flowers. A quick look at their impressive website tells you everything you could possibly want to know. They produce 2 wines, both delicious, a flowery Oxford Dry, and fruity , more full bodied Renaissance. They only sell their wines locally; wine shop open Fri – Sat, 10am-5pm; plus first Sunday of the month and bank holidays.

Cheers!.

BOX Fact file

Slow Food www.slowfood.com

Slow Food Oxon www.slowfood-oxon.org.uk

Local Food & Drink from Berks, Bucks and Oxon www.local-food.net .

Appleton Farmers’ market: held third Sunday in the month, June 17^th; July 15^th; September 16^th; October 21st, email: wmblk@btinternet.com