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At The Big Lunch we believe that food tastes better when it’s prepared with the environment in mind. That’s why we thought we’d tell you about the Cono Sur Green Cooks Search, an online competition to find the UK’s most environmentally-friendly home cook.
Cono Sur is a Chilean company that makes award winning wine sustainably. The aim of the competition is to reward cooks that share their green credentials and use home-grown, organic or ethically sourced ingredients.
They’ve signed up top chefs known for their eco friendly cooking, to be on the Green Cooks Search judging panel, including Michelin-starred chef Paul Merrett of The Victoria in West London, Jamie Grainger-Smith, co-founder of London’s first eco-restaurant Acorn House and current director of restaurant consultancy Think, Eat, Drink, and the Soil Association’s Organic Food Awards chairman Barny Houghton, who is also an award-winning chef and founder of the Bordeaux Quay restaurant and cookery school in Bristol.
The competition closes on Friday 17th December so now’s the time to get cooking! You can upload recipes, photos and videos of your green cooking exploits on the website and check out the judges’ sustainable recipes, which include a step-by-step guide for those that want to have a go at home. The recipes are all matched with wines from the Carbon Neutral® Cono Sur range.
The winner of the competition will be announced on 22nd December and they’ll bag themselves a fantastic prize of a weekend break for two at The Victoria, including a delicious, seasonal meal cooked by Paul Merrett, paired with Cono Sur wines.
And there are more prizes… The entry of the week wins a case of Cono Sur wine and a grow-your-own vegetables kit from our friends at Seed Pantry.
For more information and to enter the competition, check out the Cono Sur Green Cooks website.
We’ve just got news in of the first Big Lunch to have taken place in Australia this year. The organiser, Tina Jackson, wrote to tell us about the day:
‘Around 200 people picnicked on home grown food in the village square for Mosman’s Big Lunch, the first of its kind to be held in Australia. A jazz trio played, a local acapella group sang, and among the attractions were worm farms, chickens and plant potting demonstrations. Mosman residents of all ages were invited to come together for a friendly lunch to celebrate their community and encourage local households to grow edible plants, raise chickens and other home produce.
The lunch was organised by the Mosman Home and Community Gardeners and supported by the local Council. It was the brainchild of Lyn Morehen, who having seen how popular The Big Lunch is in the UK, was keen to launch the concept in Australia.
The Mayor of Mosman, Anne Connon, opened the lunch and stressed the importance of the burgeoning community garden movement and of the idea behind The Big Lunch. Mosman’s Big Lunchers are planning an even bigger event next year, and hope that other suburbs in Sydney and around Australia will pick up the idea and run with it.
Mindful of how historic the day was, everyone was asked to sign a Guest Book, to be held in the heritage section of Mosman Library. The most repeated sentiment of the day was “what a great idea…we should have lots more”, but the following comment, the first entry in the Guest Book, says it all -
“The Mosman Big Lunch reminds us that sharing naturally grown food with one’s neighbours is not only what we used to do years ago, but what we should be doing more of today. Hooray for Mosman’s Big Lunch!!”
For further information please email mosmansbiglunch@gmail.com
The Trussell Trust has launched its BIGGEST EVER Christmas Shoebox Appeal. Last year they took 3,882 Christmas shoeboxes filled with gifts to Bulgaria’s poorest and most marginalised people. In the past year they’ve met more people in desperate poverty across Bulgaria so we need to do our bit and donate more gift-filled shoeboxes than ever.
This year, the Trust is asking us to make a Christmas shoebox (or 4…) filled with small gifts, ranging from soap and toothbrushes to teddies and socks. You can make an even bigger difference by getting your school, work or community centre involved and telling your friends, family, colleagues and neighbours to make a box too. If you collect more than 100 boxes the Trussell Trust can arrange to come and pick them up.
Visit the website to download a Christmas box leaflet, and start making your Christmas shoebox today!
If you live too far away to get a shoebox to the Trussell Trust headquarters in Salisbury, why not donate to their online appeal and they’ll make your box for you.
Why Bulgaria?
Bulgaria is the poorest country in the EU. Every month 150 children are abandoned to orphanages, many of which are poorly run. Bulgaria’s Roma people are seriously marginalised, many live in slum-like homes with no running water or heating, despite temperatures reaching -20 degrees. Christmas Shoeboxes not only bring a bit of joy to people living in extreme poverty but also help The Trussell Trust to build relationships enabling us to help people break out of poverty longer term.
Every Christmas box you make will transform someone’s Christmas.
Please take your boxes to:
St Michael’s Community Centre
St Michael’s Road
Salisbury
SP2 9LE
or call 01722 411244 if you’re not sure how to get your boxes to them.
Visit the Trussell Trust website for more information
Big Jubilee Lunch 2012, an Eden Project
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