Food initiative arrives in Harborne

A European wide food initiative which aims to encourage people to buy from local farmers and producers has launched in Harborne, following success in Kings Heath.

The Food Assembly, which aims to bring local communities together, now takes place weekly in over 1000 towns across nine countries after being launched in France in 2014.

Local people order in advance what they want, via the Food Assembly app, from their local farmers and producers, and head along to a designated venue to collect their items each week, giving the chance to meet with others in their local community and get to know the people who provide their meals.

The initiative also helps reduce waste, as producers will deliver only what has been ordered by the customers on a weekly basis. Food producers also keep over 80% of sales, compared to 20-40% through the supermarkets.

The man behind the Harborne scheme, Louis Barnett, was inspired to bring the initiative to the area after already being a customer of the Food Assembly. He said: “I started out as a customer of the Food Assembly as I have always looked-for ways to buy from the local economy, and after seeing the potential, I knew I had to get involved, and set one up closer to where I live.

“I think Harborne already has a great local community and some fantastic local restaurants, you can see there is a perfect demographic for the food assembly it’s just a case of getting the word out.

“We have spoken to local community-based businesses who feel passionately about supporting local producers and cutting out the middle man, where possible.

“We think it is vital for the future of communities to keep initiatives like the Food Assembly successful, and in so helping to keep producers thriving in their local area”.

Louis is hoping that the scheme will have a significant impact on the community. He said: “I hope that it encourages local people to buy local more often, sometimes farmers markets or artisan producers can be difficult to find or buy from, whereas with the food assembly you can buy as often as you like with collections weekly.

“I would hope that in years to come people from local communities would be exchanging 60% of their supermarket shops to the local community.”

Locals can expect to purchase goods from a range of local producers, from meat sourced from the counties’ finest organic pasture fed farm, Model Farm Shop, traditional Egyptian savoury delights made with ancient recipes from Baladee and locally roasted coffee in from Shining Stone Coffee.

One of Birmingham’s acclaimed bakers, Peel & Stone, are also involved in in the initiative, as well as Styan, the family ran fruit and vegetable farm based in Evesham.

Locals can also head along to a tasting evening on the September 28. The event will give the community the opportunity to meet all of the producers and learn what the scheme is all about, without having to buy anything.

The Food Assembly in Harborne is held every Thursday evening from 7.30pm-9pm at St Faith & St Laurence church.