The brand new Rushfields Farm Shop, which sells everything that is delicious in Sussex, is inviting families and customers to join them for a free hog roast and kids pumpkin give-away on Saturday 23rd October. Never mind the weather - the outdoor area has a roof!
A formal opening ceremony will be held at 11am, toasted with Sussex bubbly, and several Sussex producers, including High Weald Dairy, Ringden Farm, Bolney Vineyard and Home Cakery, will be on hand giving out tastings of local food – but the fun will continue all day, running from 10am to 5pm.
Rushfields Farm Shop is on the Henfield Road, at Rushfields Plant Centre, which has been in business for 26 years, has been purpose built as a large, barn-style shop, traditionally constructed with Sussex oak timbers by conservation craftsmen.
Owners Pam and Colin Langridge have made Sussex a huge focus for the shop and have tried to stock everything that is great about Sussex, with a top quality butchers, selling meat so local that you can see it grazing on nearby fields, ably managed by butcher Paul Channon. It also sells classic Sussex cheeses from local dairies, including the High Weald Dairy, local sauces and chutneys from Sussex Valley and even local chocolate, from Cocoa Loco.
Shop manager Rachel Fletcher said: “The shop offers more than most farm shops because you can buy everything you need to eat or drink there, including staples such as bread, milk, butter and vegetables – and all at reasonable prices - so local food lovers have welcomed it with open arms.”
Saturday, 23 October 2010
Friday, 15 October 2010
Sussex chocolate maker under EU attack
This Chocolate Week, not all chocolate makers were celebrating. Former Sussex Food & Drink Awards winner, Cocoa Loco, has been threatened with European legal action if it doesn’t stop using the term ‘champagne truffle decadence’ for one of her products, even though they include genuine French champagne as a key ingredient.
The French champagne authority, The Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, wrote to her out of the blue demanding that she take the term champagne out of the product name.
“It is particularly galling because I have specially bought a lot of good champagne to use in this product for Christmas,” said Sarah Payne, owner of Cocoa Loco.
“Far bigger chocolate businesses than mine are using the term Champagne Truffle – Thorntons, Teuscher of Switzerland, Hotel Chocolat and many other well-known chocolate firms – so why am I being singled out? Are they trying to do a test case with a small company like mine, or are the big firms under attack too?”
The Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne is a French semi-governmental organisation which was legally founded in 1941 and positions itself as in charge of the protection of the appellation of origin Champagne. In their first letter, they said:
“...the association of the name Champagne with chocolate may take unfair commercial advantage of the reputation of this well known appellation and may damage the reputation of its name. Even if your truffles did in truth contain Champagne, that would not in our contention justify use of the appellation Champagne as part of the main product name...
You are consequently requested to cease using the name Champagne to designate Champagne Truffle Decadence for any food products.”
In response to Sarah’s letter explaining that they do use genuine Champagne in the product, a legal adviser to the Comite replied:
“…I would like to highlight that, as a protected geographical indication, the name Champagne may be used by any operator marketing a wine which has been produced in conformity with the product specification. European Council Regulation No. 491/2009 does moreover provide that geographical indication shall be protected against ‘any direct or indirect commercial use of a protected name in so far as such use exploits the reputation of a designation of origin or a geographical indication’.
“We thus believe that the association of the name Champagne with chocolate truffles takes unfair commercial advantage of that name’s reputation and the few Champagne the truffles are made of can’t justify the use of the name Champagne as part of the main product name.
We hope we have convinced you that the protection of the name Champagne is of serious concern to the CIVC and for all of this we shall reiterate our demand.”
Said Sarah Payne: “I am at a loss as to what to do – I can’t afford to start defending a legal challenge in the European Courts, but I also can’t waste good ingredients which I have already stocked up on, so what do I do? It’s Chocolate Week this week and I expect high sales of our delicious champagne truffles!”
The French champagne authority, The Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, wrote to her out of the blue demanding that she take the term champagne out of the product name.
“It is particularly galling because I have specially bought a lot of good champagne to use in this product for Christmas,” said Sarah Payne, owner of Cocoa Loco.
“Far bigger chocolate businesses than mine are using the term Champagne Truffle – Thorntons, Teuscher of Switzerland, Hotel Chocolat and many other well-known chocolate firms – so why am I being singled out? Are they trying to do a test case with a small company like mine, or are the big firms under attack too?”
The Comite Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne is a French semi-governmental organisation which was legally founded in 1941 and positions itself as in charge of the protection of the appellation of origin Champagne. In their first letter, they said:
“...the association of the name Champagne with chocolate may take unfair commercial advantage of the reputation of this well known appellation and may damage the reputation of its name. Even if your truffles did in truth contain Champagne, that would not in our contention justify use of the appellation Champagne as part of the main product name...
You are consequently requested to cease using the name Champagne to designate Champagne Truffle Decadence for any food products.”
In response to Sarah’s letter explaining that they do use genuine Champagne in the product, a legal adviser to the Comite replied:
“…I would like to highlight that, as a protected geographical indication, the name Champagne may be used by any operator marketing a wine which has been produced in conformity with the product specification. European Council Regulation No. 491/2009 does moreover provide that geographical indication shall be protected against ‘any direct or indirect commercial use of a protected name in so far as such use exploits the reputation of a designation of origin or a geographical indication’.
“We thus believe that the association of the name Champagne with chocolate truffles takes unfair commercial advantage of that name’s reputation and the few Champagne the truffles are made of can’t justify the use of the name Champagne as part of the main product name.
We hope we have convinced you that the protection of the name Champagne is of serious concern to the CIVC and for all of this we shall reiterate our demand.”
Said Sarah Payne: “I am at a loss as to what to do – I can’t afford to start defending a legal challenge in the European Courts, but I also can’t waste good ingredients which I have already stocked up on, so what do I do? It’s Chocolate Week this week and I expect high sales of our delicious champagne truffles!”
Friday, 8 October 2010
Sussexonline.tv celebrates Brighton Foodies
See the highlights of the Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards 2010 at www.sussexonline.tv - after the introduction, skip to nearly half way to see the main feature.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Winners of Brighton & Hove Foodies 2010
The winners of the Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards 2010, chosen by almost 5,000 public votes, received their trophies at the grand finale event of the Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival at the 106 Bar of Brighton Hilton Metropole.
Terre a Terre scooped Best Restaurant 2010, closely followed by runners up Hotel du Vin and The Gingerman.
The Ginger Pig won Best Food Pub 2010, followed by Pub du Vin and the Sussex Yeoman.
The winner of Best Café 2010 is Ground, followed by runners up Bill’s and Temptation.
Best Food Shop 2010 is Infinity Foods, followed by Taj and Angel Food Bakery.
The awards were presented by DJ Andrea Fox from Juice 107.2 and Latest7 food writer Andrew Kay at a celebration attended by 150 people in the food industry, sponsored by new environmentally-friendly, socially responsible coffee brand ‘ecoffee’ and Martin Searle Solicitors.
“We can’t quite believe what a success this first year of the awards has been, since we launched it at Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival’s Spring Harvest event,” said Paula Seager, MD of Natural PR who manages the awards.
“The food outlets in the city have got totally behind it and have been wonderfully competitive with each other, whilst the public has just embraced the opportunity to tell us which their favourite outlets are.”
Find out more at www.brightonfoodawards.com
Terre a Terre scooped Best Restaurant 2010, closely followed by runners up Hotel du Vin and The Gingerman.
The Ginger Pig won Best Food Pub 2010, followed by Pub du Vin and the Sussex Yeoman.
The winner of Best Café 2010 is Ground, followed by runners up Bill’s and Temptation.
Best Food Shop 2010 is Infinity Foods, followed by Taj and Angel Food Bakery.
The awards were presented by DJ Andrea Fox from Juice 107.2 and Latest7 food writer Andrew Kay at a celebration attended by 150 people in the food industry, sponsored by new environmentally-friendly, socially responsible coffee brand ‘ecoffee’ and Martin Searle Solicitors.
“We can’t quite believe what a success this first year of the awards has been, since we launched it at Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival’s Spring Harvest event,” said Paula Seager, MD of Natural PR who manages the awards.
“The food outlets in the city have got totally behind it and have been wonderfully competitive with each other, whilst the public has just embraced the opportunity to tell us which their favourite outlets are.”
Find out more at www.brightonfoodawards.com
Saturday, 2 October 2010
Brighton Food Festival Success
Organisers declared this year’s Brighton & Hove Food and Drink Festival a success – both for the city and for the food industry – after record numbers of people attended the events.
Over 100 events were held during September, including major public events organised by the festival committee and others held by eateries and venues across the city and at least 100,000 people were counted enjoying the foodie fun.
The Big Sussex Market, held mid-month in the North Laine, attracted 45,000 visitors each day, the Fiery Food UK Chilli Festival was attended by 8,000 and the Chocolate Market in Churchill Square, as well as the weekly farmers markets held there every Wednesday, were attended by 2,000 apiece, with the World Food Market on Hove Lawns also a success.
“We are delighted with the outcome – both the huge number of local businesses who joined in and held great events, as well as seeing some big names joining the festival this year, including Discovery Food and Utterly Butterly – we have moved the festival up to a new level,” said Roger Marlow, Chair of the Festival.
“I particularly want to thank Nick Mosley, in his first year as Festival Director, for his brilliant efforts and to the team who keep coming back and giving so much of their voluntary time to get things off the ground – especially Andrew Kay, who hosted the Live Food Show in the Pavilion Gardens for two solid days and kept the crowds happy, Paula Seager at Natural PR who is our longest standing supporter and Adam Style at Style Accountants, our treasurer. Also thanks to Frank Jay for his tireless organisation of markets and outdoor events.”
The grand finale event on Monday 4th October, the Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards, will announce the public’s choice of city’s Best Restaurant, Food Pub, Cafe and Food Shop. Find out more at www.brightonfoodawards.com
Over 100 events were held during September, including major public events organised by the festival committee and others held by eateries and venues across the city and at least 100,000 people were counted enjoying the foodie fun.
The Big Sussex Market, held mid-month in the North Laine, attracted 45,000 visitors each day, the Fiery Food UK Chilli Festival was attended by 8,000 and the Chocolate Market in Churchill Square, as well as the weekly farmers markets held there every Wednesday, were attended by 2,000 apiece, with the World Food Market on Hove Lawns also a success.
“We are delighted with the outcome – both the huge number of local businesses who joined in and held great events, as well as seeing some big names joining the festival this year, including Discovery Food and Utterly Butterly – we have moved the festival up to a new level,” said Roger Marlow, Chair of the Festival.
“I particularly want to thank Nick Mosley, in his first year as Festival Director, for his brilliant efforts and to the team who keep coming back and giving so much of their voluntary time to get things off the ground – especially Andrew Kay, who hosted the Live Food Show in the Pavilion Gardens for two solid days and kept the crowds happy, Paula Seager at Natural PR who is our longest standing supporter and Adam Style at Style Accountants, our treasurer. Also thanks to Frank Jay for his tireless organisation of markets and outdoor events.”
The grand finale event on Monday 4th October, the Brighton & Hove Foodie Awards, will announce the public’s choice of city’s Best Restaurant, Food Pub, Cafe and Food Shop. Find out more at www.brightonfoodawards.com
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