Cyclists deliver organic vegetables for charity banquet

The aim of the ride was to highlight the dependence of the increasingly industrialised food and agriculture systems on cheap oil. Carrying over 160kg of organic vegetables with the help of trikes provided by Riverford Organic Vegetables, the cyclists wore organic t-shirts produced by t-Shirt and Sons Ltd with the slogan 'carbon-light food delivery' on the front. The majority of ingredients sourced at The Feast of Albion will be sourced within 50 miles of Tower Bridge. The raw ingredients have been sourced by food champion Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, and the five-course meal, serving up to 400 guests at London's Guildhall, will be cooked by Mark Hix. Iain Tolhurst, managing director of Tolhurst Organic Produce, commented on the cyclists efforts: "I think it's great these guys are making the effort to get my vegetables to the feast in an environmentally friendly fashion. It just goes to show how hard it is not to add oil to our food and how a small amount of oil can replace a huge amount of human effort." The vegetables are from Tolhurst Organic Produce whose carbon footprint has been calculated to be just eight tonnes of carbon per year. This is the same amount as an average UK household. Tolhurst produces and distributes organic vegetables to over 400 customers making it 90% more efficient than non-organic produce grown and delivered to a supermarket. Weblink: www.soilassociation.org