Thousands of schools, dozens of NHS Trusts, hundreds of care homes, various councils across the country and other public sector institutions all joined the celebrations. British Food Fortnight aimed to provide locally sourced and nutritious food for millions of people, both delivering value for money and supporting local businesses through an increasingly difficult time.
DEFRA helped the efforts in an ‘extraordinary’ fashion, with unprecedented support. This was complemented with backing from the opposition, thanks to a special school visit from shadow minister Daniel Zeichner MP - cross party support for British Food Fortnight.
Love British Food working groups, for schools and hospitals, have spent months working tirelessly to ‘inspire and enable’ colleagues to take part in the fortnight.
Alexia Robinson, founder of Love British Food, said: “Firstly, I want to pay sincere thanks to everybody who contributed to the celebrations. Without the time and effort of individuals and organisations, it would not be possible.
"Communities, public sector institutions and businesses across the country have come together in the most spectacular way to celebrate British produce. Love British Food is especially grateful as we fully understand the pressures, so from all of us - a huge thank you.
“The public sector plays such an important role in all of our lives, so to see the effort that went into joining the fortnight was truly humbling. Love British Food has dedicated an enormous amount of time into developing relationships between local suppliers and public sector caterers, with impressive results. The fortnight is a culmination of those efforts and we’ve been simply blown away by the response.
“Right throughout the public sector, there is now a genuine and concerted effort to source British produce. That has rapidly developed over the last few years and I’m immensely proud of the role which Love British Food has played. There is more to come - the fortnight is a catalyst for lasting change. Since the end of the event, meetings with the public sector have continued and I fully expect this tremendous effort inspired by British Food Fortnight to be sustained throughout the year.”
Achievements British Food Fortnight 2022:
- Thousands of schools took part; in some parts of the country all schools took part
- Dozens of NHS Trusts with terrific support from hospitals across Northern Ireland
- Hundreds of care homes put on themed events/menus for residents
- Many councils made a concerted effort: e.g. Derbyshire, Hampshire, East Lindsey, Lincolnshire
- City/town Markets and food festivals large and small right across the UK
- Wonderful community events from supper clubs to libraries running themed activities
- M&S, the Co-op and Morrisons used the national food celebrations to highlight their British food offerings
- Major venues participated such as QEII and Olympia in London
- Universities joined the celebrations - for example, Magdalen College, Oxford; Cirencester Agricultural University
- The fortnight was used to highlight tourism potential of various parts of the country: Visit Hull, Isle of Wight, Ross on Wye, Newcastle
- National media coverage across a range of outlets
- Special edition of BBC Radio 4 The Food Programme on our hospital work, featuring members of the Love British Food Hospitals Working Group
- Celebrated on Great British Bake Off
- National Harvest Service in Chester Cathedral with Harvest Torch travelling round Cheshire in the build up
- Established working partnership with DEFRA
- Message of support from Ranil Jayawardena Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
- British Food Fortnight School visit from Shadow Environment Minister Daniel Zeichner
- Government film on some of our leading school chefs taking part, members of the Love British Food Schools Working Group
- Social reach 10 million +
- #BritishFoodFortnight trended on Twitter