To kick start harvest season, Eat Well MCR has announced a two day Harvest Festival taking place this weekend featuring some of the best local producers, a fresh market, food and drink and a huge communal three-course feast that will take place on Sunday.
Saturday’s festival runs from 2pm – 6pm and is completely free to attend. Across the day, a programme of family-friendly activities are scheduled to take place, including; gleaned apple pressing, a forest school, drop in crafts such as pottery and wheat dollies, a farmers market, music, a harvest show, and a BBQ hosted by esteemed chef Mary Ellen from Eat Well MCR.
The whole weekend has been put together by the team behind Eat Well MCR, the organisation providing support and meals to people sidelined by poverty across the city.
It supports people in the local community including families living in temporary accommodation, women taking refuge in sheltered accommodation, food-banks, single parents and schools whose families are experiencing food poverty and inequality.
The organisation offers chef made meals from the likes of Albert Schloss, Dishoom, Maray and Nell’s Pizza that go beyond satiating hunger, providing a moment of genuine respite and relief for people in difficult times.
Sunday will also see three of the city’s best known and well respected chefs cook up a three-course meal using homegrown and seasonal ingredients. Mary Ellen McTague of Eat Well MCR, Issy Jenkins from Isca Wines and Beth Hammond of Flawd and Tawny Stores will serve the dinner from 2pm – 5pm in the stunning natural surroundings of Platt Fields Market Garden.
Using a combination of gleaned produce from local farms, donated produce from local allotment keepers and an array of gorgeous organic produce from local growers, the chefs will use their expert skills to craft a sustainable, delicious Harvest Festival meal that will bring out the very best of the ingredients used.
There are also options for vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free diets, too, just let the team know at time of booking. Tickets are priced at £42 per person.
The event is in collaboration with Manchester Urban Diggers (MUD), a non for profit enterprise of local people dedicated to finding solutions to problems in the local food systems.
Their work spans advocating for food sovereignty, being a member of the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Network, providing educational services and growing fruit, vegetables and herbs to make available to the local community. Always using organic growing methods and improving local biodiversity and soil health wherever they grow, the organisation has a huge range of projects which you can get involved with. Check out their upcoming events here.
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MFDF Harvest Festival
Date: Saturday 17th & Sunday 18th September
Time: Saturday 12pm – 6pm, Sunday 2pm – 5pm
Venue: Platt Fields Market Garden
Price: Saturday FREE, Sunday £42
