THE very best food and drink produced in Somerset will be showcased during a special event next month.

From July 18 to 27, the Somerset Food Trail Festival – a countywide celebration of the best sustainably produced food and drink – will be giving people the chance to tickle their taste buds with what the county has to offer.

Now in its fourth year, the festival is an ‘open farm’ and farm-to-fork showcase putting the spotlight on Somerset’s nature-friendly farmers and producers, as well as the chefs and retailers who support them.

Live performance and art will complement talks, tastings and farm tours in multiple destinations across the county, many of which are free.

The last trail event, in 2023, involved more than 170 venues and 385 events.

It also saw around 40 venues rise to the famous 30-Mile Feast Challenge, in which 90% of the food was sourced locally.

The challenge returns this year ​to highlight the best of sustainably produced veg and grass fed meat, minimising food miles and championing Somerset’s smaller independent food producers.

It comes as your Somerset Leveller continues to back county produce through our Buy Somerset campaign.

“Increasing interest in food provenance, a growing appreciation of the need to reduce food miles and food waste, and desire to experience local culture are all feeding into the growing popularity of this one-of-a-kind event,” said co-founder of the festival, Susie Weldon, a trustee of the Sustainable Food Somerset charity, which is behind the event.

“The festival has already been inundated with producers, cafes and pubs keen to get on the Somerset food map.”

The festival celebrates sustainable producers of all sizes, including allotments, home growing and community supported agriculture – even foraging and gleaning – offering good value days out for all the family and plenty of ideas for eating well on a budget.

“The Somerset Food Trail Festival is a crucial opportunity for farmers and local food and drink businesses to showcase the fantastic work they are doing to deliver sustainable, quality produce to the people they care most about – the consumers on their doorstep,” said chair of Sustainable Food Somerset, Kate Hughes, an Exmoor-based regenerative farmer, sustainability journalist and author.

“So many producers and retailers across the county are working hard every day, making nutritious and delicious real food. The way they produce that food is helping battle everything from human health and affordability crises to climate change and biodiversity loss. We just don’t always know about them.

READ MORE: BUY SOMERSET: Tell us about YOUR business!

“The Somerset Food Trail Festival is here to change all that – to remind us how delicious, nutritious and valuable the food in this county is and to empower us all in the battle for real food, carefully produced.

“This is the chance to get back into the local countryside we love, to learn more about our food and, above all, to feel part of it.

“At a time when consumers often feel powerless in the face of global brands, cut off from the countryside and fears over ultra processed food, biodiversity loss, climate change and food security are weighing heavily on all our minds, I’m incredibly proud to be involved in this one-of-a-kind event.

“I can’t wait to develop the Exmoor leg of the festival, where Wood Advent Farm, With the Wild and Longstraw Bakery (recently named one of the best bakeries in the UK) to name but a few, are busy planning feasts, free events, pop up stalls and more.”

Supporting local suppliers helps to boost local economies, reduce food miles, improve health outcomes and bolster food resilience, she said.

“Food and farming have been a vital part of the life of Somerset for generations; 73% of Somerset is farmed, much of that dairy, and its top cheeses, wines and ciders are valued around the world,” she added.

“Yet our food and farming system is under pressure as never before – especially our smaller-scale farmers.

“Margins are squeezed to breaking point by a system that seems to have lost sight of the need for food to nourish us, where ultra-processed food is the norm for most people, leading to widespread preventable ill-health.

“If you think that less than 1p in every pound spent in a supermarket goes to the producer, you start to see why local farmers of all sizes are struggling, and need all the support they can get.

“Buying local not only helps cash-strapped small-scale producers, it also benefits the local economy, supporting the quality of life on our doorsteps.

“There’s increasing evidence that regeneratively farmed food is not just better for the soil and the climate, it’s markedly better for health – and if it hasn’t travelled hundreds of miles, it tastes a whole lot better too.”

For more details of the Somerset Food Trail Festival, log on to www.somersetfoodtrail.org.