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Slow Food Easter Market at Southbank

DISCOVER EASTER DELIGHTS AMONGST THE EGG HUNT AT SOUTHBANK CENTRE

Make your way to Southbank Centre for an Easter Egg hunt that promises a real sense of discovery.  As part of the Slow Food London Easter market being held at Southbank Centre square from Friday 10^th to Monday 13^th April, the Easter Egg hunt (throughout Sunday afternoon) is for both children and parents. As children collect egg-shaped “clues” by exploring the market, adults can detect answers to a short quiz by talking to the artisan stall holders. There are plenty of chocolate prizes for the children, and adults entering into the fun can win a hamper crammed with Slow Food merchandise and produce from the market.

Silvija Davidson, Chairman of Slow Food London, enthuses: “The Slow Food Easter weekend has something for every lover of quality food; a chance to have fun, taste and learn and an opportunity to stock up on top notch items from producers who share your passion.” And for novel feasting ideas, or simply an enjoyable sampling session of new flavours, why not venture into the Event Tent, which will run a festival-long programme of tastings and workshops?

Seasonal British produce includes Eggardon’s new season North Ronaldsay – a rare, primitive breed of lamb native to Scotland but thriving on the chalk hills of the Bride Valley in Dorset.  Sample fresh goat’s cheese buttons with coatings of ash, rosemary and pink peppercorns, and also crumbly new season’s Wensleydale and Lancashire teamed with home-made, properly spiced organic Hot Cross Buns produced by Flour Power City.  Organic new potatoes, sparkling fresh spring greens and salad leaves are promised by Ash Green.  Easter biscuits and Simnel cake can be found in vegan and gluten-free formats, and there will be exotically spiced chocolate a-plenty as well as sweet delights in the form of crumbly fudge and fluffy marshmallows.  

From further afield, courtesy of Farmstead, come Spring Pecorinos sourced from artisan producers, including a dried-cherry-coated speciality; and the saucer shaped Cathar with its characteristic Cross.   Middle Eastern sweetmeats and truly authentic, scented Turkish delight will grace the Arabica stand.  With their normal daring, Green and Blue will feature wines made from rare and remarkable grape varieties, supplied with expert advice to ensure the perfect complement to your Easter table.  For a rare striking Easter present, be sure to stop by the Slow Food merchandise stand for the likes of gloriously perfumed saffron housed in a hand-decorated amphora or hand-decorated tableware. And finally, weather permitting (as they don’t like being cold!), a small colony of honey bees will be putting on a show in an observation hive

Dates and times: Good Friday April 10 to Easter Monday April 13 (11am-8pm daily except Monday 6pm) at Southbank Centre Square, outside Royal Festival Hall. 

Admission is free.

Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic, educational, member-supported organisation that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world.  The movement is growing fast in the UK as more and more people discover how Slow Food can help to protect Britain’s food culture and traditions.

Slow Food London (www.slowfoodlondon.com), is the voluntary London arm of the international Slow Food movement and one of the biggest and most vibrant convivia in the world.  Each convivium is different, but all have the aim of celebrating and protecting the traditional foods of their region, giving visibility to small-scale farmers, fishermen, growers and artisan producers.  

The Slow Food movement believes that food should taste Good; it should be produced in a Clean way that doesn’t harm the environment, animal welfare or our health, and local food producers should receive Fair compensation for their work. 

Slow Food London organises approximately 40 events in London per annum.  These events cover a wide range of activities: 

• Food tastings from expert producers

• Meet the Producer opportunities where professionals and/or consumers are introduced to interesting producers who uphold SF principles

• Markets at Southbank and market presence elsewhere

• Children’s projects, including taste workshops

• Dinners featuring Chefs/establishments with strong Slow Food principles and generally featuring artisan or presidium status ingredients 

• Wine tastings, and courses teaching subjects such as ‘lesser known grapes’ and ‘matching food and wine’

• Intimate cooking demonstrations featuring professional chefs with Slow Food leanings

• Food/environmental talks and debates

• Visits to food producers/food production regions

• Fund-raising for Terra Madre food producing communities in the Global South

The Southbank Centre Slow Food markets feature free-access workshops on a wide range of market-produce related topics.  Market visitors can taste and buy produce that is truly unique to Britain - pedigree and rare-breed meats, raw milk cheeses and ‘true’ Perry - alongside a host of other delicious foods ranging from exotic spices and chutneys to biodynamic wines and real ales. 

Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre, occupying a 21-acre site that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. The site has an extraordinary creative and architectural history stretching back to the 1951 Festival of Britain. Southbank Centre is home to the Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and The Hayward as well as The Saison Poetry Library and the Arts Council Collection.

For more information about Slow Food London, please contact Silvija Davidson, chairman onsilvija@slowfoodlondon.com, phone: 020 8670 6184 or 077409 40919 or contact Caroline Aherne, communications manager on 07985 074 294 or slowfoodlondon@hotmail.co.uk

For further information on Southbank Centre, please contact Gillian Fox on 020 7921 0631 or email Gillian.fox@southbankcentre.co.uk