A few weeks ago I met up with 3 enthusiastic local foodies, and clearly good mates, at their ‘office’, the corner table in the Hare and Hounds Kings Heath. They told me of the plan they were hatching to launch an exciting new food venture in Kings Heath, bringing more great local food to this burgeoning foodie suburb of South Birmingham. Although I sadly haven’t got the capacity to supply them with bread for their new venture, and haven’t yet eaten there, I wanted to share with you this excerpt from their Facebook Page:

Soul Food Project has arrived to spice up and inject some fun into the Birmingham food scene. The kitchen is based in one of Birmingham’s busiest and most important independent pubs…the Hare and Hounds.

The Project is the brainchild of 3 Birmingham friends, Carl Finn, Matt Beck and Alex Morrall, who have between them over 10 years experience in the catering, service and promotion industry. The idea was formed over several bottles of Brooklyn Lager and a consensus that the standard of food served in pubs was in need of an overhaul of soul.

What makes Soul Food Project different to other pub food?

Well SFP takes influence from the diverse food landscape of America so…..
- Think smoked paprika and chilli infused Southern Fried Chicken,
- Think Sunburst salads,
- Think crayfish, chicken and chorizo Jambalaya from New Orleans,
- Think the best burgers in Brum
- Think Waffles and Rocky Road for the weekend.
and so much more..

Food is sourced locally where possible and each ingredient is treated with care and passion. The kitchen is open to ideas, suggestions and feedback and also plans to host live music, gastro evenings and much more….Watch this space.

It’s time to put some soul in your bowl!!!

Sould Food Project is serving at the Hare Hounds from 12-8 on Tuesdays-Saturdays, and 12-5 on Sundays. I’ve just noticed on their facebook page too that they now do waffle Wednesdays – 2 waffles for a fiver – bargain!

See you down there soon, T.

Hungry for Change?

Northfield Ecocentre in Birmingham are putting on a film screening of Food Inc. on Thursday 3rd June at 6.30pm. Entry is FREE.

The new film reveals the shocking truths about the food industry. You’ll never look at dinner in the same way. For more information about the film visit: www.foodincmovie.com

Northfield Ecocentre have asked Loaf to facilitate a short discussion afterwards on the issues raised by the film and local action around food, so I hope to see you there.

To book a place at the film screening call 0121 448 0119 or email enquiries@northfieldecocentre.org.

Northfield Ecocentre’s address is 53 Church Road, Northfield, Birmingham, B30 2JB (behind Oulsnam’s estate agent).

www.northfieldecocentre.org

I’m really excited about some of our upcoming new courses, not least the Butchery workshop that we’re running in collaboration with master butcher Steve Rossiter on the 14th April. Steve is a bit of a local legend around these parts, founding Birmingham’s first organic registered butchers in Mary Vale Rd, Bournville. Steve has agreed to help me run an evening workshop where we explore beak-to-tail butchery of poultry birds, along with some tasty and impressive ways of cooking them.

We’ll start the evening with a whole chicken (one between two). Steve will then teach us how to respectfully joint it, and show us what else we can do with the various joints. Then I’ll take over, and lead us in some fantastic chicken recipes that show off your new found butchery skills and taste amazing too! We’ll be making butterflied chicken breast stuffed with homemade chorizo, chicken Raz al Hanout with minted cous cous, and pan fried chicken livers with a wild green salad. Anything we don’t cook, you get to take home and show off your new skills with!

The first course is on Wednesday 14th April from 6.30pm-9.30pm, and is a snip at just £50, which includes all the ingredients and equipment, course notes, and a full stomach! There’s still a few places available, so email tom@loafonline.co.uk to book your place!

Fingers crossed, we’re going to be able to offer a lamb-in-a-day type butchery experience in the Summer too!

Currently we order on an adhoc basis according to members’ demands from Suma (www.suma.coop), a cooperative wholesaler based in Tadcaster. We are run for and by our members on a not for profit basis with the aim of providing affordable, quality and healthy food to our communities. In the future we hope to become an outlet for local producers and stock fresh produce too. If you would like to join and take control of your food, get in touch; the bigger our membership, the more we can do.

South Birmingham Food Coop are based out of Enheduanna Housing Cooperative in Selly Park and can be contacted by calling Nancy on 07923405153 or at bhmfoodcoop@gmail.com.

We’ve planted some seeds including four types of tomatoes, fennel, beetroot, turnips and lettuce:

We watered them with a specially adapted water bottle (in the absence of one of those funky mini watering cans):

We’ve popped them in propagators on a sunny windowsill, and now we just have to keep our fingers crossed and water them. These will be thinned out to individual pots in a few weeks probably. In the meantime we have some donated seedlings to care for :

Birmingham artist Eleanor Hoad is marking the end of her first year as ‘Artist in Residence’ for Erdington constituency by exhibiting work in the Community Gallery at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. It’s running for three months from April 2010, and she needs your help. She’s managed to get an old market barrow and is planning to make a display by filling it with produce made from Birmingham food – it all has to be non-perishable as the show is on for three months. So things like pickles, jams, chutneys, dried beans, syrups, herbal preperations, home brew etc are all great. Eleanor says:

“I’ve got the foyer area of the museum to display it in which is amazing, lots of people will see it and I’m keen to show the diversity of city produce that is possible.”

Eleanor is looking for donations of produce to fill the barrow with, although she can pay a little bit towards it, or you can have it back at the end of June when the show comes down. Donations need to be vegetable based as Eleanor’s looking for vegan items. If you can help at all by donating, or know of anyone Eleanor can get in touch with, please get in touch with her on 07974 934 917 or eleanorhoad@hotmail.com. I’m hoping to go out on a forage and make some wild pesto to donate (sans parmesan) as my contribution.

To see what Eleanor’s been doing in her year in residence, you might want to check out this and this

enjoy!

SBFC is a local buying group for wholefoods, store cupboard items, and eco household products. We are run for and by our members on a not for profit basis with the aim of providing affordable, quality and healthy food to our communities.

Tel: 07923405153 Email: bhmfoodcoop@gmail.com Web: http://bhmfoodcoop.wordpress.com/

Distance by road from B1 1AA: 3 miles