Cumberland Sausage Makers Swap Tips with French Charcutiers
Cumbria's most adventurous food producers will set sail to Marvejols in France on Thursday 31st January to represent Cumbria in the week long Taste Cumbria Producer Exchange Programme.
Nineteen Cumbrian food traders & industry representatives from Solway, Border and Eden have been selected by Taste Cumbria to visit Marvejols to meet their French food counterparts and establish new networks, trade their produce abroad and view some of France's most established food tourism models.
Taste Cumbria has worked tirelessly to establish a strong network between Cockermouth and its twin town, Marvejols in Southern France, a town rich in agriculture and food heritage.
Twenty French traders from Marvejols visited Cockermouth for the weekend of the Taste Cumbria Food Festival to trade their produce and now their Cumbrian counterparts will visit France to learn how Marvejols grows produce in its natural landscape and the role of food tourism its economy.
Producers will be attending from Winder Hall Country House, Wild Zucchinis, Wild & Fruitful, Thornby Moor Dairy, Spirit of the Lakes Ltd, Shills of Station Street and Bowness Farms Ltd, alongside industry representatives from Cumbria Tourism, Cockermouth Town Council & Tourist Information Office.
We are really looking forward to this trip. An insight into the relationship between producer and customer is going to be fascinating, and maybe a glimpse of French life that we may not normally see on holiday. We hope to show our hosts a little of what Cockermouth has to offer as well!
Nick Shills of Shills of Station Street
The Taste Cumbria Producer Exchange Programme will open up potential new trading opportunities, provide a greater awareness of the food tourism practice of another culture and give Cumbria a greater insight into improving local food tourism strategies.
We know that food and drink tourism is crucial to our economy and we hope the Taste Cumbria Producer Exchange Programme will give local businesses the support they need by opening up markets, removing trade barriers and identifying opportunities for export or new models of food tourism. The businesses selected to attend the programme are acting as Cumbrian ambassadors and have been tasked with imparting all information they have gleaned on to other food and tourism businesses across the county to support the sustainability of those in the food & farming industries in Cumbria.
Our producers will experience a food chain in this area of France that is far shorter than what we are used to here with routes to market which provide consumers with the much in-demand stories of provenance and terroir that journalists and chefs here are clamouring for. Southern France demonstrates an entirely different culture and approach to food - one that cannot be taught to Cumbria and our visitors overnight, but one that is rich with inspiration and passion that I believe we can benefit from working to instil and develop in our county.
Mary Houston, Food Tourism Manager, Taste Cumbria
The trip will involve visiting farms to see the livestock and witness their cheese and meat production processes, learning the traditional charcuterie methods, visiting local vineyards to learn about their product and tourism marketing and attending the local agri-food college to learn about food tourism education and supply chain development.