Salivating at the prospect of local Christmas food – A guest blog from Dorset Food and Drink

Tis the Season…
I don’t know about you, but I’m already salivating at the prospect of Christmas food. It usually starts around early December when dinky net bags of mixed nuts, sprouts, shiny clementines and succulent Medjool dates start vying for shelf space with their everyday fruit and veg cousins.
Christmas dinner is still one of the most highly anticipated meals with lots of preparation and often many mouths and palates to feed. We love the idea of shopping locally but often don’t because of convenience and the lure of offers tempting us in supermarkets. We’ve all been there and done it!
Sourcing your food locally does take a bit more time, making lists, contacting farm shops and businesses. But in the long run, you can beat the queues and enjoy the days before Christmas knowing that your food and drink can be ready to collect or be delivered and enjoy the quality and taste your local food offers. Plus, the festive season is the perfect time to think about your local community and remembering that buying locally puts money back into the town, plus you get to meet and support your local producers and artisans who source local, make, bake, brew, grow and bring you a cornucopia of local loveliness.

Best Reasons to Source Your Christmas Food Locally
Save Money
Independent stores are believed to be more expensive than shopping at large stores. This, in fact, isn’t always the case. By shopping locally, it easier to stick to your list and therefore spending less overall, hopefully leaving you a few pennies to treat yourself.
Food Values
What are your food values? Decreasing plastic packaging? Fewer food miles? Knowing what’s in your food? When buying locally you can ask the producer these questions and stay true to your values.
Feel Good Factor
Feel good knowing you have supported a local business who is competing with the big chains, that the money they make will go back into your community.
Love Food Hate Waste
Buying local food usually means you have more control over the amount you buy. Check out these holly jolly festive food hacks for a more thoughtful, caring, and reflective Christmas from Love Food Hate Waste. It’s a great website with loads of festive food tips and tasty recipe ideas to use up all your leftovers! Or heated over left ups as my nearest and dearest calls them!
Know Your Food & Drink Stuff
Many local food initiatives have gained momentum over the past decade, but by buying locally, you know where your food comes from, how it was produced and where. The added benefit is that you can ask local producers how best to use their products and about food pairing ideas. That’s the beauty of your local independent butcher, baker, market stall, fishmonger, deli, and wine merchant.
Find out more about Dorset Food and Drink here.
Be Merry
Do you have a favourite local producer? Join the conversation on social media and follow them Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Our Dorset Food and Drink pop up market and Dorset Farmers Market stallholders always love meeting regular(and new) customers, who they bump into on social media!
Supporting each other
Find out more about the Dorchester Community Fridge here. There are opportunities to volunteer and help support others.
Dorset Farmers Market
Show your local producers, independents, and makers some love. Local for life, not just for lockdown!
More information and market dates here.
Shopping Around
Meet your local producers at events such as farmer’s markets and food fairs. Many local shops stock great local products and you can always ask the staff any questions you have. Visiting your town centre also has the advantage of some great independent shops which can offer some great seasonal food alternatives. Try Goulds Dorset Kitchen. This new addition to Goulds is brim full of local food and drink from jam to gin, cheese to chutney, beer to biltong, chocolate, coffee, tea, olives, snacks, cakes, bread, seasonal fruit and veg and so much more. Enough to fill your larder all year round! See some links to some great food and drink businesses in Dorchester below.

New Food & Drink Kids on the Block
Sourdough Ted
Naturally fermenTED sourdough, Neapolitan style stone baked pizzas with a range of locally sourced and de-li-co-us toppings! This brand-new business based in Portesham is taking the local street food scene by storm.
Now popping up regularly in Pummery Square, Poundbury, you’ll find Tom Emery (Sourdough Ted) on Facebook and Instagram.
A Jar Of
Try something different this year!
A Chocoholics Christmas pudding made with oodles of chocolate, dried fruit, splashes of Cointreau and brandy with a pinch of Christmas magic!
All the magic of a traditional Christmas Pud with lots of added chocolate! Available online of from Goulds Dorset Kitchen.
Don’t panic!
Your local shops, producers, growers, farmers, makers, brewers, preserve makers, cider makers, wineries, bakers, farm shops, butchers, fishermen and fisherwomen, artisans, and makers, won’t let you down.
There’s a cornucopia of food, drink, and handmade gifts probably a within walking distance of your home. Use your local independent shops and markets. Perfect in the run up to Christmas, where everything will be just that little bit more holly jolly! And if you can’t get there in person, look them up online. Since the pandemic, many local businesses will deliver, and have a fantastic range of products and produce. The Dorset Food and Drink shop is stuffed full of festive food and drink ideas!
Let’s go round again…
It’s been a privilege and pleasure to work so closely with so many Dorset Food & Drink members, businesses, and Dorset Farmers Market producers during these most ‘unusual’ 20 months of the pandemic. But we did it, and no doubt we’ll do it again to make sure you- our valued customers, have access to a full range of local, seasonal, products.
Enjoy your Christmas markets and independent shops in the run up to the BIG day.
Have a gentle and joyous Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Keep toasty & t’riffic!
Wild wishes
Caroline Richards
Dorset Food and Drink Coordinator