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Introduce your little ones to the world of food and help them understand where their meals originate, whilst also having a great break in one of the country's most beautiful locations.

The ancient market town of Kendal, in the Southern Lake District, will be hosting the second Kendal Festival of Food between October 22 and 29 and will have all manner of opportunities for family involvement.

Events are being added by the day, but one thing not-to-miss is an October 26 'Journey From Field To Fork' event, staged in Kendal's historic market place. This will feature cooking demonstrations, farm animals for your children to get to know, grow your own advice and other opportunities to explore the food chain with your nippers, whilst sampling the best of Cumbria's local produce.

You might also wish to let the children watch an artisan baking demonstration at Kendal's Staff of Life (October 22 and 24) or book them in for a Children's Pizza Making event at Infusion (01539 720547). Here, chef Martin McMillan will show them how to roll, top, cook and eat a tasty pizza, providing them with both skills and fun!

The Festival involves lots of food sampling opportunities, special meal offers in restaurants, pubs, cafes and hotels and guesthouses and even hands-on activities such as sausage-making.

The trick is to book in early for special events, keep monitoring the website at kendalfestivaloffood.co.uk and source your accommodation as soon as possible. Visiting southlakeland.gov.uk/tourism can help with this. A Virgin Trains service from London can get you to Oxenholme in just over two hours!

Make a beeline for this Festival and you'll have lots of foodie fun and ensure that your children know where food originates and how it should taste! Food for thought, at least!

Anila's Authentic Sauces has been chosen as an exemplary local food business to attend a farmers' market at 'A Garden Party to Make a Difference', 8 -19 September, in the historic gardens of Marlborough, Lancaster and Clarence Houses and along the Mall in London.

The 12-day festival is part of the national Start initiative launched in February by The Prince of Wales, and will play host to spectacular installations, concerts, fashion demonstrations, food, debates, gardening, music and comedy by many household names, but all sharing the single theme of sustainability. A full line-up can be viewed at startgardenparty.co.uk

The farmers' market will be centre stage at the food area of the show, hosted by Kate Humble, amidst cookery demos by celebrity and local chefs. Anila Vaghela, who operates Anila's Authentic Sauces based in Walton-on-Thames and Hounslow will be one of the producers attending the farmers' market on September 9th and 10th and will be selling her range of curry sauces, pickles, chutneys and dips.

Laura Waterton of FARMA, which represents farmers' markets across the UK and are supporters of Start, commented, "FARMA is delighted to be working with some excellent local food and craft producers from farmers' markets across the South of England at such a high profile event as A Garden Party to Make a Difference. We are thrilled that Anila's Authentic Sauces are able to be part of the area as it will give them the opportunity to showcase their fantastic food to a great audience."

Ramsgate's award-winning Eddie Gilbert's restaurant is celebrating British Food Fortnight (18th September to 3rd October) by sponsoring The National Lobster Hatchery.

Each time customers order Eddie Gilbert's seafood platter, the restaurant will donate £1 to the Hatchery. The platter, which costs £36, for two, includes a whole lobster, a dressed crab, smoked salmon, oysters, crevettes, cockles, ceviche of scallop and brown shrimps

Oyster & Bubby Bar at Broadstairs Food Festival

"We have always been focused on sourcing the freshest, highest quality seafood, sourced as locally as possible - we don't sell exotic endangered species like blue fin tuna," said proprietor Jonny Dunhill, who also owns the wet fish shop and gourmet fish and chips takeaway that operate at street level beneath the first floor restaurant. "It's in the businesses' long-term interests to promote sustainable fishing."

Having been nurtured through the most vulnerable stage in their life cycle - when they are part of the plankton - baby lobsters are released at 3 months old. Although they still only measure 1cm in length, they stand a very high chance of survival because they spend their first two years hiding beneath gravel on the sea floor.

Several methods of release are used by the Hatchery, delivering the young lobsters direct to the bottom of the season, so by-passing, potential predators

Where there is a suitable rocky substrate, some are released at low tide Dive clubs release some directly to the sea bottom.

Fishermen also lower trays of juveniles in lobster pots to the sea floor, where they crawl free. They also use long tubes to deliver the young directly onto the seabed from their boats.

Eddie Gilbert's are also joining forces with wine importer Hix & Buck to run a 'Bubbly & Oyster Bar' at the Broadstairs Food Festival. The 3-day food fayre will run from 1st to 3rd October on the seafront Victoria Gardens, Victoria Parade each day Over 60n stall will be presenting the best of Kent's produce: meat, drink, bakery, fruit and vegetables, confectionery and a selection of hot and cold food,

BRATTLEBORO, Vermont - The Organic Trade Association (OTA), which has called Greenfield, MA, home since 1990, today is celebrating the upcoming move of its headquarters to the Graduate Center building in downtown Brattleboro planned for later this fall.

"This move by the Organic Trade Association to Vermont is a testament to the importance of organic agriculture in our state and the leadership and entrepreneurial spirit found here. I have long worked with the Organic Trade Association in Washington on organic policy matters and am delighted it has chosen Vermont as its home base and to bring these jobs to Brattleboro," said Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy. Leahy, now the second most senior member of the U.S. Senate, often is called the 'father of organic' because as chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee he wrote and passed the Organic Foods Production Act as part of the 1990 Farm Bill. In 2009 he was the first recipient of OTA's Public Servant Award that recognizes individuals in government who have played key roles in organic agriculture and trade policies.

"Marlboro College Graduate Center's state-of-the-art facility in downtown Brattleboro will provide a nice complement to OTA's Washington, D.C., office," said Christine Bushway, OTA's Executive Director and CEO. She added, "It is exciting to be moving to Vermont, well respected for its interest and support for organic agriculture, sustainability, and green initiatives, particularly at this time when OTA is marking its 25th anniversary, and celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Organic Foods Production Act."

In fact, despite its size, Vermont is among the leaders of organic agriculture in the United States. According to the 2008 Organic Production Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service, Vermont ranked tenth of all the states in the amount of organic farms. Meanwhile, its farms' 2008 organic sales, at nearly $73 million, placed Vermont in eighth position in organic sales by state.

The Vermont Economic Progress Council has approved up to $86,300 in Vermont Employment Growth Incentives to enable OTA to move its operations, including membership acquisition and retention, public relations, marketing, regulatory review and tracking, support services for legislative activities and administration of USDA and other grants, to Vermont instead of remaining in Massachusetts or consolidating these operations in Washington, D.C.

The Graduate Center building already houses a USDA service center serving all of Windham County. That office includes the Farm Service Agency, Natural Resources Conservation Service, Rural Development, and Windham County Conservation District.

The Organic Trade Association (OTA) is the non-profit membership-based business association for the organic industry in North America whose mission is to promote and protect the growth of organic trade to benefit the environment, farmers, the public and the economy (ota.com). OTA represents businesses across the organic supply chain and addresses all things organic, including food, fiber and textiles, personal care products, and new sectors as they develop.

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Firm up the wrist, raise the elbow up high and swing! This year visitors to The Wine Show will be able to learn the Art of Sabrage - opening a bottle of Champagne with a sword - with specialist wine-tour operator Grape Escapes.

Held at London Olympia from 12-14 November, swashbuckling wine-lovers will get the chance to try Napoleon's favourite way of opening a champagne bottle. And in the process, they will be inducted into the Confrérie du Sabre d'Or - the society of Sabreurs, which keeps the ancient art alive today.

This special event, brought exclusively to The Wine Show by Grape Escapes, will cost just £20 per person and involves expert tuition by a Commandeur of Sabrage - and the opportunity to drink the contents of the opened bottle!

Grape Escapes is a specialist in travel to the French wine regions offering a selection of gourmet wine-tasting weekends in Champagne, Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Loire and the Rhone. Offering both tailor-made and group tours, Grape Escapes caters for food and wine lovers from the serious connoisseur to the enthusiastic beginner.