If you have a taste for fresh local food, the Food Assembly is the place to go.
It is an online marketplace which connect customers to local producers and suppliers in their area.
It’s free to register and customers then receive an email advising them whenever the latest Food Assembly is open.
They can follow a link to choose products from a wide range of local suppliers, pay for them online and then pick them up at the fortnightly collection.
Food Assembly co-ordinator Grianne Joughin said: ’The Food Assembly provides people with high-quality local food that is sourced and produced with care.
’The great thing about having an online market is that there is no unsold stock and producers can control their own prices. The food is exceptional quality, with salad and vegetables picked fresh that day, and it’s a more environmentally friendly shopping experience with a very low carbon footprint.’
Current producers at the Isle of Man Food Assembly are Bry Rad Fruit and Veg, The Dairy Shed, Paula’s Kitchen, Apple Orphanage, Close Leece Farm, Staarvey Farm, Noa Bakehouse, Isle of Man Teas, Roots Beverages, Ballanorman, Leela’s Kitchen, Laxey Flour Mill, Laxey Fish Company, The Flower Studio, Little Tree Soaps and Mann Billtong.
The Isle of Man Food Assembly found an immediate appeal among local consumers when it launched here last year.
Among 51 UK Food Assemblies, the island’s had the highest initial number of people registering.
The main fortnightly collection point for orders is at Noa Bakehouse in Douglas on a Wednesday evening where the customers also have the chance to meet the producers and try any new products they might have.
Now there is also a collection point on the same night at the town hall in Peel and one is due to open at Castletown town hall from October 18.
Gráinne added: ’We are absolutely delighted that the south want to be involved. Ali De Backer has been doing some great things down in Castletown and now she wants to get stuck in with bringing local produce to the area. We really hope the people of the south will want to become a part of this great, community-based foodie movement.’
www.foodassembly.com