BigBarn.co.uk - Local food made easy

I’m not entirely sure what this picture says about local food, but Carrot Man’s striptease can be found at the rather wonderful UK based BigBarn website. Although it was briefly mentioned in a comment by Thad here, it’s about time that BigBarn was the subject of its own post on Treehugger. Billed as “the UK’s # 1 local food website”, BigBarn provides a searchable database of food producers in all regions of the UK. Simply type in your postcode, and the size of the area you wish to search, and the site will come up with a map of local producers. Easy to read symbols denote the location of farms, farm shops, dairies, nurseries, pick-your-own etc, and the shape of the symbol tells you whether the producer is organic or not. BigBarn even includes recipes. Got something in your veggie-box you don’t know what to do with? Simply enter the name of an ingredient and the site will find a list of suggested dishes. BigBarn sees itself as a valuable tool for putting the consumer directly in touch with the producer:

“With information, you're the one with the power. We don't believe in shopping locally just for the sake of an argument against the supermarkets. A lot of what they do, they do very well. We just believe that the best food comes from local sources, where the consumer has a chance to deal directly with the producer. Where shelf-life and cheapness are not the only priorities. BigBarn aims to become the advocate for consumers and local producers and encourage trade and communication.”

I certainly won’t argue with that, but what’s with the naked carrots?

[Written by: Sami Grover]