Picnic puts focus on prducers

Companies across East Ayrshire are being urged to take part in a special drive to toast seasonal food and local harvests.

The One Planet Picnic encourages picnics in the park, on the beach in the school grounds – or even the office meeting room.

Eve Keepax, food and environment officer at Keep Scotland Beautiful, said: “By planning a picnic people will be able to spend fun and quality time together while learning about the fantastic range of food produced on their doorstep.

“The only thing that should be left behind after a picnic is happy memories so we are also encouraging everyone to reduce food waste and packaging too - and remember a One Planet Picnic is good for you and good for the planet.”

One Planet Picnic patron is chef Fred Berkmiller.

And he launched this year’s initiative at the Newton Walled Garden.

He said: “Scotland has a fantastic array of local producers, which I very much take advantage of, so a fun initiative to encourage the nation to explore locally grown produce and create healthy and affordable meals is a great idea.

“I hope that many people will take part and learn that they can make simple, sustainable food choices and utlise local or home- grown ingredients to create great tasting food.”

Anyone interested in taking part can visit the Keep Scotland Beautiful website and register their picnic.

They will then be able to access a range of resources including recipes, invitations and posters.