Forres food exhibition

The Falconer Museum in Forres is celebrating local food cultivation and production with a new exhibition – Food, Glorious Food.

Tying in with the International Year of Biodiversity, which encourages consumers to buy locally and eat seasonal produce, the exhibition will feature local award-winning food producers and organisations.

The land in and around Forres has long been renowned for its productive soil and continues to provide a wide range of produce.

Forres Camera Club members have supplied images of the exhibitors engaged in a number of activities from sausage making and beekeeping to weeding and watering. In addition there are photographs and maps showing how Forres once had nurseries and large gardens producing food as well as food-producing businesses such as flour mills and slaughterhouses.

The exhibition will be officially opened by Moray MSP Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment, on Tuesday, July 13 at 6.15pm and will run until the end of August.

Two special events have been organised to support the exhibition.

On July 19 there will be a talk by Pam Rodway, of Wester Lawrenceton Farm, on the history of butter-making and the opportunity to try making your own.

And on August 19 the museum will host a talk by John Salt of Moray Beekeepers on the importance of bees to food crops.

Both talks take place at 7pm and places can be booked by calling 01309 673701.

Valerie Wardlaw, visitor development officer with Moray Council’s libraries and museums service, said: “The exhibition has been great fun to arrange, finding out about local businesses and how they make the most of our fertile countryside.  It also shows that there are different models of farming and food shopping so we can make choices about what we eat.”