2022 marks the 9th annual Oxfordshire Pumpkin Festival and the programme is packed with events and activities. Daily Info sits down with the team to find out what's in store.
What is the Oxfordshire Pumpkin Festival?
The festival was created to help celebrate the humble pumpkin which is ubiquitous this time of year; from Supermarkets to farmers markets, and in your local shop. However most importantly the festival was created with an aim to “squash food waste” by encouraging people to eat rather than discard their Halloween pumpkin’s flesh. A whopping 40 million pumpkins get wasted each year, and that is just in the UK! Organisations around Oxfordshire all take part by running pumpkin-themed events which all share the same message: Carve it, Cook it, Eat it - Don't bin it!
What are some of the highlights for this year's festival?
There are lots of highlights; the Earth Trust is running their first even Pumpkin Patch event where you can pick your own pumpkin direct from the growing field. Oxford City Farm are running an Autumn Festival celebrating nature's bounty, or visit your local community garden: Barracks Lane and Mill Lane Community Gardens both have events running. The full programme is available on our website.
This is your 9th year. How has the festival expanded over that time? And what's new this year?
Each year we have new organisations and new events running with a wider spread around the County. We're so pleased that the message to reduce food waste is spreading, and that more and more people are questioning why so many pumpkins are wasted each year. We also encourage people to share their delicious pumpkin recipes so more people know what to do with the pumpkin flesh, rather than to just throw it in the bin.
What's the best use for a pumpkin?
Good Food Oxfordshire have put together a range of tasty and cheap pumpkin recipes as suggested by chefs around Oxfordshire, available on our website. The Earth Trust also has a great resource on how to squash waste.
And if you could sum the festival up in three words what would they be?
Eat Your Pumpkin!