Sutton Grapevine
Stories about Sutton-in-the-Isle, Cambridgeshire, UKArchive for Miscellaneous
Local Food
This picture is of one Sutton seen from one of the huge fields of wheat that surround it, growing in that rich fenland soil. Many of the conversations we have had in Sutton have revolved around local food, how Sutton-in-the-Isle used to be quite self sufficient in food – having grain and bakers, butchers and a slaughterhouse, orchards, fish in the rivers. Many people seldom went to Ely for food as so much was produced and sold in and around the village. Thinking about this I came across Transition Ely initiative, the Ely Food Group and the Ely Food Conference - October 31st 2009 – which will be exploring how people can reconnect with, and regain control of, their food systems:
“Never before have there been such compelling reasons to rethink how we deal with changes to our energy supply and our environment – and we cannot make headway on any of these without addressing the issue of food.
• How can we access more locally produced food?
• How can we intervene, and play a greater role, in our local food system?
• How can we connect with, and support, local food retailers?
• How can we connect with, and support, local farming?
• How might peak oil and climate change impact our local food system?
• What is our vision for the future?
The aim is to create links and initiate projects that will build Ely’s access to locally produced, sustainable food systems.”
Alice
What does Sutton smell like?
Some of the questions we put to the Triangle Club last week and their answers
‘What does Sutton smell like?’ was one of the questions we put to the Triangle Club when we saw them last week. Smell is an often overlooked sense, yet an extremely powerful memory trigger – when I visited Japan last year I was aware of how different it smelt to London, and now I only have to walk past a noodle bar to be whisked back in my mind to the narrow alleys of Shinjuku. Closer to home, a combination of industrial cleaning products and over-cooked vegetables can take me back to school in seconds.
Does the smell of a place change over time as lifestyles change and technologies come and go? What did Sutton smell like when there was less traffic and more people worked on the land? What will it smell like in the future if the village expands?
To one member of the Triangle Club Sutton smelt of chickens, from the chicken farm near the Brook. To me, arriving in the village direct from London, Sutton smells of clean air (unless an HGV is thundering past..), fresh leaves and flowers of spring, with a dash of cooking.
But what do you think? What smells remind you of Sutton?
What remains?…
I’ve been editing stories which we’ve collected from Sutton, and remembered the conversation I’ve had with a good friend recently. We were talking about what stories, events and patterns of living are retold about certain places in the past, and so we wondered what would be told in the future about our days. My friend, who is a vegan thinks that people in the future will find the fact that we ate meat outrageous!
Our daily lives are being over documented in detail in various ways, and I wonder what will remain of all of this documentation…and how significant all of it is…in my city, Beirut, sometimes it feels that stories repeat themselves overtime! What do you think will be told of Sutton in 50 or more years?
