insideKENT Magazine Issue 39 - June 2015 | Page 35

FOOD+DRINK

The Food Issue
FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! IN THIS INCREDIBLE COUNTY OF OURS, WE’RE LUCKY. WE’RE
LUCKY BECAUSE IT’S A BEAUTIFUL PLACE TO LIVE; WE’RE LUCKY BECAUSE THERE IS SO
MUCH TO SEE AND DO; AND WE’RE LUCKY BECAUSE THE CLIMATE, THE SOIL, AND THE
PEOPLE WHO LIVE AND WORK HERE ARE ABLE TO PRODUCE THE MOST DELICIOUS,
INSPIRING PRODUCE FOR OUR DINNER TABLES. FROM JUICY FRUIT AND CRISP FRESH
VEGETABLES TO PERFECT MEAT AND AWARD-WINNING WINE – AS WELL AS PRETTY
MUCH EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN – WE’VE GOT IT ALL.

Food is essential to us. We need it to live, and
to function day to day. However, that doesn’t
mean it has to be basic or boring – and that’s
what Kent’s food producers understand more
than anything. The more interesting and
exciting food is, the more likely people are
to want it, and to enjoy it.
Food has become an art form, and this
county’s growers, makers, and producers are
artists in their own right. Beautiful displays
of brightly coloured fruit entice us to taste

(and to buy) when we peruse the farmers’
markets and independent shops. Mouthwatering demonstrations of the butcher’s
skill can be enjoyed and then taken home.
And, of course, there are the chefs who use
all of this local produce and homegrown
loveliness to offer up the most spectacular
and sumptuous meals imaginable.
It wasn’t always this way. Rationing, austerity,
and strict moral groundings at various times
in our past meant that food was something

35

not to be enjoyed necessarily, but to be eaten
and dispatched as quickly as possible so that
more important things could happen – or
so that the blandness wasn’t quite so obvious!
Thank goodness that time has passed…
So don’t forget, wherever and whatever you
eat and drink in this magical county of ours,
be sure to appreciate the beauty of it as you
value the hard work that’s gone into getting
it to you.