S.O.S Save Our Shops – a conversation with local independent shopkeepers funded by the Community Foundation for Calderdale and Calderdale Council

S.O.S developed as part of our LET’S EAT – A COMMUNITY COOKBOOK project. Here at verd de gris we love to cook and to celebrate the heritage and culture of cooking. So we were delighted to be given the chance through the #NeverHungryAgain campaign to create a cookbook of recipes that mean something special to people here in Calderdale: a recipe passed down from a grandmother in rural Mirpur, a simple sponge cooked for a child’s birthday in Halifax.

The #NeverHungryAgain campaign was a collective response to local food poverty here in Calderdale funded through an appeal set up by The Piece Hall, Calderdale MBC and Community Foundation.

LET’S EAT put together over 30 recipes that showcased the rich diversity of people who live in the borough: people born and bred in the hills and valleys of the Calder, and people who have made a home here and brought traditional recipes from all around the world.

A key aspect of the project was the recognition that many of us have become disconnected from where our food comes from, and in doing so, have lost touch with some important connections along the way: how to prepare and cook fresh food, the value of nutrition, how to sit down as a family or as a community and enjoy good food. As part of the project we wanted to talk with small independent traders / shopkeepers who take great pride in sourcing the best produce for their, and also import speciality foodstuffs for the diverse communities who live in the borough. These small independent traders: the butchers, the greengrocers, the fishmongers, work so hard to bring us good quality, fresh food every day. These people have such passion and knowledge about food and we lose them from our high streets at our peril! Some, like butcher Fred Ingham in West Vale, are reaching the end of their working lives. Fred started in the shop when he was 14 years old, but fears it is unlikely that anyone will buy the business and keep the tradition going when he retires.

It would be a great shame if this tradition of small independent fresh food businesses disappeared from our high streets … leaving us with an over-reliance on supermarket chains. We need to use them, or lose them. Let’s keep it LOCAL!

Here are some of the of lovely local traders and shopkeepers whose produce features in book … and took copies to share through their stores, in Park, Elland, Todmorden, Brighouse, West Vale, Hebden Bridge. Thanks to them all!

many thanks to CLAIRE AND CHRISTIAN BAKER, BAKED Todmorden; ISOLDE DAVEY, ARTICHOKE Sowerby Bridge; FRED INGHAM BUTCHERS West Vale; PAUL AND KIM EDWARDS, ROOTS Wholefood Market Elland; GARETH AND SIMONE HUTTON, THE VEG SHOP Brighouse; RICHARD O’SHEA, PISCES Halifax; MATTHEW FLEMING, MAX CROSSLEYS Grocers Halifax; MICHAEL AND STEPHEN DURKIN, M&S DURKIN BUTCHERS Halifax; SHAHID MOHAMMED WAQAS, PEARL Supermarket Halifax; PAUL’S FRESH FISH Todmorden and Hebden Bridge Markets; SHKAR, ZEN Mini Market Halifax