Yesterday was a great afternoon of food sharing and chat at Edinburgh’s Blasda at Out of the Blue. There’s too many people to thank but in the meantime here are a selection of photos and links (see more at our Facebook page here). Also, Ally Tibbit from Greener Leith couldn’t make it but we are creating the Edinburgh Food Map online between now and the Nourish conference.

Ally writes:

As part of the Edinburgh Blasda celebration, we’re making an Edinburgh Food Map with your help. If you know of a good community food project anywhere in Edinburgh please tell us about it using the form below. The information you provide us will then be used to build a community food map of Edinburgh.

Go here to add your local food idea: http://www.greenerleith.org/edinburgh-food-map

It could be an allotment, community garden, great cafe specialising in local food, community food project, orchard, a great spot for brambles or whatever you want- add it in!

Yesterday was such a good day – here’s some of what was going on. We had good bread from Breadshare Community Bakery (find out all about them here)…This is such a good project that combines community-building and really great bread and baking (!)

Wonderful chat and cheese from Phoebe Weller, Scotland’s finest Fromagière – exploring a Scottish terroir with wit and wisdom…(see Vive le Cheese here).

Great to have Sunshine on Leith garden (plus Granton Community Garden too)  see more here.

So good to have wild drinks to taste and experiment with. These were brought to us by Anna Canning and friends from Flora Medica: reconnecting people with food, wild nature and plantlife, community medicine. See all about them here. It sometimes seems peripheral but it’s vital that we can reconnect and regain some natural control over our health and wellbeing.

Absolutely brilliant to have the Leith World Kitchen along demonstrating three different ways with potatoes via Spain, India and Africa. Find out more about them here.

Finally, lots of people talked about what a brilliant space the Drill Hall is, check out their activities and events here.

With stalls and free workshops all day Edinburgh’s contribution to Scotland’s local food feast is ready to set the taste buds going.

Just one of the highlights is Phoebe Weller (Roving Fromagière) on the proliferation of quality artisan cheese-making and traditions they’re drawing on. Come along for a taste of the best cheese in Scotland. SCOTTISH CHEESEBOARD 5.00 – 6.00 pm

“Lanark Blue is Scottish Roquefort. Master cheesemaker Humphrey Errington uses the same breed of sheep and the same process as Roquefort, but his Lacaune sheep are fed and watered by the warm(ish) wet conditions of Southern Lanarkshire. You can taste the lanadscape in the cheese: the white of the cheese is more characterful than its’ French counterpart, whilst the blue is more peppery and chewy. It has the depth and bitter edge that is characteristic of all modern Scottish cheese.”

Soil Association Scotland is delighted to be hosting our very own Blasda Lunch for the second year running on Tuesday11th September. To celebrate the food produced by local organic farmers, and to welcome our guests for the day, we’re having an organic finger feast in our lovely Edinburgh office! The lunch will also be a great opportunity for us to celebrate Scotland’s Food and Drink Fortnight and Organic September.

We will put together a simple but tasty lunch using ingredients from local organic suppliers near Edinburgh plus Laura’s homemade soup! We are delighted to be celebrating Blasda again this year and we’ll let you know what’s on the menu!

Soil Association was founded in 1946 by farmers, scientists, doctors and nutritionists to promote the connection between the health of the soil, food, people and the environment. Today the Soil Association is the UK’s leading membership charity campaigning for healthy, humane and sustainable food, farming and land use. To find out more about what we do go to our site here or follow us on Twitter: @SoilAssocScot.