At last, taste for real food is slowly catching on

From next Thursday until Sunday the Southbank Centre will hand over its square to more than 25 stallholders offering fine foods produced using traditional techniques.

On offer will be game, cheeses, drinks and oysters from Cumbria to Kent, all named as examples of the movement's ethos by Slow Food UK.

The organisation, founded in Ludlow, Shropshire, a year ago, believes that food should taste good, be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health and producers should receive fair compensation for their work.

Silvija Davidson of Slow Food UK said: "The message we're going to be putting across is a rather practical one, which we hope speaks for itself - defining quality food as being good, clean and fair. We are anti-fast food in conception and support the idea that food should be savoured. It should be produced with love and care at every level and that is manifested in the way it tastes."

The Southbank Centre ballroom will host a tasting of typical fare from 4pm to 8pm on Saturday 22 December. This will include mince pies packed with apples and cider brandy, Cheddar cheese made the traditional way in Somerset, heritage apples and mulled perry.

Ms Davidson said: "Behind each ingredient lies a story of a small producer who acts as a torch-bearer for a traditional method of food production that is constantly under threat from the industrialisation of our food supply."

Jude Kelly, artistic director of the centre, said: "At a time when everyone is frantically shopping and consuming, we thought it would be wonderful to host the first Slow Food Market in London. Good food produced in a good way is something to be celebrated and savoured. There is an art to such things and it is worth taking time to appreciate them."

TRADITIONAL FARE

Patchwork p‚tés - Margaret Carter has been producing these since 1982. With a budget of just £9 from her housekeeping, she first sold her home-made p‚tés to pubs around Llangollen in Wales. Despite being on a commercial scale today, they are still hand-made in small batches to her original recipes.

Sillfield Farm rare-breed pork sausages - At his farm near Endmoor in Cumbria, Peter Gott keeps free range wild boar pigs and other stock including Herdwick sheep. The produce is supplied to restaurants including The Ivy, while Jamie Oliver sends his Fifteen restaurant students there to learn.

Perry Court bio-dynamic vegetables - Perry Court Farm, dating back to the 16th century, lies in the North Downs, near Canterbury. It has been farmed organically and bio-dynamically - as a self-contained system with as little external input as possible - by the Brockman family since 1953.

Somerset Cider Brandy - The company has been producing its cider brandy at Kingsbury Episcopi, near Yeovil, under HM Customs licence since 1989, although the area has been associated with cider for at least 150 years. The distillery produces a range of other ciders, spirits and aperitifs.

Sheepdrove heritage turkeys - Publishers Peter and Juliet Kindersley turned environmental campaigners and farmers to produce organic free range turkeys at their farm in Lambourn, Berks. The farm, which was dilapidated when they bought it more than 30 years ago, now has 2,250 acres, employs 80 people and produces some of our oldest turkey breeds.

Chutneys and condiments from Norfolk and Suffolk Speciality Foods - Based near Beccles, Suffolk, the company produces chutneys, cordials and preserves made from locally sourced products where possible.