Meet our new food blogger Kate!
@katesfoodadventures
Hi! My name is Kate and I’m the new food columnist for Community Contact Magazine. I’m here to talk to you about all things food in Buckingham and the surrounding areas. You can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook at @katesfoodadventures for more foodie updates.
I thought I would use my first article as a chance to reflect on lockdown and the local food heroes who helped to make it a tad more bearable (hopefully by the time this gets published we haven’t been plunged back into a full blown lockdown!).
First up is Binn Smokehouse. At the beginning of lockdown, when we were all basically house-bound and preparing home cooked food three meals a day (plus weaning a 6 month old over in our house), being able to get some delicious restaurant quality food, safely delivered to your door was such a welcome treat. The guys and girls over a Binn definitely supplied this, and it was great to see local people step up and offer their time as delivery drivers to help them to provide this new service to the community.
Another takeaway hero in those early dark days was Direct Pizza Company. Not only did they continue to deliver their great quality pizzas to our door 7 days a week. They also donated a huge number of pizzas to local NHS staff and sent out “Mr Munch” to deliver pizzas to kids having to celebrate their birthdays during lockdown.
Smith & Clay also stepped up during those early lockdown days. They stayed open throughout, providing us with their usual high-quality local produce, as well as offering a local delivery service. Their phone lines were flooded by
people shielding and not able to get supermarket delivery slots, so again, the lovely people of Buckingham volunteered their time to help them man the phones and get supplies out to as many people as possible.
Finally, I would like to mention Sophie Lewis who runs Pure Patisserie. Having recently started her own company providing delicious desserts to local restaurants and bespoke celebration cakes, Sophie was initially worried for the future of her business. However she managed to pivot beautifully and has been busier then ever during lockdown, supplying the local area with loaded brownies, cream teas and dessert boxes delivered to their door or popped in the post (who wouldn’t want a slab of brownie arriving through their letterbox?!)
Obviously, there are loads of other local foodie businesses that have helped to keep us happy during lockdown, but unfortunately, I have a word limit to stick to and can’t mention them all! What lockdown has made me realise is that we are so lucky here in Buckingham. For a small market town we have a thriving and diverse food scene, and I do hope that now everything is opening back up and we’re able to choose where we spend our money, we don’t forget these local food heroes that helped support us through those tough times earlier in the year.
Binn
Direct Pizza Company
Pure Patisserie
