Outside the Goods Shed Food Hall in Canterbury
So, this is the Goods Shed. The place which sparked off most of my research into local alternative food systems. It is a very unique place – a 6 days a week farmers market/food hall and restaurant.
I have been involved with the Goods Shed for a little while now, I work 1 day a week running the Vegetable Stall which sells only locally grown English vegetables and fruit. I also have been working to promote the food hall to students and more low income brackets. I have been running a Facebook page with weekly recipes and highlighted produce/meats/fish to show to the public that supporting your local producers and distributors is often cheaper, more beneficial for the community and better for your health – https://www.facebook.com/secretsoftheshed?fref=ts
I have been shopping at the Goods Shed since the first day I started university here, and have always felt passionate about what they provide and the alternative they offer to the supermarket. My stronger connection with the place arose when I carried out a short Ethnography in my 2nd year of University, interviewing the workers and consumers in the Goods Shed, to see what are the true differences between market and supermarket shopping. Both in terms of the community formed and in terms of environmental and political impact.
So the Goods Shed has been a springboard for the film I am currently making on local food movements. The past two weeks I have been in and out of the market, filming the stallholders, the farmers, the workers, the consumers, etc. This film is going to be a collection of the different connections and relationships I have built up through my involvement with the Goods Shed and I cannot wait to begin editing my footage!
Local Food Systems: an alternative 