Bristol Organic Food Festival 2008 lauched, 100 thousand expected to attend

The Bristol Organic Food Festival, which is Europe's largest festival for organic food, launched today in Bristol. Wikinews reported from the event.

The event was opened at 11:00 local time (10:00 UTC) by Patrick Holden, director of the Soil Association, who said that the festival was " the benchmark for what I hope will be the future development of festivals all over the country."

The event includes a large farmers market, music, and a variety of different features run by 212 organic food and drink related organisations from the region.

Other events that took place today within the festival incuded a BBC run stall promoting organic food, and several stalls which encouraged young children to eat organic food, including a 'cookery bus,' which showed children how to cook different foods.

The festival takes place as sales of organic food in the UK are starting to fall. Research has found that organic food sales have fallen by 8.1% over the last year.

The event was launched despite the heavy rain which has occurred throughout the day in Bristol.

"People have got less money, their ordinary food shopping has gone through the roof; they're cutting out luxuries. And I'm afraid organic is a luxury," said economic analyst Ben Yearsley. This downturn in the organic food market has meant that some companies, such as WholeFoods Market are planning to close some of their stores. WholeFoods Market are one of the organisations that displayed at the festival.

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Photographs: Anonymous101