Seeds are being added to the menu at this week's Stalybridge Street Fest.

The second Stalybridge Street Fest of 2022 takes place on Friday (8 April) from 5pm to 9pm in Armentieres Square.

As well as taking their pick from a wide range of mouthwatering food and drink, visitors will be offered the chance to choose from a variety of seeds to take home and grow – and all for free.

The way it works is simple. Having eaten your Street Fest takeaway, take your empty food carton to the stall, choose which seeds you’d like, plant them there and then, and take home the carton and watch the seed grow.

If you want to know about growing your own food, there will be people on hand to talk seeds, soil and easy vegetables, and to show how you can go from seeding to feeding yourself.

Called The Seed to Feed Takeaway, the new stand on Armentieres Square will be giving out free coriander, cumin, chilli, onion, mint and fennel seeds which will be planted in takeout containers that people have finished with - either from Street Fest or from home. Rather than throw the trays away, people can simply bring them over to the stand and choose from the seed menu to build their own takeaway.

The seeds can all be sown at home and grown to produce edible herbs and vegetables that are ideal for curries, dahls, chillies and other Eastern-inspired dishes - perfect for weekend evenings. 

The seeds, seed compost and vermiculite will be provided by outdoor education specialist, gardener, foraging expert and allotmenteer, Michael Hand, who will be on the stand to provide growing and sowing advice. 

Michael comments: “Takeaway containers are great for planting and cultivating seeds - and it’s even more gratifying to grow produce that you can eat at home and use in your own home-made meals.  Plastic and aluminium can be used and used again for years and years, so what better way to help the environment than by reusing them for something positive and nourishing?”

Street Fest is a continental-style street market with stall-holders offering a vast array of mouth-watering dishes ranging from pizza and paella to ice cream, pancakes and Indian and Malaysian food, as well as beer and wine.

Visitors are promised a feel-good festival tone as the event has become part of an all-encompassing cultural experience to stimulate all the senses.

Street Fest is run by Tameside Council’s markets service in partnership with prestigious artisan market organisers The Market Co.

Later in the year, as part of the Greater Manchester Town of Culture programme, the council will be celebrating Stalybridge’s produce and heritage by coming up with a signature dish for the town which should be announced in September.

A Tameside Council spokesperson said: “Spring’s in the air so what better time than right now to celebrate good local fare, grown, sourced or bought right here in Stalybridge?

“Our seed takeaway adds a great springtime twist to Street Fest and we’re sure it’ll be especially popular with children. 

“They’re bound to be fascinated by watching their very own plant go from seed to saucepan.”

For more info, visit themarketco.co.uk/markets/stalybridge-street-fest 

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