Racing pigs and London honey at the Lambeth Country Show

I hadn't long been in London when I visited last year's Lambeth Country Show in Brockwell Park. Now that I'm more of a city girl, the whole concept of having sheep, ducks, goats, owls and racing pigs in the middle of south London seems more bizarre than ever. Racing pigs? I hear you say - yes indeed.

But as this is a food blog, I suppose I'd better tell you about the edible aspects of it. There were the amazing fruit and vegetable sculptures once again, and a produce show displaying perfect plums, purple potatoes, tomatoes like jewels and lettuces as frilly and elaborate as any flower.

The fruit and vegetable carving competition (You can't see it so well here, but the carrot sculpture on the right is a version of Antony Gormley's Field for the British Isles artwork of 1993)

I tried some great cakes, including a Jamaican rum cake that was egg free and dairy-free and extremely tasty (made with wholegrain spelt flour, coconut oil and raw cane sugar by the Heavenly Cake Company).

And there were stalls from any number of excellent initiatives. In case you still thought local food can't exist in a big city, there was London honey (if that wasn't local enough, there was even Brockwell Park honey as well as Dulwich honey and Brixton honey). And I was really impressed by the fig and honey jam, made with local figs (from a London allotment) as well as local honey.

And I learned about Local Greens, a not-for-profit vegetable box (well, bag) scheme run by Herne Hill and Dulwich residents. It's organic or spray-free, and you collect your weekly box from a collection point in Dulwich, Brixton, Herne Hill or Camberwell. The veg comes from between five and 60 miles away. Vegetable box schemes are pretty common these days, but this one seems like an admirable venture.