British Food Fortnight was conceived in response to the fact that, though there are numerous food initiatives, projects and events taking place across Britain, there was no overall flagship event to bring them to the public's attention. It was held for the first time in Autumn 2002 at the same time as Harvest Festival, the traditional time for celebrating our food.

Since its launch, the event has quickly become the definitive national celebration of our regional foods and drinks, and the health benefits and pleasures of eating quality, fresh, seasonal and regionally distinct produce. It has established itself on the national calendar extremely quickly. By focusing effort on a calendar date it gives people involved in the food business something to aim for and helps concentrate their efforts. It is therefore much more than a mere date in the diary. It is proving an important influencer in engaging the retail, catering, education and volunteer sectors and in establishing a more robust market for Britain's food and drink.

Activities
The two week national promotion is used to generate consumer enthusiasm and interest so that people are actively looking for British food and drink when they are out shopping and eating out. As a result, it offers a promotional opportunity to the retail and catering sectors to stock and serve more British produce during the Fortnight.

The event is particularly active in the education sector. There is both a social and an economic reason for this. Nutrition and food education in schools is now a critical social issue on the national agenda. And from an economic perspective, if young people are not taught about the nutritional benefits of eating fresh produce and how to cook it, the consumer demand necessary to support specialist producers, retailers and caterers will not be there in the future. Education is therefore the most important catalyst in achieving a lasting food revolution in the UK.

The event publishes five of the most definitive 'self-help' guides in the food sector: “Britain's Regional Food & Drink - Advice for Retailers & Caterers”; “Retail & Catering Case Studies”; “The Basics”; “Putting the Ooo! back into food - A Resource Pack for Schools” and “A Guide to including Cookery within the National Curriculum”. All are designed to be useful not just during the national promotion but also in the months beyond. They therefore assist the promotion of regional food longer term.