This unit looks at the relationship between food and the landscape both historically and today.

Taking in subsistence farming and the mining diet; traditional food in the making and local products and their link to local distinctiveness. Practices handed down through the generations concentrated on getting maximum nutrition out of what were often quite limited resources. The pig was the most important animal of the North Pennines a piglet was purchased in the spring, reared in a shed in a yard and if properly treated a pig slaughtered in January could still be forming the basis of meals in July, with nothing wasted but the squeal.

Today local produce initiatives help to raise consumer awareness of links between products and the  countryside.

Local products can help give a sense of place of the area in which they are produced.

Farmers and producers get a better price for their produce, with more money being kept in the economy, and more fresh healthy food  sold through local shops.