Love Food celebrates Black History Month

Love Food @ Lockmeadow is celebrating Black History Month with The Emerald Steel Pan band on Sunday 2 October from 1pm to 3pm and a DJ playing black artist music until the early evening and everyone is invited.

The diverse food court will also be displaying a collection of posters and quotes from history, celebrating heroes and unsung heroes as part of Black History displaying.

With eight independent street food outlets offering globally inspired street food, Love Food has expanded the diversity of food offering for Maidstone with black business owners bringing authentic Caribbean, North African and Pan Asian food to the town.

Cllr Claudine Russell, Lead Member for Leisure and Arts at Maidstone Borough Council said:

“It is great that Love Food is celebrating Black History Month with this lovely event. They are also encouraging community groups and local businesses to use the space to host and run their own events to help set the foundations for this national celebration and we hope this could become an annual event for the town.”

Total Jerk Caribbean food owner Michelle Ayling says;

“We’d love to hear from local black artists, writer, professionals and entrepreneurs to see how we can come together across the month to showcase each other’s work and talents. We have something great to offer Maidstone here at Love Food and are continuing to grow our community and this includes hosting many events.”

Total Jerk often works in tandem with Funky Feast for events, whose French trained chef Eric Allangba (originally from Côte d’Ivoire) offers high-quality North & West African, Mediterranean & Middle Eastern Food. Eric says:

“We kick off Black History Month with our own event on October 2^nd. We have a steel pan drummer returning from our summer sessions. His Caribbean music was really popular and it will be great to add a dash of summer back into autumn. We also have a DJ to follow on into the evening.

“But we are all new businesses and finding the time to run full events can be a challenge. We would really like to provide the platform at the venue to open it up to other businesses to collaborate with. Therefore, if you are a business/ sole trader that is looking to promote your products, network with other ambitious and creative individuals – do get in touch! This is our first Black History Month, so we are open to new ideas. If you think you have something to offer, please get in touch.”

For all enquiries, please email hello@lovefoodmaidstone.co.uk or get in touch via Instagram @lovefoodmaidstone.

Notes to Editors:

Black History Month runs from 1-31 October each year. The theme this year is ‘Time for change: Action not words.’

Maidstone Borough Council became the landlord of Lockmeadow in 2019 when it bought out the long leasehold interest of the complex.