A free, drop-in community feast and light‑hearted celebration of independence, ecology, and deliciously local imagination.
How well do you know the Hoo Peninsula?
Hoo is an almost‑island with ancient agricultural traditions, ever‑changing skies, mudflats teeming with life, and a micro-climate, completely different to the rest of Medway. While Hoo is not an independent nation it is a place with its own marshy magic, tidal rhythms, independent spirit, and wonderfully mixed‑up histories. And so, with a wink and a generous serving of imagination, artist Cherry Truluck has been travelling the peninsula with a mobile pantry, the ‘Hoo Heddern’, asking: “What does Hoo taste like?”
The Hoo Heddern has been out collecting flavours and stories around Hoo: recipes swapped over cups of tea, seeds from carefully tended gardens, tales of seaweed gathered on mudflats. Foraged herbs, market vegetables, family favourites, and memories of meals cooked in kitchens across Hoo. Together, these contributions have helped shape the dishes at the heart of this community feast, a celebration of the peninsula’s beautifully entangled identities, ecologies, and shared life.
You’re invited to the table.
Join neighbours, growers, cooks, farmers, and other curious folk as we sit down to eat and celebrate what the Heddern has gathered. Recipes and ingredients from Hoo will be supplemented by surplus produce from the Thrift + Thrive stores.
This free meal will weave together regional character, salty edges, garden gluts, historic recipes, and local stories.
This is a feast for everyone: long‑time residents, newcomers, the Hoo‑curious, and anyone who likes good company and good food.
Come and share in the flavours of the peninsula. This “National Dish of Hoo” is a dish made of connections between land, water, people, and place.
Pull up a chair. Bring your appetite.
The Hoo Heddern has been commissioned by Cement Fields and supported by Medway Council through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
This event is free to attend but booking is required.
Food will be served between 12:00 and 14:00 – drop in anytime within this window. There will be a generous, buffet-style mix of dishes, with plenty of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free options, and a long communal table for seating. Allergens will be signposted where possible, but if you have any allergies please do ask a member of the team for guidance. Everything is prepared in kitchens that handle a variety of ingredients, so while we take great care, we can’t guarantee the absence of cross-contamination.