Wells Food Festival on 8 October is primarily a celebration of the region's finest food and drink producers, but no one can ignore the current food related social issues which so many people are facing.

With this in mind, the festival has a new interactive feature area this year, Food for Thought, which demonstrates what communities can achieve when they come together to tackle some of the challenges faced through food poverty, food waste, high energy bills and family issues.

The Food for Thought marquee, situated next to the bowling green in the Recreation Ground, will host a rolling programme of events from Somerset Community Food, the umbrella organisation for a number of Somerset based food and sustainability projects.

This includes Plotgate Community Farm in Barton St David, which runs a vegetable box scheme delivering to Glastonbury and the surrounding area. At 11am and 1pm, a team from Plotgate will be giving a talk on how to 'Eat the Seasons.'

Other talks include advice on how to pickle and preserve foods, what to grow over the winter and what to do with gluts of produce. Come along to the Food for Thought marquee to check the timings for each half hour presentation.

There will also be several local charities and organisations in the marquee. Come and meet volunteers from Shepton Mallet's fantastic Community Fridge which opened in the town last year. This community fridge, freezer and larder both saves food from going to waste and addresses food poverty in the local area – it's a win win.

The bright orange Help for Homeless food truck will be making an appearance at the festival. The charity was set up by Emma Bleaney and Iona White after meeting on soup runs in Bristol. Now a welcome sight for many, the orange food truck delivers food to approximately 150 people a week on the streets of Bristol, Bath, Yeovil and Taunton. The food is donated by local companies and then prepared and cooked by volunteers.

Find out how The Vineyard Church Foodbank in Wells helps people to access food in times of crisis, whilst The Country Food Trust will be there to talk about their aim to provide nutritious meals to over one million people in need. Meanwhile, the team from Root Connections from Radstock will be on hand, talking about the seasonal veg boxes they supply with produce from their community market garden in Radstock and the work they are doing to end homelessness in Mendip.

Sunday 8 October, 10.30am-4.30pm, free entry

Visit www.wellsfoodfestival.co.uk to find out more.