Saturday 24 October 2009

Aldeburgh Food Festival

Almost a month ago now, at the end of September, I was lucky enough to go with my Mum to the Aldeburgh Food Festival in Suffolk. Whilst called the Aldeburgh festival, the main show is in the lovely Snape Maltings. The Aldeburgh Food Festival is massive, as the whole of the county gets involved in mini events across the weekend festival. The festival celebrates all the fantastic food and foodie businesses in Suffolk so they were all there showing their yummy produce (I love tasters!) There were also big marquees with a few celeb chefs showing off the local produce in some recipes. Here are my pictures from the day I went – enjoy!
general shizzle 010 ^ Food writer and critic Matthew Fort (left) did a great show with celebrity chef Tom Parker-Bowles. They are good friends and were fun to watch – especially as they had not planned what to cook but gone around all the stalls before hand to gather inspiration and ingredients.
general shizzle 012 ^ Ah, the beauty of front row seats! Restaurateur Mark Hix (left) and friend Marcus Verbene, head chef at the Browns Hotel in Mayfair also did a show but it was not as entertaining. They did however make some interesting game dishes, with lots of ingredients I've never used before. general shizzle 017 ^ Winner of the Suffolk Raised Pie competition, judged by Matthew Forte. Beauty!
general shizzle 027 ^ High House Farm apple juice – this stuff is nectar! Wonderfully fresh and sharp tasting – mmm!
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^ I hadn’t heard of this company before but I did buy a bottle of this: it had a strong kick from both piles of ginger and the chilli addition – it was a great combination.
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^ I want this van. Its a mobile chocolate business, Choc Star, and above is their amazing menu. I repeat, I want this van.
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^ Failing that, I would happily LIVE in this above van, the Creperie, perhaps purely for the bunting… :)
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^ This Chilli con carne van was pretty cool too!
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^ Alder Tree is an ice cream company in Suffolk and their ice creams are gorgeous! I have tried the Toffee Apple which has scrumptious pieces of toffee swirled in, and the Tayberry, which is a berry like a cross between loganberries and raspberries, and totally sublime.
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I had a lovely day the festival, and enjoyed seeing all the brilliant business ideas and fun companies the people ran. I was very envious of some of their lives (and vans..)! The festival also proved to me how much I want to do something foodie when I grow up. Hope you enjoyed!

7 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

That must have been fun! Lucky you ;-P!

Cheers,

Rosa

Joanne said...

This looks like foodie paradise! Thanks so much for sharing all of the pictures. seems like a ton of fun.

Ash said...

Oh my, I wish I could have gone to this festival!! In Canada we rarely have food festival, and this one looks like a foodies dream!!
What interesting flavors of things that have and I too also want that van. Who wouldn't want chocolate on wheels?

stephchows said...

Oh yum!! It looks like you and your mom had a fabulous day! So many tasty things!!

George@CulinaryTravels said...

Food festivals are wonderful aren't they. You must have had so much fun.

Cate O'Malley said...

Looks like such a fun food-filled event - especially the chili and the creperie - yum!

peasepudding said...

I'm so envious, I would love to go to some English festivals, I must plan my holidays a bit better net time!