Return of the Foodfest: by Natalie Jayne Peeke West Country Correspondent

Spread the love

 

Since the first ever Foodfest that was hosted by our lovely seaside town I have made a conscious effort to go to every one that followed. EAT Festivals organise a array of food festivals throughout the glorious westcountry, starting in April and running until December.

17 April Weston-super-Mare

24 April Lyme Regis

1 May Castle Cary

8 May Taunton – cancelled

15 May Clevedon

22 May Yeovil

29 May Burnham-on-Sea

14 August Portishead

21 August Honiton Gate to Plate

28 August Chipping Sodbury

4 Sept Wellington

18 Sept Yeovil

25 Sept Weston-super-Mare

26 Sept Tiverton

2 October Minehead

9 October Nailsea

16 October Teignmouth

23 October Burnham-on-Sea

27 Nov Taunton

4 Dec Nailsea

11 December Yeovil

12 Dec Weston-super-Mare

The Foodfests aim to bring a great range of producers and products into the town on the day of the festival. Most are based within 25 miles of each town, bringing in a few exceptional and hard to find producers from further afield.

With everything that occurred last year, the festivals were obviously cancelled and one of the things that I looked forward to was attending the festival with my parents again. It seemed ages since I had seem them properly, and couldn’t wait to get back to normal(ish). You can only imagine my excitement when I found out that on the 29th of May we would be able to do just that.

We had a fantastic day, sampling food and beverages, treating ourselves to some delicious purchases, there was a contagious atmosphere; the vendors were happy to be there and equally, if not more, excited than we were. It was a warm sunny Saturday fuelled by fun.

Some of my favourite vendors include;

Chalice mead, their passion and knowledge of mead is fantastic, the flavours are exquisite, my personal favourites being Elderflower Mead & Blackberry mead, delicious.

Shanty Spirit who made some exquisite cocktails with their seaweed vodka, again the producers were very helpful and were very passionate about their product.

Cocoa Chocolate, These guys have been a favourite for me since the first time I encountered them back in 2017.I am a chocoholic and theirs is by far the best I have ever tasted, tand their flavours? Well, read on: malteaser, oreo, coffee, honeycomb. As well as dark, milk & white chocolate bars.

Country bumpkins, These geniuses make something delicious, a roast dinner wrapped up in a giant Yorkshire pudding. Yes you read that right , it is incredibly filling and messy, always ask for extra napkins. I indulged in roast lamb wrap so that included lamb, stuffing, roast potatoes, vegetables, gravy and my choice of sauce naturally I opted for mint sauce.

Harry’s Cider is a must, at a West country food and drink festival. I visited the guys at Harry’s cider and enjoyed a cup of mango and lime flavoured cider. It is scrumpy cider so it is not fizzy. I was offered some ice and it was a lovely refreshing fruity drink, not too sweet either. It was absolutely perfect.


I can not recommend the food festivals enough, they’re family friendly and are completely free to attend, so if you have one near you pop over for a few hours and sample some local food.