Taste of the Teign Food and Drink Festival 25 September - 1 October 2017

South Devon’s third year of the most exciting celebrations of local produce is Taste of the Teign Food and Drink Festival. 

This festival puts produce that’s been picked and reared in the surrounding fields, caught in local waters or harvested from the hedges firmly at the heart of this food and drink celebration.

This is held in Teignmouth, Shaldon and Bishopsteignton.  This year it will be held Monday 25 September - Sunday 1 Oct.  Over the course of the festival many  events will take place; each one using locally sourced produce as the centrepiece for culinary creativity - it is usually a combination of demos, workshops and other events like cream teas; sausage tasting; a food quiz and tours of local food producers

For more information on the festival visit: http://facebook.com/tasteoftheteign 

It's such a good festival with lots to see and do and I think this year they have permission to host events on the Den, Teignmouth on the Saturday and Sunday.

See you there!

Exeter Food Festival April 2016

As usual this was held in the stunning Spring gardens of Northernhay and Rougemont.  I was there today (Sunday) and the sun was shining brightly.

This was the VIP area where you could get tea, coffee, cream teas and manicures....and yes, I did get a manicure and yes, because I am not used to them, I did smudge several of my fingers.

There were many interesting food producers and sellers there.  There was even a Pickled Egg stand.

I enjoyed the chance to purchase many different types of 'fast food' from the high quality vans that were around.  I could also picnic outside as the sun was shining and it felt quite warm.  Speaking to stall-holders, I think the rainy weather on Friday put off some festival-goers and the warm weather on the Saturday meant it was very crowded.

I noticed there was plenty for children to do: activity tents, facepainting, story-telling, ice-creams, petting animals - there were a couple of girls in dresses chasing each other around a tree on a grassy bank, and a serious looking little boy who was wandering onto the flower beds wearing his yellow all-in-one outfit.  This all added to the overall picturesque scene - happy faces, a wealth of local food, young animals, spring blooms and playing children.

I think the Sunday worked well for me - fewer people than Saturday and beautiful weather. This meant that it was easier to talk to food producers and there were no queues.  I also managed to park nearby, which helps.

Taste of the Teign Festival - Dr Paul Cleave at the Oystercatchers Cafe

This was the second event for the inaugural Taste of the Teign festival.  The earlier Crab Cracking Workshop at The Crab Shack, Teignmouth was a big success.

Dr Paul Cleave from Exeter University honoured us with his presence in the Oystercatchers Cafe, Teignmouth.

We learnt much about the historic importance of food and tourism in South Devon.  The area  has a long history of food production.  The diet varied in different parts of Devon, but overall simple dishes used to be served: some regions were known for barley, others for fish.  Seafood such as lobsters was often viewed as 'poisonous'!

Dr Cleave talked of the Shaldon women fishing for salmon in the very beautiful river - the men were more likely piloting ships or labouring in the fisheries.  Apparently the hopes and disappointments of these women would have provided an excellent subject for a sketch!  Shaldon was described in the 1936 book, Come to Devon, as a 'delectable spot' and ideal for staying for a few weeks at The Roundhouse Hotel.  The Teign Estuary was described as being 'unmatched in beauty'.

Doctors used to promote visits to the seaside for their bathing, sunshine, food and clean air.  Teignmouth in the late 18th century was described as a great place for hospitality, food, bathing, and walks with an interesting landscape and had a 'sufficient' theatre.

Of course the 1860s brought the railway to Teignmouth, with lots more tourism.  This area of the Teign Estuary provided scientific appeal (geology) and wildlife (dolphins were frequently seen at Teignmouth and once a whale).  The sealife has always been very good and there were many edible fish. The apple orchards were good for eating apples, the production of cider and to create an attractive landscape.  

In the 1950s there were 28 varieties of cheese in Devon.  I'm not sure there are that many any longer.  Celia Fiennes, a late 17th century / early 18th century traveller was very complimentary about 'clotted cream served with an open apple tart with custard'.  NB Custard AND clotted cream.  Until 1952, clotted cream was illegal and now it's one of our local delights.

Overall the talk was really interesting, (there were quotations from several old books that Dr Cleave had kindly brought along) particularly the parts about the fishing and the clotted cream!  Lastly Dr Cleave opened his hamper and let us taste some barley bread (rather like wholemeal scones) with clotted cream and homemade jam.

There are many more Taste of the Teign events this week (from now until Sunday 27 Sept 2015).  I am going to several more (the quiz this evening at the Oystercatchers, the lunchtime talk at the Cockhaven Manor, the tour of Shute Fruit, the preparation of fish at Alice Cross Centre and a browse of the markets at the weekend).  For more information on the events, consult the Facebook page. The events are informative for people interested in local food and delicious when there are samples!

Exeter Food Festival 2014 April 25th

This morning I visited the Exeter Food Festival.  It's on from today until Sun 27 April 2014.
As ever, the food theatre was packed - standing room only, and that was at the top of a flight of stairs - Michael Caines was appearing - so I had to leave and made the most of the 'quieter' marquees.

There were plenty of familiar faces and products, plus some new items that I haven't tried before.  It was a great opportunity to see all the local produce and try some free samples.   The marquees were huge and there were a lot of exhibitors and the great weather (not wet, not too hot) meant there were a lot of visitors, but not too many.

I enjoyed my chat about Cornish pasties with Chunk of Devon.  Are Devon or Cornish ones better?  I prefer chunks of meat (not mince)....and so do Chunk!

I also chatted to Jennie from Taste Buds magazine - a great source of local foodie info (and I write for it too) and I bumped into Anna Turns, a fellow food writer.

Look at the size of these Rolo cookies from Get Cupcaked....you have to look at the penny for comparison.  My children will love these this evening.  The Get Cupcaked cupcakes looked amazing and for me the 'Best in Show'.

The Frandie Macarons looked and tasted amazing:

 A great array of pies from a North Devon company...

 I was unable to chat to the Camper Coffee guys as the queue was always like this...
.

The festival programme:

I have never been to the evening do, but that should be fun.  I think there is entertainment on the Fri and Sat nights.  Parking was not a problem - there are road signs advising use of the Park and Ride - but we parked in the centre of Exeter.

Sticky Pecan Big Buns from Cornwall - Hope's Bread

These are worthy of a blog post all to themselves.  I'm not supposed to eat nuts, so I picked them all off and passed them to my other half, so used my imagination to add them to the overall delight of these sticky, enormous, calorific, doughy wonderful delicacies.  Bearing no real resemblance to a French Pain aux Raisins, these little beauties have soft sticky thick toffee sandwiching the soft spiral together and then slightly harder, more toffee-apple crunchy bits in places.  £1 - total bargain - these are big buns! No wonder I put on weight when I visit Cornwall!

We were lucky enough to be in Cornwall at the right time for the Gweek Food and Craft Fair at Easter.  They seem to have one at Easter and one over the August Bank Holiday.  Next one is Bank Holiday Monday 29 August  2011.

 The village hall where it is held may be small, but it's packed with fantastic local food producers like Sargies (puds, meringues and lemon curd); Treveador Farm Dairy, producers of Helford White, possibly my favourite cheese in the world;  and the wonderful Hope's Bread.  Hope's produce can be found at most West Cornwall Farmer's Markets during the week and at other special events - see the website  Here's the lovely Hope of Hope's Bread who makes the splendid sticky cinnamon buns....oh and just a few different types of bread (the lavender and honey bread is yummy as toast, and the olive focaccia was the perfect accompaniment to lunch outside in the sun with a glass of wine):

All the producers were located within a few miles of Gweek, a small creekside village famous for its Seal Sanctuary (Top Tip: Use your Tesco Clubcard vouchers to pay for entry fees) and near the town of Helston.  See you there on August Bank Holiday!

Dartmouth Food Festival - Foodie Heaven

Dartmouth Food Festival was held over the 20th - 24th October. I helped out for a couple of hours, manning an information stall with the lovely Susie Bennett,
 

Susie runs an amazing B and B overlooking Dartmouth in Kingswear:
 
http://www.brightwaterhouse.co.uk/
 
She's a charming, funny person and, by the sound of it, her organic breakfasts are out of the world and her house has views 'to die for'.  This is a smart (and really good value) place to stay when visiting Dartmouth.  I look forward to staying there some time.
 
Our information stand was cunningly placed next to Devonshire Teas who obligingly provided a sample of their wares.  They've been operating since last June and have a huge Twitter presence so it was good to meet them in person.  The tea was refreshing, well-balanced with a good flavour and perked me up on a cold October morning on Dartmouth Embankment.  The tea isn't grown locally, but they've created a 'Devonshire' blend that is perfect to drink whilst in Devon with scones.
 

 
 
I pottered around tasting some fantastically fresh crab and then ended up tasting salt at one my favourite food producers, Cornish Sea Salt.  They've branched out into flavoured salts (Smoked, Chilli, Onion, Garlic and Pepper) - my favourite being the smoked one.  He's a jolly nice chap!
 

 
The Luscombe girls were having a good time and I enjoyed their Lime Crush - it had a good kick and not too sweet (as I think some of their drinks like their raspberry lemonade are).
 

 
There were loads of top notch food demos going on. 
 
I watched Miranda Gardiner, author of Teaching Dad to Cook Flapjack, making crabcakes and I tasted them at the end.  She seemed a bit nervous, but she needn't have been as her style and cooking are inspiring and natural and the finished product was yummy.  I picked up her book, it looked wonderful (she takes her own photos too), but I'm trying really hard to buy no more cookery books as I have enough to last me a lifetime.  
 

 
 
 Mitch Tonks, now a prominent Dartmouth restauranteur  (I remember him refusing to open some oysters for me in his Bath fish shop, this has coloured my opinion of him!) was promoting his book, the sound quality was pretty bad on the PA system, so I didn't linger but hurried over the road, round the corner, behind the church, to the unpreposessing Flavel Centre.  My one (major) criticism of the Dartmouth Food Festival was that if you're going to spread out over several venues, please advertise the fact and provide plenty of signage.  For me, all the best local food producers were in  here and there were barely any punters to be seen!
 

 
 
One of my highlights in The Flavel Centre was Lahloo Tea:
 
Kate is passionate about working with small tea producers and creating the perfect blend.  She's based in Bristol and her products are classy and tasty too.  She mentioned that they're gracing the shelves of some high end upmarket retailers and restaurants - I can see why.  Enjoyed chatting to Kate and bought a set of heart shaped tins containing tea, a Tea Tasting Kit for £7,  all for me me me.  Treat.  The two teas I've tried so far have been great.
 

 
 
 
These were the divine homemade custard creams she was selling:
 

 
 
Next door to Kate was the Totnes-based Bean and Pod - what an awesome display of handmade goodies.  These are chocolates with a difference (Choclette, take note!).  Raw cocoa used (I think I have this right) from a small cocoa farm, sweetened with dates (no refined sugar) and studded with beautiful flowers.  Loved chatting to Lu and think she's doing something really different.
 

 
 
A close-up of one of the beauts:
 

 
 
And from Red Earth Kitchen (based in Kingsbridge) I bought a thick slice of delectable quiche chocka with butternut squash, gorgonzola and sage.  Delicious flavour combination and a very satisfying, good value lunch
 

 
 
Dartmouth Food Festival was a free event and had a lovely atmosphere.  The Exeter one is bigger, better and you have to pay to get in.  This one suited Dartmouth and it was great to meet some new local food producers.