Foodies Festival – Hampton Court Palace
Last week I entered a competition on Twitter, run by Teapigs – a quality obsessed, independent tea company, and won a pair of tickets to the Hampton Court Foodies Festival, the first of a series of festivals in the UK.
The day started out overcast and by the time we arrived the umbrella was required, but that didn’t stop people attending and enjoying themselves.
Held in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace, the Foodies Festival is aimed at food lovers who don’t mind rolling up their sleeves and cooking. It is not a show for armchair chefs.
Surrounded by food but first – a coffee…
We made a bee-line to visit Weanie Beans, who we normally bump into at their pitch at Barnes Market, but this weekend have shared a stand with Outsider Tart – usually resident at 83 Chiswick High Road, London.
Their flat whites are right up there with the best we have tasted and are served with a smile. It’s always a pleasure to see Adeline, she is so cheery!
Coffee in hand we started on our gastronomy tour, with a cheeky tasting of a wild boar and apple sausage from Supreme Sausages, followed by a lamb and rosemary. The tastebuds were lit up like a Christmas tree and this was only the first stand. We bought a pack and carried on.
After chatting with the team on the stand we were buzzing from their enthusiasm
Next stop was the Teapigs stand where we tried a Licorice & Peppermint infusion, which cleansed the palate , in readiness for more taste sensations. After chatting with the team on the stand we were buzzing from their enthusiasm and bought a couple of their tea temples (boxes of teabags)
I won’t bore you with the details of every stop we made but there were a few exhibitors that stood out. The passion from these smaller producers is so infectious, and their intimate product knowledge helps you understand exactly how a product is lovingly made, often by hand or with very little automation, yet sold for very realistic prices.
The standout product at the show (for me anyway) was the Pomegranate and Fig Balsamic, enjoyed with a leaf of spinach, from the gift of oil.
There was no shortage of chutney producers – each with a unique taste, and a dazzling array of spices to use in preparing a curry. We sampled many of these infusions and bought a few home with us.
Stopping briefly to pick up a matured cheddar cheese block from Barbers Cheese, we started to plan our exit as we were pretty well laden with all sorts of gastronomic delights.
I’m glad we only had a light breakfast as the last stop of the day before leaving was to the Hog Roast stand (whose company name eludes me) where I tucked into a roast pork filled ciabatta with home-made apple sauce.
Spotting even darker clouds on the horizon, we squeezed in 1 more coffee each from Weanie Beans, a few minutes of jazz and then a sprint to the car before the heavens opened.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment