Siobhan Denton looks into the going-on this year at Wales’ largest food festival.
This September sees the return of the hugely successful and popular Abergavenny Food Festival. The much-anticipated festival celebrates its 18th year and is set to be the best yet. Now the largest and longest running food festival in Wales, it has established a reputation for showcasing some of the best and newest talent in food. Allowing journalists, food-fans, and chefs to come together with a common interest, the festival has focused on creating an event to which all are welcome. Importantly, foodies and families are equally at ease at the inclusive event.
Past festivals have seen acclaimed chefs such as Jamie Oliver and Valentine Warner in attendance; this year sees Tom Kerridge and Jay Rayner speaking, amongst a plethora of other journalists and chefs including Jane Baxter and Tim Hayward. Not simply a food-centred event, the festival includes music, demonstrations and free theatre events. Taking place across the town, events are set in a variety of locations. Visiting the castle on the Friday night, for example, sees an opportunity to partake in a ceilidh, with the Ceilidh Liberation Front providing the music for the party. Visit the castle on the Sat 16 or Sun 17, and you can watch a number of open-fire cookery demonstrations.
A Farm Shop area allows attendees to learn about the people and the animals that provide food and produce. Exhibitors will be selling produce from their own farms, including Blodyn Aur (Welsh rapeseed oil) and Grosmont Dairy raw milk, and each stall will have something visitors can taste, try, make or learn about. Alongside the exhibitors is the Farming Matters speaker’s tent, with a programme of timely and engaging talks that illuminate core issues affecting today’s farming. Each afternoon will finish with a debate that will touch on issues such as the future of food and the future of farming post-Brexit.
A festival wristband provides free access to the Night Market on Saturday night (a £5 entry fee is payable for those without a wristband) where visitors can visit myriad street food traders including Okra Tempura, Bristol’s Pickled Brisket, and Nom Nom Chocolate. Live music and entertainment will take place throughout the evening, and a selection of food-to-go traders are present to provide you with a meal to pack up and take home if you’d prefer.
Attendance at the festival means a £5 discount code off all tours at Hereford’s Chase Distillery, which makes vodka and gin and is the only truly single-estate distillation process in the UK. There are several, separately ticketed events, allowing visitors to forage in the wild, or catch and cook their own brown wild trout on the river.
Welcoming over 30,000 visitors, the festival is committed to supporting the local community, sourcing employees from the area as well as offering work experience opportunities for catering students. Ideally located, the festival is easy to get to by car, although it must be noted that parking is limited, or public transport, with the train station only a 10-minute walk away from the centre. Visitors can purchase weekend or day wristbands (excluding ticketed events) for access to the festival online; residents from the NP7 postcode area are entitled to a 10% wristband discount.
Abergavenny Food Festival, various venues, Abergavenny, Sat 16 + Sun 17 Sept. Tickets: price varies per event. Info: www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com
