Aine Morris, the Chief Executive of the Abergavenny Food Festival, speaks with Buzz about what to expect from the renowned gastronomic celebration.

What are you looking forward to most about the Food Festival?

I’m very much looking forward to the return of the Community Feast in the Market Hall as a way of celebrating the installation of the Market Hall decorations, and saying a massive ‘thank you’ to the local town.

I’m so excited that Edinburgh Food Studio are bringing a pop-up to the festival this year – they are definitely some of the most exciting young chefs in the UK at the moment and I’m looking forward to seeing them showcase their food.

We’re giving The Farmyard over to the kids each morning of the festival this year giving the chance for little ones to get their hands dirty. There will be a series of workshops including The Stardust in our Soil and opportunities to milk goats!

With more than 30,000 visitors to the festival each year, what do you think makes the festival so popular?

At Abergavenny, we are all about food. We’re really committed to showcasing the very best developments in craft food in Britain. Our speakers and participating organisations love Abergavenny because we deliver great community vibes to a passionate and engaged audience. Interesting talks, masterclasses and demos keep people coming back year after year.

Why is it so important for people to learn about where their food comes from?

If the British public become increasingly disconnected with the reality of how food is made, we risk forgetting the time and effort that goes into growing and producing and making our primary produce. Abergavenny Food Festival aims to get people growing, cooking and tasting new things because if you understand the reality of the time involved in making food, you are more likely to value the hard work and effort of our farmers and food producers.

In what way does the festival transform the way people think about food?

Food festivals create a unique opportunity to get people thinking about how and why we eat the way we do, in a fun and creative format. Our aim is to get visitors trying, tasting and experiencing new things, while sharing delicious food and drink, which makes people more open to thinking differently.

Having lived and worked in Italy, how does Wales compare to the culture that’s renowned for its culinary excellence?

Like Italy, Wales has retained a strong sense of its own cultural identity expressed through its rural and agricultural communities. We are now seeing pockets of really exciting activity as a new generation of young people want to share and grow this rural food culture. The development of a dynamic food movement in West Wales for example, is comparable to the exciting pockets of activity we see in San Fransisco, Brooklyn, and Bristol.

As well as thousands of guests, the festival has seen big names in the food industry like Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, who is headlining this year. What does the involvement of such prestigious names do for the festival?

The inclusion of such established names is always great to drive the public to come and visit the event. For those who are fans and want to hear more from them, names like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall really help to get the message out there, but what I love about Abergavenny is that we manage to balance a programme of big celebrities with the up-and-coming new voices in the food industry – the mix of talent here this year is outstanding.

What appealed to you about the Abergavenny Food Festival when you were applying to your new position as CEO?

I’ve been a massive fan of Abergavenny for the last 10 years – I knew the founders of the festival and various board members since I moved back from Italy in 2009. They approached me when the new post was advertised and invited me to apply as we all felt that the vision of the board for the future growth and development of the event was a really strong match with the kind of events that I’d been committed to delivering so far in my career. It’s proving to be my dream job.

How do you hope to expand the festival in the future?

As we move towards our 20th anniversary festival in 2018, we are plotting some exciting plans for the future of the event. Many of which are top secret at this point! However, I can say that Abergavenny is committed to being an event that represents the local community and drives participation from young people and food groups. We will be building on our work to deliver an exceptional Fringe Programme that offers a broad range of activities, as well as driving participation with the local food community long after the festival has gone home. We are really excited to be continuing to progress the creative vision for the event and have plans to build upon the community project of creating giant puppets that are installed in the Market Hall each year.

As well as big names, Abergavenny Food Festival supports up-and-coming chefs. Are there any names we should keep a look out for this year?

There is a veritable food revolution going on in Britain at the moment and the number of chefs who are entirely focused on where our food comes from and what impact it has on our environment and our health is one of the most inspiring things happening. Representatives of this new wave at the festival this year include the chefs from Edinburgh Food Studio, Zoe Adjonyoh, Jan Ostle, and Tom Hunt.

There is also a focus on discussing food issues, with talks and debates taking place over the weekend. Why do you think there is so much debate surrounding certain food issues?

I think the public are fundamentally confused about constantly hearing conflicting messages telling them what they should and shouldn’t be eating. In addition to this, the way we currently produce food is one of the world’s leading causes of CO2 emissions. The discussion around how our food is produced has never been more important, because food is the one thing that every individual citizen has the power to take control of in their lives. Everyone eats. Three times a day we all have a choice about how we spend our food budgets.

If you could only recommend one place in Wales to someone who’d never visited Wales before, where would you pick and why?

I love Wales and have been coming here with my family since I was a child. I have a passionate soft spot for the West Welsh coastline from Conwy down to the Gower Peninsular. I can’t answer this question without encouraging people to come to Monmouthshire, however. There is an incredible range of local food places from tours of the White Castle Vineyards, the community gardens of Abergavenny, Shaun Hill’s cooking at The Walnut Tree and fishing in the Wye Valley to foraging in the forests around Tintern. Monmouthshire really does have exceptional activities for food hungry visitors.

Abergavenny Food Festival, Various venues around Abergavenny, Sat 16 + Sun 17. Tickets: price varies per event. Info: www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com