D
AVID JONES CHAIRMAN OF
THE DARTMOUTH FOOD FESTIVAL writes a big, big thank you to everyone who attended this year’s Dartmouth Food Festival. The feedback we have
had is that it was definitely the best yet. The weather stayed sunny and dry if a little blustery at times but there was so much to see and do we can only list a few highlights –
• The Children’s Day moved to Royal Avenue Gardens and was a great start to the festival. Organisers Anna Uhr Delia and Nat Lowson, with their teaching backgrounds, had linked the activities to the school curriculum and also
and seeing the action in Royal Avenue Gardens, was the cocktail hour with Nick Strangeway at the Apprentice. Nick rustled up a few tasty pre-dinner drinks using Plymouth Gin and cider brandy from Stoke Gabriel and
Somerset. The Apprentice was packed and it was great to use this beautiful restaurant as a food festival venue. Thanks to Nina and the team for their help with this great evening. • Saturday saw an early start when Thom Hunt from River Cottage took a group foraging for their breakfast around Dartmouth Castle and Galant’s Bower before heading back to the cookery theatres to cook what they found. • On Saturday the markets expanded into the Old Market and the Market car park where a marquee had been
impressively sorted it all out in 8 weeks. • The Dolphin and Bridgetown Brewery devised a new festival beer, Joyce’s Choice, named to celebrate the 80th birthday of Joyce Molyneux. No-one was more surprised than Joyce when she was taken to the river to greet the beer as it arrived by boat accompanied by 2 pirates. The beer proved to be a big hit with its hoppy fruitiness and the bar completely sold out by the end of the weekend. The boys are already planning next year’s brew. • The Mitch & Friends dinner at the Flavel Centre proved very popular with a menu cooked by Serin Aubrey of Anzac St Bistro mirroring the food in the cookery demonstrations given by Mitch Tonks, Fergus Henderson, Jane Baxter and Holly Jones. Chef Mark Hix also turned up during the evening and festival auctioneer Phil Scoble raised nearly £3,000 for the festival coffers. • One of the must do events of Friday after shopping at the Embankment markets
put up overnight by our friends from the Devon Marquee company. All the traders were bowled over by the warm welcome and enthusiasm from their customers for their great produce. Many sold out early such was the demand and are looking forward to coming back next year. • The Flavel also
opened its doors on Saturday and Sunday as the food festival’s wine cellar where you could taste a variety of wines, champagnes and ciders and test your tastebuds in the taste tunnel. • The 2 main cookery theatres were in Royal Avenue Gardens and had a variety of chefs from Fergus Henderson, Alan Murchison and Mark Hix to festival ambassador Mitch Tonks and local favourites Philip Watts, JP Bidart, Jason Nickels and Adam Parnham. Also playing a big part in proceedings were the local comperes – James Brown, Kit Noble, Mike Trevorrow, Phil Scoble and Gina Carter. They did a grand job of keeping the chefs to time and asking the questions we all wanted to ask. • New for this year was the Exhibitors’ Prize sponsored
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