57
Serin What is the aim of festival?
To showcase all that is good about local food and drink. There are many hidden gems out there that people never knew existed. We have to eat everyday to live but it shouldn’t be a chore - we should enjoy it and the festival helps make food fun.
What is your role? I’m the Festival Chef Director, so I help co-ordinate all the food based events in the lead up and through the festival weekend. That could include creating menus for fundraising events or making 100 dinners at the pre-festival party.
How long have you been interested in food? I decided I wanted to be a chef when I was quite young and did my training in the South East at the age of 18. Then I worked in London under Sir Terence Conran. A few years later my family moved to a farm in Blackawton and I soon followed them.
The festival gets mentioned in national newspapers and you attract well-known chefs. Will Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsay be on the bill next year? (Laughs) We’re not really sure we have the money to pay for people like that! To be honest we like to showcase local talent.
How has it changed over the years? It was quite a low-key affair back at the start with only a few venues, one or two chefs and hardly any stalls at all - very different to today! It’s always been in October though – it’s so we have something to look forward to after Regatta and to attract visitors during the quiet autumn months.
Is it possible that the festival has now got too big? Not yet. It’s manageable. We’re letting it grow organically, so it never gets ahead of us. The most
important thing is that we keep Dartmouth at the heart. Logistically it’s harder doing it in the town centre. We could easily put up a few massive marquees on Coronation Park but we want people to wander through the streets to find all the different events, stopping in local shops and cafés as they go.
Who buys the essential supplies? Usually myself, Helen and a couple of members of the committee. We also have lots of great local business that donate food and crockery and we always use local suppliers for meat, fish and vegetables where we can. But there’s always a big run to a supermarket for the basics just before the festival as well! There are so many small detail items needed for the demos and workshops like tasting spoons and bowls, napkins, and cooking oil.
We want people to wander through
the streets to find all the different events, stopping in local shops and cafés as they go
And who does the cleaning up? Our members and our fantastic volunteers. We have 250 on our database and 50/60 on the ground during the event. They wash up after demos, sweep the marquee floors, empty the bins – just about everything. At the end we get a professional cleaning company in to remove oil and grease from the pavement, they make it look like we were never there.
Where will you be during the three days? I will be busy on my Dartmouth Fine Foods stand but will definitely try and sample a few other delicacies.
So have you already started planning next year’s? Yes - the dates are October 20th – 22nd. One of our main themes next year is recyclable packaging. When stallholders apply we’ll be asking whether they can provide cardboard containers for food and find an alternative to plastic lids for drinks. Also to consider not using plastic bags. If you’re interested in volunteering email
office@dartmouthfoodfestival.com
Image ©Original Image Photagraphy
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