You may remember last week I wrote about some of the food festivals I’m attending this summer, well on the weekend I attended the first one at Bristol Food Connections. The 11 day festival commenced on May 1st and it was on May 3rd that we visited.

We arrived early but it was already bustling with visitors and the air was thick with the smell of ribs, BBQ and goodness! Walking into a food festival is an instant hunger pang for me but we held off to get over to the BBC area for a cookery demo from the highly entertaining John Torode.

He was great to watch and kept the audience smiling throughout.

He gave loads of useful tips particularly for his pad Thai recipe

* Oil the wok around the outside
* Use wet noodles
* Use equal quantities of ginger, garlic and coriander root ( not the leaves which taste entirely different ) to make a Thai paste which can be used in lots of dishes. Did you know coriander root tastes of bubblegum?
In his own words.. This will make some rootin, tootin Thai food.

He also gave lots of history to the food he used and also managed to smash up a pestle and mortar by being a little enthusiastic. Enthusiastic is probably the key word to describe his demo, he is so clearly passionate about food that it’s a joy to watch him cook.

He was pushed for time at the end..ironic as it’s normally the Masterchef contestants being hurried along but he managed 😉

I grabbed a few photos of the finished dishes and somehow managed to stop myself from nabbing a bite..

I liked the idea of serving the Pad Thai in quarters ( 1 with chilli, 1 with sesame seeds etc ) so people can choose the part they want.

I also managed to nab a quick photo of him backstage afterwards..

After the demo I was hungry..obviously. So we headed to the street food area to share some paella and a chorizo roll before ambling lazily over to the college green ..on route we grabbed some juice:

It was a strawberry, melon, mint and coconut water drink called hydrate me which was an appropriate name as it was so refreshing – I will definitely be making this at home in my Vitamix.

At the college green we found the Slow Food Quarter which was two marquees – one selling products such as coffee, cheese, cakes, Welsh Pig and much more:

Then another which was a pop up pizzeria both surrounded by sun seekers lounging on the grass – did I mention we had a perfect day of weather. Glorious.

The pizza of the day was more like a ciabatta pizza sandwich but it still tasted incredible..

Feeling a little too full of good food we walked back to the BBC area for a look around and then headed into the Produce Market.

I didn’t go too crazy ( the benefit of shopping on a full belly) but bought some truffle salt and dried porcini as well as a bottle of elderflower sparkling wine and we grabbed an afternoon tea to munch in the sunshine.

All in all we had a lovely day, I highly recommend visiting before the festival ends. I really hope it runs again next year.

As ever at the end of a food festival I am super excited about food and cooking. Expect lots of foodie posts over the next few weeks.