food festivals Archives - Munchies and Munchkins

Foodies Festival Bristol 2016

May 12, 2016 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

This weekend sees the return of the Foodies Festival to Bristol. We have attended for the last two years and thoroughly enjoyed it. It has a perfect combination of great restaurants and traders serving their best foodie offerings along with products to take home and great bars as well as some fantastic chef demos.

It’s such a chilled out festival, last year I came home with bagfuls of food, full to the brim with great dishes and eve so slightly tipsy on prosecco

This year’s festival sees a 5 star line-up in the Aga Rangemaster Chefs Theatre, where top chefs showcase their culinary skills, share insight into 2016’s food trends and answer questions from the audience. Chefs taking part include (more TBC):

– Rosemary Schrager – Celebrity Chef and Star of BBC’s The Real Marigold Hotel
– Josh Eggleton – The Pony and Trap (Michelin starred)
– Simon Hulstone – The Elephant (Michelin starred)
– Ping Coombes – MasterChef Winner 2014
– Tony Rodd – MasterChef Finalist 2015
– Louise McCrimmon – Harvey Nichols
– Nigel Brown – Celebrity Chef
– Romy Gill – Romy’s Kitchen
– Xanthe Clay – Food Writer
– Kalpna Woolfe – Food Writer
– Jackie Kearney – The Hungry Gecko and MasterChef finalist 2011

I think you should definitely go check it out – I will be there, perhaps I’ll see you too!

A Giveaway With First Great Western & Bristol Food Connections

April 20, 2015 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

From the 1st till the 9th of May 2015 Bristol will once again be taken over for the Bristol Food Connections festival. You can read about last years festival here.

“Food Connections aims to change how we think about food and how we eat by ‘Bringing people and good food together’ and by celebrating the people, the produce and the projects that are putting Bristol on the map as a sustainable food capital.

All over Bristol, dozens of individuals, groups, organisations and businesses – united by their passion for good food – will come together to stage a food event unlike any other.

The flagship food event for Bristol 2015, European Green Capital, Food Connections will comprise over 130 events all over the city divided into six themes: land and growing, wellbeing, feasting and festivities, get cooking, brain food and families.”

With markets, dining events, family events and BBC talks and seminars including free entry to theatre talks from chefs such as Rick Stein talking about his life in food. You can find out how to apply for tickets here

Find out more about the Sustainable Food Summit, The a Sourdough chain and The Food Trail. You could try foraging, honey tasting or even attend an awards ceremony where you get to try a sample of all of the products entered and see who wins the £100,000 prize. Sound exciting right?

Now how would you like to win two train tickets to the festival courtesy of First Great Western and tickets to the New Frontiers a Award Ceremony 2015? Just complete the rafflecopter form below but be quick as this competition only lasts a week.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The Big Feastival 2014

August 13, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

In just 3 weeks Alex James will open up his beautiful farm in the Cotswolds to food and music family festival goers.

The weekend of music and food indulgence, which runs from 29-31st August is the brainchild of Alex James and Jamie Oliver with a heady mix of delicious foodie treats and a wide selection of music. There is also an array of children’s entertainment and delicious food stands, there will be something on offer for all of the family.

We first attended the festival in 2012 when Izzy was nearly 1year old. So much has changed for us as a family since then. We have a new addition in Chloe who is now 9 months old and Izzy will be nearly 3years old when we attend this years festival. You can read about our experience here

Izzy at The Big Feastival 2012:

Yes we are going again! Woo. We have been invited as special guests of AEG who are festival sponsors. AEG will be present throughout the festival offering a fantastic variety of features for all ages that will focus on food and cooking, with a particular emphasis on steam and healthy, flavoursome food.

Some of what AEG will have on offer at The Big Feastival:

The AEG Family Kitchen will host family foodpairing cookery classes using the latest AEG induction hobs for parents and children (8 years +) . This will take place on the AEG mobile academy, which is fully equipped with the latest AEG steam and induction appliances.

The AEG Family Kitchen Garden: making raw food dishes. This feature is perfect for younger children and accompanying parents. Daylesford vegetable & fruit boxes will be available on benches in the garden area where families can create their own food pairing recipes together by following a simple AEG family food pairing guide. This workshop will combine fun and education allowing parents and children to learn about nutrition, natural ingredients and food pairing. Social media will be integral to sharing this with our online community

The Big Feastival is a fantastic combination of music and food with a big dollop of family fun thrown in.

What we are looking forward to:

AEG are joining up with Dayleford Organics to hold steam and induction classes cooking simple, family suppers such as chargrilled chicken with bulgar wheat.

AEG Big Kitchen: I’m looking to watching demos from Jamie Oliver, Gennaro Contaldo, Gizzi Erskine and more live on the main AEG cooking stage.

Music: music from the likes of Jamie Cullum, Levi Roots, Fatboy Slim and The Cuban Brothers plus lots more.

Family Fun: From the Little Dudes Den to Justin Fletcher and Mr Bloom as well as the Disney Roadshow, Roald Dahl museum and much much more. It’s going to be so much fun – I can’t wait to see Izzys face when she realises we are at a festival again.

Are you going to this years festival? Would be lovely to see some of you.

Win Tickets To The Taste of London Festival 2014

May 21, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 48 Comments

I’ve an exciting competition for you today. If you are a foodie or not this is not one to miss.

Thanks to Zwilling I have one pair of tickets to giveaway to the Taste Of London festival held in Regents Park in June. We attended last summer and it’s such a good example of a food festival. It has so much going on and lots of different areas with incredibly good food.

You can read all about last years festival here

From chef demonstrations in the Electrolux theatre to Chefs secrets where you can actually cook yourself a fabulous dish following the guidance of some pretty awesome chefs.

This year at Taste of London, ZWILLING J.A. HENCKELS will be offering practical advice and letting you in on everything you ever wanted to know about knives. Zwilling knives are designed to help you achieve that neat ‘rocking‘ chopping motion that all the professionals use. They’re long-lasting with professional sharpness.

I personally think a good knife makes a world of difference to your whole cooking experience.

Check out the full Zwilling range at Zwilling. Or better still, head down to the Zwilling stand at Taste of London (stand E22) for demo’s and to pick up tips and tricks from Zwilling’s resident knife experts Paul Bough. Zwilling have also supplied the Electrolux Chef’s Secrets classes with professional equipment so for a hands on lesson be sure to head over to Chef’s Secrets before it books up!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please note tickets are for any weekday.

Good Luck!

Such A Buzz About Food at Bristol Food Connections 2014

May 7, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

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.

Foodies Festival Bristol 2016

Like this:

A Giveaway With First Great Western & Bristol Food Connections

Like this:

The Big Feastival 2014

Like this:

Win Tickets To The Taste of London Festival 2014

Like this:

Such A Buzz About Food at Bristol Food Connections 2014

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: