The first ever Huntingdonshire Food and Drink Festival will take place in venues all around the district this September – and what a tasty feast it will provide. The Festival will be a showcase for the wonderful food available in this area from local producers, growers and retailers. The many events taking place are expected to attract many hundreds of visitors to our market towns and villages.
There’s something for everyone, with special Farmers’ Markets, locally-sourced menus in local restaurants, a food quiz, open farms, honey, apple and plum days and the Huntingdonshire Food and Drink Awards, all taking place during the week-long celebration of local food and drink.
The feature event of the first weekend will be a one-day foodie extravaganza, Food Fest ‘07 at Wood Green on Sunday 9 September. Here, you will be able to visit local producers, sample their produce, watch cooking demonstrations using local ingredients, take part in a prize quiz and learn more about the quality and variety of what is produced in this region. There’ll be plenty of opportunity, too, for the kids to roll their sleeves up and try their hand at different cooking skills.
The second weekend will feature the festival dinner at the Old Bridge Hotel and tours of Glebe Farm at Kings Ripton, where Rebecca Rayner produces her organic flour. On 16th September, there will be a special Ramsey Day, with a Farmers’ Market complete with musical accompaniment during the morning and, in the afternoon, a family event at Ramsey Rural Museum where everyone will be invited to join in as Fred White builds a sculpture made entirely out of disused packaging! There will also be the chance to stroll across to see the restoration work being carried out on the Walled Kitchen Garden at Ramsey Abbey.
One of the highlights of the Food and Drink Awards will be the Huntingdonshire Young Chef of the Year award, sponsored by Anglian Water. We are inviting aspiring young cooks between the ages of 11-14 to demonstrate their awareness of local food, healthily cooked, in a competition designed to test their knowledge, creativity, cooking methods and ability to budget. The ‘cook off’ between our six finalists will be in early September and the winner will be invited to the awards presentation ceremony at the Old Bridge Hotel on Monday 10 September.
We all hear so much about the excessive miles used in bringing our meals to the table, that a celebration of what is available right here on our doorsteps should really open our eyes to the fact that we don’t need to ‘spend’ all those food miles when there is so much tasty, healthy, fresh, food right here under our noses!
Entrance fee is just £4.00 for adults, £3.00 concessions and free for children under 12 accompanied by an adult.
For more information and a list of events visit the Food Festival website using the link ot the right.