EMSWORTH FOOD FESTIVAL

 

A festival

to remember

Celebrating its seventh birthday this year, the

Emsworth Food Festival is recognised as one of

the top five food festivals in the UK

expe

EMSWORTH Food Festival celebrates its seventh birthday this year as one of the top five recognised food festivals in the UK. Set across the picturesque old fishing village from September 14 to 16, the festival is an annual pilgrimage for many to sample the very best of the region’s food and drink. The popularity of the festival undoubtedly lies in the quality and diversity of the event, with organisers scouring the region for new producers. There are over 125 stalls for you to explore this year including local, organic salt marsh beef, English Parmesan-style cheese and even garlic from the Isle of Wight.

No one visiting the festival will forget the friendly atmosphere – it’s hard to decide whether it’s the great food, the great people or the great entertainment across the village that could literally have you dancing the street!

What’s new for 2007?

Every year the appeal of the festival is broadened so that it provides a unique combination of interest, education and entertainment for all. This year offers one of the most exciting yet, with celebrity chef Lesley Waters heading up the demonstrations, a new education zone for children and a brand new food village. The new North Street Food Village delivers a new experience for visitors as well as improving ‘foot fall’ through the event.

The village will feature a number of new passion fuelled producers and festivalfavourites. It is also home to The Sticky Spoon – a brand new hands-on demo and education marquee, as well as the Real Ale Experience for real ale connoisseurs and novices alike.

Education remains at the heart of the festival, with The Sticky Spoon focusing on delivering nutrition and healthy eating messages in fun bite-sized chunks.Young visitors can try their hand at cooking with the kitchen academy, while students looking to maximise their bank balance and social life should head for the one pot cooking demos. Planting a mini winter allotmentand rolling family meal demos are also on the menu in the new zone.

Hampshire -based Stumpy’s Brewery will be running a brand new Real Ale Tasting Experience. Run on the same successful format as the wine tasting marquee, visitors will have the opportunity to try five different ales selected from the very best of south coast-based breweries and take home a souvenir glass.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, the festival finale will have a distinctly Last Night of the Proms atmosphere. The village will be filled with a big band sound as well as a special tribute to Vera Lyn.

A vintage year for demonstrations in the Rangemaster Cookery Theatre, sponsored by Hampshire Life

There is a real sense of excitement in the team about the 2007 demo programme. Celebrity chefs, a strong focus on using local, in season produce, coupled with some fantastic wines really does mean there is something for everyone.

No food festival is complete without a celebrity chef. Well-known television chef, Lesley Waters heads up the programme on Saturday. Lesley has featured in a number of popular programmes, as well as having written numerous cookbooks including New to Cooking; Healthy and the highly successful Broader than Beans vegetarian book. She is planning her Emsworth Food Festival demonstrations around some of her favourite British dishes using local, in season produce. Her lively personality and infectious enthusiasm for cooking is bound to make the sessions one of the most popular ever run at the festival. Tickets are priced at just £10 – so book early.

Game is on the Friday demonstration menu, with TV’s Market Place’s chef, Mark Gilchrist providing recipes and invaluable tips ranging from sourcing issues to game preparation. Mark specialises in cooking with locally sourced, in season wild game and runs summer cookery schools. His company, Game for Everything, has won a number of awards.  Emsworth has some of the best restaurants on the south coast and this year these awardwinning chefs will be running ‘Classic Recipe’ Master Classes on Sunday. With the emphasis on these classic dishes, the chefs have teamed up with some of the worlds leading wine producers, and ticket holders will get to sample some of the wines which will accompany the dishes. The wine tasting master classes looks set to make 2007 a vintage year. Take the award-winning Argentinean winery owner, Jose Fournier, ready to guide you through his estate including Alfa Crux, one of the world’s top 100 wines. Add into the blend Canard-Duchene Champagne and 300 years of port with Quinto do Noval, and you really do have something quite remarkable. This year’s festival also offers some of the most exciting cook-offs on record. The standards in the spring qualifying heats were extremely high, setting the scene for a riot of young talent in the Canard-Duchene marquee over the festival weekend. The Young Chef of the Year final, takes place on Saturday, September 15, with the additional pressure of facing celebrity chef Lesley Waters on the panel of judges. Ready Steady Chef, the team event, takes place on Friday, September 14

Maximising your experience:

The Observer Park and Ride scheme: The scheme is invaluable for visitors and local residents alike in providing an easy place to park. The car park is located at the recreation ground off the Horndean Road to the north of Emsworth, and is linked to the festival by bus.

The festival programme: Buy a programme on arrival to plan your day. Priced at just £2, it provides essential information to enjoying the day including demonstration listings, contact details

for favourite producers and a guide to locating everything you want at the festival.

 Demonstration marquee: Book your tickets ahead to ensure your place. On the day, check at

the demonstration marquee for last minute

demonstration ticket availability.

Explore the four villages: Take the time to explore the whole festival, featuring four food villages. Each has its own individual character as well as a choice of festival favourites and new exhibitors to discover.

Finally chill and enjoy!

For up-to-date news on the festival, go to www.emsworthfoodfestival.co.uk; Emsworth Food Festival takes place from September 14 to 16, from 10am to 5pm daily. Entry is free..emsworthfoodfestival.co.uk

FURTHER INFORMATION:

2007 Festival Signage by:

WEST SUSSEX SIGNS
www.westsussexsigns.com