Biddy at the Food Festival

What better way to spend a sunny Sunday in June than at the Food Festival in the centre of Newbury?

The most recent one, held over the weekend of 28/29 June, was the fifth that has been held here, and the husband and I happened along on the sunniest day of the weekend.

It was good marketing on the part of Oldbury’s – the deli on the bridge – who embraced the busy-ness that the event conjured up by having someone encouraging people into their store with samples of their wares. The stalls ran from just beyond Oldbury’s to the Kennet Centre, and many and varied they were. 

There was a fantastic buzz, everyone seemed happy and friendly – punters and stall holders alike – and we soaked up the atmosphere as we strolled along deciding on what to have for lunch. Would it be a gourmet burger, jerk chicken, noodles, a crepe, speciality German sausage, Tibetan dumplings, a traditional hot dog, paella, a slow-cooked beef brisket wrap or free-range pulled-pork roll … or one of the many other choices?

But it wasn’t all about eating and drinking while at the Festival itself: there were plenty of opportunities to purchase goodies to take home. Sweeny and Todd from Reading were doing a roaring trade with their homemade pies (rump steak and Stilton being a particularly huge hit – the husband insisted we needed to take one home, and who was I to argue?). There was more for pastry fans as Jane from Kintbury was selling pork pies with a variety of exciting fillings (for example, pork and black pudding – and yes, you’ve guessed it, one of those came home with us). A couple from Shepton Mallet were providing tasty samples of their range of cheeses, including flavoured Cheddars such as ‘Bonfire Smoked’ and ‘Horseradish’. At the Food Festival for the first time was Puffin Beach Bakery with her pretty cakes, and not just your everyday cupcakes either. 

Local beers were proving very popular, as was the cider from Tutts Clump Cider, whose apples all come from West Berkshire. We purchased a few litres to put by for a family party we are holding in the not too distant as we have several family members who are big fans of apple juice of the alcoholic variety.

While wandering, we bumped into friends who were already munching their way through bison burgers, so we joined them having finally decided on pulled-pork rolls as our lunchtime treat. And mighty tasty they were – and generous portions to boot. 

Despite feeling full, the ice cream and churro stall was calling – the temperature was rising so an ice cream seemed well in order as ‘pud’. Easily tempted and throwing caution to the wind we all went for doubles – and the strawberry ice cream really did taste of strawberry. These came with a churro shot through with chocolate sauce. (OK, they weren’t compulsory – but yummy all the same.)

By now I was so full I was ready for a lie down but the sounds coming from the music stage tempted us to the far end of the Festival, where we enjoyed listening to the ‘Singing for Fun’ choir (from just up the road in Whitchurch), followed by ‘Behave and BeQuiet’, a group of young musicians who are multi-talented as they are also circus performers and were providing street entertainment before and after their set. 

Towards the end of the afternoon, six brave souls (certainly braver than I) took to the stage for the chilli eating contest, compered by Martin Bond from The Wiltshire Chilli Farm. Urged on with cries from the crowd of ‘Eat that chilli!’ the contestants chomped their way through increasingly hotter chillis until, one by one, defeated and perspiring, they drank the tempting glass of cool milk in front of them. (In the meantime, we had tea out of the back of a Mini, cleverly converted into a mobile tea and coffee bar.) James from Newbury was the chilli-eating hero of the hour, and won a bundle of goodies donated by stallholders at the Festival.

As we wended our way home we voted it a great day out in Newbury. Roll on November when the next Food Festival takes place!