Thame Food Festival

We had the most beautiful day in Thame on September 24th. The large crowds enjoyed a fabulously sunny day and many exhibitors sold out! 

The Ubiquitous Tasty Food Festival Hog Roast

One of the down sides of being a food producer at a food festival, is that we usually don't get the opportunity to get around and see the other exhibitors. At Thame, however, I was very lucky to have help from Annie's Kitchen, Just Biscuits and Sainsbury's chef who all spent a while on my stand while I stocked up on tasters, took a few snaps, spoke to a few visitors and went to see some other excellent displays from Charlie Beldam of Cotswold Gold, Robert from GranaryDeli, and No2 Pound Street (basking in the glory of their new Award for Best New Cheese Retailer, 2011). 

Some Button cheeses at No2 Pound Street

Lotte Duncan

Lotte Duncan's fairy cakes

The Patron of Thame food festival is Lotte Duncan, pictured right, who also has a fabulous food shop and loves using our vinegars and dressings in her salads. Lotte took time out from being on her stand to give the audience a demonstration using some local ingredients and included our Strawberry and Mint Dressing on her dish which ensured lots of visitors to our stand wanting to repeat the dish themselves with one of our bottles! 

Opposite me, there was a fine Paella cooking for much of the day, so at least I got a great lunch!

 I was amazed at how many people had seen the first episode of Nigel Slater's new TV series, Simple Cooking, in which Nigel made a Beetroot and Goat's Cheese Salad with some Raspberry Vinegar. Needless to say, I made sure we had plenty of Raspberry Vinegar on our stand, which proved to be just as well! You can find his recipe on the BBC website and even see it again on iplayer.

A bustling Thame, full of food lovers