Ludlow Food Festival takes place this weekend, running from tomorrow until Sunday when 20,000 people are expected to have walked through the gates of Ludlow Castle.
Chefs on the menu include Great British Menu winner Richard Bainbridge, Masterchef: The Professionals winner Mark Stinchcombe with his multi award winning wife and chef Sue; Raymond Blanc’s development chef Adam Johnson, 2014 Masterchef Winner Ping Combes and Sophie Michell, Chef and author.
Also appearing will be Emily Scott who has made the journey from Cornwall’s St Tudy Inn, local foraging expert Liz Knight, who has appeared in Countryfile Magazine and supplies to high end delis and food halls such as Fortnum and Mason. There’s also Dean Cole, Head Pastry Chef at The Belfry, Andrew Birch, Head Chef at Fishmore Hall and Ian Swainson, Head Chef at the Michelin-starred ‘The Pass’ at South Lodge Hotel in Sussex plus many more.
Of course there will be some amazing producers exhibiting inside the castle, 180 to be precise with more setting up for the Sunday Market. As well as firm favourites, there are a number of new producers including Haven Distillery & Taste of Tanzania.
All of them will have the opportunity to meet fifteen overseas buyers at the Festival, after organisers worked with UK Trade & Investment and Buy-From Shropshire to bring representatives of countries such as China, India and Japan.
New this year, Buy-From Shropshire will also have a dedicated area at the Festival, with help and advice for businesses and topical debates about food, farming and sustainability, the theme of this year’s festival.
Also making a special trip to Ludlow will be a number of Slow Food Producers from outside the region handpicked for their exceptional produce including Emilia who specialize in Parmesan cheese made according to Italian quality and tradition. They have won the award of the Slow Food as Best Deli and Cheesemonger in London in the 2014 and 2015 and are regular trader’s at London’s Borough Market.
If you love discovering new ingredients and want a tutored tasting then the Slow Food Taste Workshops are perfect for you. This year they will be showcasing everything from Gin to Charcoal Sea Salt.
Amongst the guests will be Illtud Dunsford of Charcutier Ltd, winner of this year’s BBC Food and Farming ‘Best Produce’ award, Alison Lea-Wilson from renowned sea salt brand Halen Mon and Phillipa Cook from Ironbridge based Moonshine and Fuggles will guide you through six different premium distilled gins. Taste Workshops cost between £8 and £16 for the hour and include food and drink. For more details and tickets see the Ludlow Food Festival website.
Friday evening sees Indian chef and Masterchef judge Romy Gill MBE, cook and chat at a special ‘Evening With’ at the Castles Beacon Rooms. Tickets are £10.00 and can be purchased direct from the Food Festival’s website www.foodfestival.co.uk
The Ludlow Assembly Rooms play a bigger part in the Festival across the weekend too. On Saturday there will be FREE chocolate tasting sessions with renowned Austrian chocolatiers Zotter.
Sunday is dedicated to the FREE Feeling Foodie Literary Festival at the venue, from 11am you can join the likes of bestselling author and instagram sensation Eleonora Galasso, who has more than 40,000 followers on the social media platform, as we travel to Italy and indulge in its recipes. Her recipes have been featured in Glamour Magazine, The Guardian and The Evening Standard.
Kids will love illustrator Meg Hawkins and her tales or The Adventures of Scratch and Hedgy. Lovers of travel won’t want to miss Marie Keft’s Slow Travel, while Geoff Branwood will give us a fascinating look at inside Britain’s Historic Pubs. If you dream of far flung places then make sure you join Pearly Kee as she guides you through Nyonya cuisine.
Texan Bethany Kehdy will be sharing her passion for Middle Eastern and North African dishes as she chats through her book, The Jewelled Kitchen. Her blog Dirty Kitchen Secrets has built up a loyal following and recipes from The Jewelled Kitchen have feature in Red Magazine, The Telegraph, The Times and many more.
The global phenomenon that is the ‘Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year’ Exhibition will on all weekend. Since 2011 30,000 images have been submitted for judging and the very best come to Ludlow. Make sure you catch it before it continues its tour in New York.
Ludlow will look a little different across the weekend – in fact you might spot some animals usually found in the jungle rather than a medieval market town! Multi Coloured Gorillas from The British Ironworks will be located around Ludlow symbolising where there will be ‘something to see’!
You might want to pop and see the Pink Gorilla at the Ludlow Assembly Rooms or perhaps the Purple Gorilla at Ludlow Library where one of our Guest Butchers will be serving up over 2,000 sausages for the Sausage Trail!
The Sausage Trail has had a revamp this year with guest butchers joining those around the town and of course no Ludlow Food Festival would be complete without the Ale Trail. For those with a sweet tooth there will be pudding tasting at the Methodist Church, how many can you eat?
Talks and Demonstrations on Ludlow’s two main stages are free as is the Talks and Tastings area. More intimate than the stages, this year you can learn more about smoking food from Jo Hampson, of Smoky Jo’s Cookery School in Cumbria, one of the UK’s leading exponents in the art of food smoking. There’s also foraging with expert Liz Knight, Gluten Free Baking with Great British Bake-off favourite Howard Middleton and much more.
If you want to get a little more hands on then why not book a place in the Chef’s Kitchen, the Masterclasses include making your own sushi, pork pies and to prepare and cook duck to perfection.
Little ones won’t miss out either with a special kids area with cookery lessons from Grow Cook Learn who will be celebrating the anniversary of discovering mammoth bones in the region by making mammoth biscuits. The KidzKitchen guys will be enticing children with their Roald Dahl Revoluting Recipes for the weekend while everyone will be singing along with ukulele players and CBeebies favourites, John and Jo from Spring to Life.
There will be pottery fun with Bambino Bizarre and crazy circus antics from The Chef on Stilts, plus there will be a tasty Slow Food Sam the Snail Slow Food trail for kids around the Festival. Make sure your children pick up their Sam the Snail Passport so they can collect the adventure station stamps along the way. For extra bonus points visit the Harper Adams Stand for some edible bug action!
It’s going to be one very tasty weekend.
Tickets are available on the gate at £8.50, child 5-13 years £2.00 or Family £20.00.
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