Foodtastic festival.

Another successful year for the regional foodie event at Tatton. Well, it’s been a while since I visited the Northwest Food Lovers Festival at Tatton Park, admittedly I had no idea about the scale of the event until I passed through the main entrance. I suppose having to park some distance away from the venue location in the overspill carpark should have hinted at the event’s growing popularity.

I clearly remember wandering about a rather quiet Tenants hall some years ago only to destroy my tongue on what I though was a “mild” chilli sitting in a small of sample dish of pickled onions. A painful sensory experience I am yet to forget.

The festival has moved on dramatically and since then has attracted a respectably large and eager following that sees a raft of celebrity Chefs that include Andrew Nutter, Simon Rimmer of Earle in Hale, Aiden Byrne, Brian Mellor and so on.. demonstrating their skills on stage day after day.

Right from the word go it was shoulder to shoulder, with hungry shoppers jostling about for tasty samples gladly offered by stall holders. The army of foodies wandered steadily about the enormous marquee clutching bags of regionally crafted produce and tasty offerings in the pursuit of more speciality items.

A recent BBC Radio discussion focused on shopping locally for food produce and the fact that it was really designed for the middle classes with whoms purchasing power was greater than an average nuclear family. Utter nonsense!. Although you wouldn’t be doing your weekly shop at a specialty food festival, its worth bearing in mind that the majority of cakes, honeys and meats were of exceptional value, more over, excellent quality and taste.

Its worth remembering that well crafted food as passion and belif woven into ingredience and it is important to reconginse that costs for this need to be understoon, rationalised and accepted.

My better half bought a huge low fat, no sugar fruit cake for £3.00 (two for £5.00). It was moist, freezable, enjoyed by both daughters but more to the point would have made a delicious dessert served with some sumptuous home made custard, or just eaten with a nice pot of tea. By 9pm I’d nibbled my way through half of it, yes I know, greedy. I could of kicked myself for not taking advantage of the cake offer and jamming one in the freezer.

Almost all exhibitors were small businesses and, with regional produce now available in a number of Knutsford shops, it was useful to meet those suppliers that were able to demonstrate a deep seated passion for their enterprises and products.

If you missed the event then it is worth keeping an eye on the Northwest Food Lovers Festival website as this really an event NOT to be missed.

Click here to read the Tatton TV report – the report uses the same video

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