A weekend of foodie fun at Aylsham Food Festival 2012

>October Events / Events in Norfolk and Suffolk / Food and Drink September 27, 2012

A weekend of foodie fun

Aylsham can look forward to a weekend of foodie fun in October when the town’s annual Food Festival hits the streets. Organised by Slow Food Aylsham and running from 5th to 7th October in association with Norfolk Food & Drink Festival, the Aylsham event will feature markets, meals, Kids Cooking Workshops, competitions and cookery demonstrations.

Children will have the opportunity to use their imagination to create a cake for a competition being sponsored by The Black Boys and The Market Place restaurants in Aylsham and The Crown in Banningham. The simple rules require the cake recipe to include at least one vegetable and judging will be by local chefs. Prizes are vouchers from the three sponsor restaurants with values up to £50. Entry forms will be available via cluster schools in September and can also be printed from the Slow Food website at www.slowfoodaylsham.org.uk

Starting on the morning of 5th October, the Festival kicks off with the Country Market in Aylsham Town Hall. With a massive selection of cakes, savouries, vegetables and crafts, this market has something for everyone, and it’s all locally produced. The evening of the same day will see the Festival’s Gala Dinner, with guest speaker Ian Russell, Director of Wroxham Barns. The planning, preparation, cooking and serving of this 4-course meal will involve over 80 students, many of whom will be including the project in their GCSE or BTEC courses.

The market theme continues on Saturday with the monthly FARMA-accredited Farmers’ Market. The FARMA badge means that produce has to come from within a 30 mile radius of Aylsham so shoppers are assured of buying local. Also during the day, the Town Hall will host an exhibition of local producers while chefs David Tortice from the Banningham Crown and freelance Derrol Waller will be cooking off some snacks, using ingredients from the Market. These events continue into the afternoon when Burgh-based baker Ollie Sanders will give a demonstration of bread baking. Meanwhile, at the High School will be a series of Kids Cooking Workshops under the banner of the national Let’s Get Cooking programme.

Aylsham Food Festival wouldn’t be the same without its Big Slow Breakfast and this will again provide the closing event for the weekend. On Sunday morning, an expected 120 people will sit down to a ‘full English’, prepared and served by members of Slow Food and friends. The Breakfast this year is also featuring as the closing event in the five-week Norfolk Food & Drink Festival and Slow Food Aylsham will be delighted to welcome special guests Richard Hughes, Chris Coubrough and Vanessa Scott, three of theNorfolk event’s Patrons. Tickets for the Breakfast are just £6, available from Salad Days fruit & veg and Barnwells newsagents, both to be found in Aylsham Market Place.

There’s more about the Festival at www.slowfoodaylsham.org.uk and you can follow Aylsham Food Festival on Twitter and Facebook.