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Petersfield Food Festival 2012 and my second Cookery Demo

June 27, 2012 By All That I'm Eating 28 Comments

 Petersfield is not too far from me and I went to their food festival last year. It boasted a marvellous selection and variety of stalls. I happily ate my way around last year and was looking forward to going again this year. The only difference was that this year I was to be part of the festival and do a cookery demonstration.
petersfield food festival 2012

The sky looked as though it wasn’t going to be on our side but the sun was shining away by the afternoon. Before and after the demo I had a good look around at the stands and producers, there were some great stalls and I sampled an awful lot of lovely food. Below is a small selection of producers who I was able to have a nice long chat to. 

petersfield food festival 2012 - stalls
It’s not food but I thought these little wooden ducks were very sweet. There were quite a few craft stalls dotted within the food stands which made it more varied. Last year there were lots of cake and cupcake stands but this year there were more cheese stands than any other. A few even sold out of cheese before the festival was over.
petersfield food festival 2012 - local juices

The first stall I found was The Bloomberry Juice Co who make brilliant juice drinks, each one with a berry and a bloom inside. My favourite was Apple, Blueberry and Lavender. They also do an Orange, Honey and Elderflower which is just my cup of tea! I liked these because they weren’t too sweet and had honest, natural flavours. 

petersfield food festival 2012 - wild foods stall

One stall that was of particular interest was the Wild Foragers. They had mushrooms I had only ever dreamed about; hedgehog mushroom, blewitt and horn of plenty. They also had samphire, sea purslane and wild garlic. The samphire and sea purslane were wonderfully salty, the samphire being really juicy too.

petersfield food festival 2012 - wild mushrooms

There was also a puffball the size of a watermelon (next to ‘Chicken of the Woods’ mushroom in picture) which my Dad admitted he had enjoyed kicking very much when he was younger. Apparently they explode into millions of pieces with enough force. 

petersfield food festival 2012 - chutney stall

The Hampshire Chutney Co were there too. I have spoken to Shelly on Twitter a few times so it was nice to put a face to a tweet! Her chutneys were lovely particularly the Caramelised Carrot Chutney. I liked the way the products were put out to sample in teacups; right up my street!  

petersfield food festival 2012 - getting ready for demo
This cookery demonstration was my second ever. It was a bit of a step up from the last one I did; there was a headset and television screens above the worktop. It was all very professional and as the day progressed I got more and more nervous.
petersfield food festival 2012 - ingredients

There were also many, many people sat outside enjoying the sunshine and eating some of the great food on offer; ice cream, pizza, curry, burgers, you name it. The time came for me to get up on stage and cook my socks off. I was keeping my fingers crossed that I didn’t fall over.

petersfield food festival 2012 - on stage

If you’ve met me you’ll know I’m not the tallest person. I was concerned that only my head would be seen above the worktop but a little rearranging of some carefully placed boxes gave me an extra foot or so of which I was very grateful. My hands were a bit shaky when I started which isn’t ideal when using sharp knives.

petersfield food festival 2012 - caroline

All of a sudden I was off and blabbering on. I’ve no idea what I said or didn’t say; do, didn’t do or did wrong and as soon as it started it was over. Bill, one of the organisers of the festival, was up on stage with me to keep me company while I was cooking away.

petersfield food festival 2012 - caroline

I made Beetroot, Walnut and Goat’s Cheese Pasta ‘Salad’ with Dill Dressing. I was hoping to win around some beetroot haters and please the beetroot lovers. Little did I know that as I was cooking away there was a little trickle of beetroot juice running down the front of the stage. I think everyone liked what I made as there wasn’t too much leftover. 

petersfield food festival 2012 - serving up food from demo

I really enjoyed both the demo and the festival. It is always nice to meet the people behind the food and talk to people who are passionate about what they do. Let’s hope next year it’s even bigger!

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Filed Under: Events, Events & Interviews Tagged With: events

« Beetroot, Walnut, Goat’s Cheese and Orzo Pasta ‘Salad’ with Dill Dressing
Raspberries, Elderflower Cream and leftover Elderflower Shortbread »

Comments

  1. Mark Willis says

    June 27, 2012 at 19:53

    I wish I had known about this festival. I live not far from Petersfield, and I would have loved to see you in action!

    Reply
  2. Marmaduke Scarlet says

    June 27, 2012 at 20:07

    You may have converted me to beetroot too!

    Reply
  3. Marina@Picnic at Marina says

    June 27, 2012 at 22:46

    Great post! I would love to do some shopping at the Wild foragers for some mushrooms (after stopping at your demo) 🙂

    Reply
  4. Miss Messy says

    June 27, 2012 at 23:20

    Wow fab post. Looks like a ball!

    Reply
  5. Lizzy says

    June 28, 2012 at 01:38

    How very cool!!! You look like a natural up on the stage 🙂 I have a feeling you’ll be back next year! Your beet salad sounds fantastic~

    Reply
  6. tania @ A Perfect Pantry says

    June 28, 2012 at 02:54

    I’m a huge fan of food festivals, so this looks great. You look like you were going great:)

    Reply
  7. Toni @ Boulder Locavore says

    June 28, 2012 at 11:24

    I love this! Love going on an outing with you and seeing your work on stage! Like you I would have been mad for the wild foraged table. Purslane really grows as a week here but since I’ve discovered it’s culinary aspects I treat it with a bit more respect! Very fun post my friend.

    Reply
  8. rita cooks italian says

    June 28, 2012 at 14:04

    What a nice post. I read and enjoyed it. It must be exciting to talk about food to so many people and you look quite young… I love your way to write posts. I noticed that even before discovering all the amazing recipes posted on your website.

    Reply
  9. Mich @ Piece of Cake says

    June 28, 2012 at 15:24

    How wonderful to be able to share your love for cooking at the festival… I would like to try some beet root recipes for sure… Perhaps a red velvet cake with beet root instead of red colouring would be a good start?

    Reply
  10. Shari TheSaucyGourmet says

    June 28, 2012 at 16:16

    What a great post, you look like a natural. I love talking about food!

    Reply
  11. Cucina49 says

    June 28, 2012 at 16:34

    Congratulations on a successful demo–the festival looks like it was a great time!

    Reply
  12. Jill Colonna says

    June 28, 2012 at 16:43

    Great looking festival, super looking demo – micro and all – you look great! Bravo and cheers to many more to come.

    Reply
  13. Navaneetham Krishnan says

    June 28, 2012 at 17:03

    Great to be there and doing what you did. It must be an experience and a wonderful exposure cooking in front of other people.

    Reply
  14. Peggy G. says

    June 28, 2012 at 18:47

    Oh how neat! Looks like you did a great job and had tons of fun =)

    Reply
  15. Jenn Kendall says

    June 28, 2012 at 19:20

    yay for another successful demo! awesome job 🙂

    Reply
  16. Miss Messy says

    June 28, 2012 at 20:18

    Just to let you know i have nominated you for an award. Check it out at my blog 🙂 https://messmakesfood.blogspot.co.uk/

    Reply
  17. Guru Uru says

    June 28, 2012 at 20:32

    What a fabulous opportunity my friend, you must have been awesome 😀
    Great job!

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    Reply
  18. lena says

    June 29, 2012 at 00:12

    how i love going to a food festival! regret to say that i hv not really been to one..maybe once but such a mini one. You look great up there, the demo must have been good and i’m sure everyone loves your beetroot pasta salad!

    Reply
  19. the food dude says

    June 29, 2012 at 00:43

    That food festival looks awesome, and those mushrooms look really good! Congratulations on a successful cooking demo, here’s to more next year!

    Reply
  20. Anna C says

    June 29, 2012 at 02:00

    I really enjoyed touring the Petersfield food festival via your post. Looks like it was loads of fun. Congrats on the cooking demo…you look like a real pro!

    Reply
  21. Jacqueline @Howtobeagourmand says

    June 29, 2012 at 08:27

    Well done Caroline for getting up there and doing the demo! High Five!
    The stalls sound interesting – especially the Wild Foragers one 🙂

    Reply
  22. Choclette says

    June 29, 2012 at 12:34

    Oh well done, such a brave thing to do, but you look great. Hope you turned a few beetroot haters around.

    Reply
  23. Alida says

    June 29, 2012 at 13:34

    I admire you for being able to stand and cooking in front of lots of people. It builds confidence doing things like this. Well done you!

    Reply
  24. Emma @ Food, Fork and Good says

    June 29, 2012 at 13:50

    That sounds so much fun, congrats on the demo, bet that was nerve wracking, I feel your pain and I’m a shorty too!

    Reply
  25. Green Dragonette says

    June 29, 2012 at 19:55

    Many congratulations! It takes guts to do that when you are not a professional so good on you!!

    Reply
  26. Matthew says

    June 30, 2012 at 17:59

    Anyone who doesn’t get nervous before speaking publicly isn’t normal. ; )

    I’ve never been around Petersfield at the time of their festival. Of course, living in Ludlow I’ve got the granddaddy of food festivals on my doorstep so I don’t hunt around much for others. Should do.

    I’d love to find a football-sized puffball. Golf ball is my biggest ever.

    Reply
  27. Leah @ foodforthefresh says

    July 1, 2012 at 03:56

    What a neat event! The salad recipe looks fabulous. I also wanted to let you know that I nominated you for the “Versatile Blogger Award” because I love your content and versatility – https://foodforthefresh.blogspot.com/2012/06/versatile-blogger-award.html

    Reply
  28. The View From The Table says

    July 1, 2012 at 11:08

    Oh, this looks great. Did you feel a bit like Madonna with your microphone thingy on? Well done! Just wanted to let you know that I’ve nominated you for a Versatile Blogger thingy..

    Reply

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Hello I’m Caroline

Welcome to my site All That I’m Eating. You will find inventive recipes using seasonal and foraged ingredients as well as everyday easy meals and a few indulgent recipes too.

I believe humble food doesn’t have to be hum drum so whether you’ve oodles of onions, superfluous sausages or apples aplenty I hope you enjoy having a look around.

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