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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
I wish I had known about this festival. I live not far from Petersfield, and I would have loved to see you in action!
You may have converted me to beetroot too!
Great post! I would love to do some shopping at the Wild foragers for some mushrooms (after stopping at your demo)
Wow fab post. Looks like a ball!
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~
I’m a huge fan of food festivals, so this looks great. You look like you were going great:)
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.
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.
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?
What a great post, you look like a natural. I love talking about food!
Congratulations on a successful demo–the festival looks like it was a great time!
Great looking festival, super looking demo – micro and all – you look great! Bravo and cheers to many more to come.
Great to be there and doing what you did. It must be an experience and a wonderful exposure cooking in front of other people.
Oh how neat! Looks like you did a great job and had tons of fun =)
yay for another successful demo! awesome job
Just to let you know i have nominated you for an award. Check it out at my blog
https://messmakesfood.blogspot.co.uk/
What a fabulous opportunity my friend, you must have been awesome
Great job!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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!
That food festival looks awesome, and those mushrooms look really good! Congratulations on a successful cooking demo, here’s to more next year!
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!
Well done Caroline for getting up there and doing the demo! High Five!
The stalls sound interesting – especially the Wild Foragers one
Oh well done, such a brave thing to do, but you look great. Hope you turned a few beetroot haters around.
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!
That sounds so much fun, congrats on the demo, bet that was nerve wracking, I feel your pain and I’m a shorty too!
Many congratulations! It takes guts to do that when you are not a professional so good on you!!
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.
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
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..