Since 2016, the Didcot Food Festival organised by Didcot Events has been a hugely popular annual event. Over the years, the Food Festival has brought together national celebrity chefs including those from MasterChef, former GBBO contestants and creative local chefs. The number of artisan food and drink producers taking stalls has grown year on year and the event attracts an average of 1,000 visitors through the doors.
This year, the family-friendly Food Festival will take place on Saturday 5 October, from 10am until 4pm at Didcot Civic Hall at Britwell Road. Organisers GBBO Christine Wallace and Jeanette Howse (BEM), together with their team have once again organised what promises to be a memorable and very tasty event. The Civic Hall is the perfect venue for the event as it is not affected if the weather is inclement.
As you may have read, Tilly winner of Series 9 Junior Bake Off will be opening the Festival at 10.30am, following which she will present a demonstration in the Chef’s Theatre showing her audience just how delicious gluten-free cakes can be.
Former BBC Radio Berkshire presenter and esteemed Great Taste Awards judge and food critique Bill Buckley will be the compere for the day in the Chef’s Theatre, a job he thoroughly enjoys. “Talking to chefs is a natural environment in which to find myself as I do have a genuine and long-standing love of cooking and learning about new culinary styles. Sometimes by making the odd comment to the chef as they are preparing their dish in front of the audience, I can get them to answer questions that the audience may want to know but have not asked or throw a different perspective into how the dish may be prepared. This can be something as simple as saying ‘I suppose you could substitute the raspberries for strawberries’ or a more complicated question, which may lead the chef on a completely different tangent explaining other options for the dish.”
Another popular former GBBO contestant, Howard Middleton, will return to the Chef’s Theatre at 11.45am. Since he appeared in Series 4 of ‘The Great British Bake Off’ along with Christine Wallace, Howard regularly takes part in numerous food festivals and shows and teaches at artisan food schools. His great sense of humour and engaging personality always makes his presentations great fun and worth watching. No doubt he will bring humour and memorable moments when he interacts with Bill Buckley.
Howard is also an expert when it comes to creating fabulous gluten-free bakes as his first book ‘Delicious Gluten-free Baking’ published in 2015 revealed. He has since gone on to develop many other gluten-free recipes and he is planning to show the Chef’s Theatre audience how to make his Black Forest roll. As always, he is looking forward to seeing everyone on the day: “I always love catching up with my Bake Off buddy Christine and the other members of the Didcot Events team. I also love the fact that Didcot feels like a real food festival, with a genuine community spirit and lots of delicious produce.”
Award-winning local chef Nick Galer, from The Pot Kiln, starts his demo at 1pm and he will no doubt bring a Spanish twist to his presentation as he now works at a Basque-inspired restaurant and pub. Read our article ‘Award winning chef Nick Galer is looking forward to being part of this year’s Didcot Food Festival’ to find out more about Nick and what he is cooking up at The Pot Kiln.
For many years Andrew Scott, Executive Development Chef at Wadworth’s Brewery and former Great British Menu contestant, has brought some inspiring recipe ideas to the Didcot Food Festival. Over the years, Andrew has worked in Michelin starred kitchens before he was appointed as Executive Head Chef at Sudbury House Hotel in Faringdon where he achieved 3 rosettes in the fine dining Restaurant 56 and 2 rosettes in the Magnolia Brasserie. Now he oversees the design and execution of the managed house food offering and training of chef teams across 19 pubs, together with consulting on food and everything back of house at the 130 tenanted Wadworth Brewery pubs. Andrew will be in the Chef’s Theatre at 2pm.
The main hall at the Civic Centre will see an eclectic mix of artisan food and drink producers showcasing their fine products. Visitors will also have the chance to buy some useful gadgets for their kitchen and early Christmas presents too. You will certainly go home with a good selection of goodies to indulge in.
As you would expect the day would not be completed without a cup of tea or coffee and a sweet treat which will be available from a local café that will be setting up a pop-up café at the Food Festival.
Local charity Team Mikayla will have their ever-popular sweet stall in the foyer at both the Food Festival and Gift Fair (9 November) where they sell sweet cones filled with traditional sweet and freshly made popcorn. The charity came about following Mikayla’s diagnosis with brain cancer at just four years of age when she told her mother she would like to help other children with cancer. Since then, Mikayla who is now 18 and a student at Oxford College has raised many thousands of pounds to give treats and gifts to children fighting cancer at the John Radcliffe Karan Ward and Royal Leicester, Bristol and Nottingham Hospitals children’s wards.
There is only one way to find out what else this fabulous food festival has to offer and that is to be part of it.
The Didcot Food Festival is a great family day out with advance tickets costing just £4 for adults and children under 16 FREE (accompanied by an adult), £5 on the day. The ticket prices also include entry into the Chef’s Theatre. You can buy your tickets at didcotevents.co.uk or scan the QR code to book your tickets.
