Situated on the river Alde in a landscape of open skies, marshland, and reedbeds, the historic Victorian maltings are the best-preserved brick malt kilns in Britain and are home to the world-famous concert halls of the Aldeburgh Festival of Music as well as a collection of shops selling food, kitchen-ware, crafts, art, books and much else. In this uniquely beautiful setting, the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival has become established as one of the foremost food festivals in Britain, while the whole area has become a food destination.
Snape Maltings
   

The Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival was started in 2006 to celebrate and publicise this abundance of local produce and also to help people reconnect with the countryside and the food it provides. One of the objectives of the festival is to demonstrate the strong connection between food and the market towns, the villages, the countryside, the rivers and the sea.

In 2009 the main festival is being held during the weekend of 26-27 September but over the following week there are many other events taking place which are connected with the festival. Producers, farmers, wildlife societies, farm shops, farmers markets, breweries, butchers, delicatessens, restaurants, hotels, pubs, cafes, fish shops, all are included. And all are a showcase for our wonderful local food. Visitors to the festival are given opportunities to learn about how it is produced – and the fundamental connection with place, people, landscape and the environment. Lectures, discussions, demonstrations, ‘meet the producer’ events, farm walks, wild food foraging, freshly caught fish cooked on the beach, food tastings in delis and shops – it is a true celebration. Each year the festival programme also includes a detailed ‘gazetteer’ of local food outlets to help visitors explore a new universe of food production.
 
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In 2009 the theme of the Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival is education and reconnecting children and their parents with food, where it comes from and how it is produced. Working with EastFeast and local primary schools, the aim is to encourage children and their parents to grow and cook vegetables and fruit – to grow it, cook it and eat it – and, of course, to buy local.

Above all, the Festival aims to increase the understanding of the wider importance of local food and drink, its integration with sustainable farming, fishing and food production and its importance to landscape, wildlife and heritage. By growing and cooking our own food, by buying it locally, we really can make a difference, both now and in the future.

  
     
     
 

The aim of the Festival is to:

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help people understand the connection between food and the people, the farming and the landscape that produced it
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celebrate and publicise the amazing variety, quality and abundance of food and drink produced in the Alde Valley and along the coast of East Suffolk
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encourage people to support the local economy and reduce 'food miles' by buying local produce in the shops, farm shops, farmers markets, pubs, restaurants, hotels and bed-and-breakfasts
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work with local schools to bring back growing food and cooking it as part of the curriculum
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encourage people to grow and cook their own food - Grow It! Cook It! Eat It!
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to publicise East Suffolk as a food destination
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to encourage people to visit the Suffolk countryside, wildlife reserves, market towns and villages
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to publicise Suffolk County Council's Greenest Suffolk initiative