We’re nearly there – here in the office we’re feeling ready for the onslaught of deliveries from suppliers, exhibitors setting up, ingredients arriving for the chefs – it’s SO exciting. More than anything else we can’t wait to share it all with you – the visitors who we hope will really enjoy all that we have to offer this year. Right from the entrance when we have an exciting display – I won’t give it away – you are in for a treat – discover local Suffolk food, learn more about where it comes from, the land it is grown and reared in or on, and meet some of your favourite people whether it be chefs from locally or further afield….
The Festival shopping bags have been delivered – you get one of these with your admission (between two) and the programmes have been printed – a factual encyclopaedia of local Suffolk foodie information – again included with your admision of just £7/adult aged 13 and over. Remember – no entry fees for children aged 12 and under make it a really good value day out for all the family.
Look forward to seeing you at Snape Maltings on Saturday (10am – 5pm) or Sunday (10am – 4pm)!
A week today and we shall look forward to seeing our friendly, familiar and local producers at the sixth Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival. This year we have even more than ever on offer; lots of activities for families and children aged 12 and under enter the Festival free of charge! There is a musical creche for children aged 7 and under and at the same time children aged 8 and over can be booked onto a session with Eunice Mayhew of the Hands On Cookery School. Meanwhile EastFeast and Orwell Park School as well as the Jamie Oliver Foundation in the form of Orford Primary School will all be offering activities for children to get involved with. And that’s before you have taken them into the marquees for some tasters!
In the region of 85 producers will be showcasing their produce and what makes the Festival so unique is that they are virtually all from here in East Suffolk! We also have 3 demonstration stages this year with some of your favourite local Suffolk chefs sharing their culinary secrets and skills as well as many celebrity chefs, some of whom have never been to the Festival before. Angela Hartnett, Richard Bertinet and Henry Harris are some of our new friends, as well as Brett Graham, Galton Blackiston, Valentine Warner, Sheila Dillon, Tommi Miers to name just a few of the others!
Tickets can still be purchased online until midday on Tuesday 20th September (£6/adult and £10/weekend) or on the gate for £7/adult and £12/weekend. Free parking and free entry for children aged 12 and under. Whilst booking your Festival tickets – how about treating yourself to a workshop – the children can learn some outdoor cooking skills with the Deben Scouts over a campfire, and you might like to know more about the new Spirits from Adnams Distillery, or hear Tim Hayward talk about life as a Food Writer. Click on the Workshops page and see the variety of activities on offer.
See you there!
Rude Health is bringing the Rude Health Rants to Aldeburgh Food Festival for the first time. The Rude Health gang will be joined by celebrated chefs, food writers and producers as they too step onto the hay bale and up to the microphone to rant. Come and listen on Saturday 24th and Sunday 25th September.
Rude Health’s own relentless ranter Nick Barnard will kick off the rants, followed by the great, good and frankly outrageous of the food world – who have 
something to get off their chest. It could be a tirade against Elizabeth David (how very dare they?), an ode to rare breed pork, or an ardent defence of the glorious British apple. Whatever the topic, the ranters are a passionate bunch who won’t mince their words.
So we can see the sparks flying already. It’s sure to be a spectacle – as long as Nick relinquishes the hay bale long enough to draw breath and let others have a go (we’re told Rude Health have a cattle prong just in case, but they promise only to use it on Nick!) We’re also told that hecklers are very welcome, the more vocal the better. So what are you waiting for?
DON’T WORRY IF YOU MISS THEM, all the rants will be recorded and uploaded to the Rude Health website – where you can currently find all of the Rude Health rants, including those by Mexican-food marvel Thomasina Miers, Reggae-Reggae Sauce man Levi Roots and Cyrus Todiwala OBE.
http://www.rudehealth.com/rants
Now in its fifth year, the annual EADT Suffolk Food & Drink awards is celebrating many of the great things about the producers, retailers and restaurateurs in our county.
Suffolk businesses involved in food and drink gain considerable attention on the national stage and it’s not just the larger companies like Adnams or Greene King – there are a multitude of smaller producers and retailers for whom quality, value and localism are at the core of all that they achieve.
So why not have your say. Vote now and let Archant Suffolk know who’s your favourite butcher in Suffolk. Let them know which tea or coffee shop always perks you up when you’re out and about. And make sure they know which artisan bakery is the best thing since sliced bread…
Your local producers, retailers and restaurateurs need you! Vote now at http://www.archantsuffolk.net/food-and-drink/voting/
Voting deadline is 8th August.
