The Thame Food Festival – 24th September 2011
After the huge success of last year’s event which saw record attendance numbers and glorious September sunshine, the 4th Thame Food Festival on 24th September 2011 is now a fixture for the diary.
Thame Food Festival is a wonderful showcase for the passion of local artisan food and drink producers and retailers in the area. It is a celebration of everything that is right with food and is a great, bustling, fun filled, free, family day out in the centre of this historic South Oxfordshire market town.
“We are so excited about this year’s Thame Food Festival” says South Oxfordshire Market Town Co-ordinator Alison Isherwood, who has worked tirelessly to organize this year’s Festival with a close band of helpers. “Stallholder response has been phenomenal, with virtually everybody from last year re-booking and many new exhibitors including The Chiltern Brewery, Paul Bellchambers “The Late Chef”, Caramba! Olive Oil and Chiltern Natural Foods. The stallholder’s area has been greatly extended within the heart of this beautiful historic market town.”
We are delighted to announce the involvement of top chef Raymond Blanc and his team from Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, including Mark Peregrine who will be preparing a 3 course meal for 2 in 40 minutes and hopefully be involved in a competitive cook-off. Details to follow at a later date. Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons will be offering the prize of a voucher at The Raymond Blanc Cookery School worth £375 which will be raffled on the day (voucher hopefully to be presented to the lucky winner by Raymond Blanc who may also be signing copies of his latest book ‘Kitchen Secrets’).
As headline sponsors we are delighted to welcome local food producers McCormick, home of Schwartz’s spices. They will be holding a cookery demo and will be offering ‘University Survival Packs’ via their website, including vouchers and an iphone app. They will also have a stall on the day.
The extensive Festival Programme is proudly sponsored by David Wilson Homes who will also be generously donating a prize – exciting news of which will be broadcast soon.
Working closely with a number of partners, including Team Tourism, there will be a Food Trail for visitors before and after the Festival. The Festival also falls during the 10th British Food Fortnight (17th Sept. – 2nd Oct.) celebrating everything to do with British food products and expressing public concern about food miles and food provenance. Local schools in the area will be joining in the competition to design a menu for the athletes in the 2012 London Olympics.
This is a great family day out with the emphasis on fun and food information about local and regional food products and the retailers. It aims to bring the whole town together in a sense of community to share a wonderful food-fuelled experience.
The fantastic photographs of last year’s event, many of which can be seen on the Festival’s great new website www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk were taken by Debbie Jones of Imaging Essence who will be on hand once again to record the day.
This year’s Festival will be featuring once again a series of talks and food demos at The Stables at The James Figg, including wine tasting, a talk on fish sustainability by Mike Berthet of M&J Seafood and a hands-on sausage making session, plus a foodie pub quiz down the road at The Thatch. There will also be a talk on bread making by the Cornfield Bakery and lots more besides.
“You can imagine what an honour it is for me to be patron of this year’s Thame Food Festival” says renowned local TV chef and writer Lotte Duncan. “Last year’s Thame Food Festival was really wonderful, but this year’s promises to be even better. I am thrilled to be taking part.”
Contact Details:
Website details: www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk
Follow us on: Twitter @thamefoodfest Facebook thamefoodfestival
For further details please contact:
Tel: 01844 202884
