Food Show – Fantastic!

When I turned up at Ewood Park, home of Blackburn Rovers, last Sunday in my bright green polo shirt, it wasn’t to support some rival premiership team but to work at Nigel Haworth’s first Fantastic Food Show. And, to quote one of the visitors to the show, it was “absolutely fantastic!”

As the name would suggest, there was an array of food and drink products on show and for sale (while stocks lasted, some producers were so overwhelmed by demand that they’d sold out by early afternoon - I managed to get one of the last remaining hog roast sandwiches, others weren’t so lucky!). The products ranged from cakes to chutneys, water to wine, ice cream to spices, as well as a whole room dedicated to cheese.

Organised by Northcote, this wasn’t just a food market, it was a whole food experience. Throughout the day, some of Nigel’s producers gave short workshops, allowing an insight into their products. Children could watch apprentice chef demonstrations, stroke Thwaites’ majestic shire horses or follow the Slow Food Taste Adventure Challenge.

I was working in the chef demo area, where Great British Menu stars Nigel himself, Lisa Allen and Tom Kerridge teamed up with other top chefs to give informative, “saucy(!)” demos of dishes from Lancashire to Thailand. I met one couple from Spain who were on holiday in Lancashire and had been searching for food events to go to while they were here – they couldn’t have timed it better and were delighted to hear about Clitheroe’s Fine Food and Crafts Street Market this Saturday (14th Aug) as well as Preston’s Lancashire market and Barton Grange Garden Centre’s Food and Drink Festival the weekend after that.

Let’s hear from a few of the visitors about what they thought:

“Good quality exhibition of food and wine”

“What a brilliant way to showcase the food of the region”

“Excellent addition to events in Lancashire and worth the money!”

“Would come again definitely!”

“Excellent food fair – looking forward to next year.”

Aren’t we all?!

Barbara

Comments

[Sally]

Great show and it was good to see so many people supporting Lancashire's fantastic producers! (I picked up some very tasty duck breasts from one of the butchers!)

[Kate]

Sounds scrumptious! Shame I couldn't make it, but I'll be making a special effort next year!