Cook it: A Feast of Festival
Brighton & Hove Food & Drink Festival 2015
Brighton’s food festival team have announced the delicious line-up of events for the first half of 2015 including six days of food and drink around Easter and 12 days of events at the end of May.
Key free-to-enter events include the Big Sussex Market on New Road on Good Friday 3 and Easter Saturday 4 April, and the huge seafront Sussex & The World Weekend on Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 May which this year includes the Live Food Show, Brighton Beer & Cider Festival, Rockinghorse Children’s Food Festival, Brighton Wine Festival, a host of English Wine Week activities and masterclasses, and a craft furniture installation created by Yelo Architects and FareShare Brighton & Hove using food packaging waste.
“Our city’s and county’s growing reputation as one of the UK’s leading food and drink destinations and producers has made the festival team radically revisit our programme of events”, said festival director Nick Mosley.
“This year – with the generous support of our sponsors and supporters – we’re spreading the festival over four main periods to create a platform to showcase the brilliant food, drink and hospitality offering, whilst nurturing the many small and independent restaurants, bars, retailers and producers we enjoy in Brighton and Sussex. We’re also running events later in the year – including a further Sussex & The World Weekend over the August Bank Holiday and a new Big Sussex Christmas Market on 5–6 December.”
Surrounding the free-to-enter weekend events, there is an extensive programme of tours, trails, tastings and themed dinners. Highlights include The Set Pop Up at the Sea Life Brighton aquarium, A Taste of Guernsey supper club with Cantina, Food Lab featuring seven chefs and producers at 64 Degrees, The Three Chefs go to the Movies at Curry Leaf Café, food trails of The Laines and Kemp Town, a beer & cheese matching dinner with Harveys brewery and La Cave à Fromage at Jeremy’s Restaurant, and two International Chef Exchange dinners at Terre à Terre and Drakes with guests chefs from Vancouver and Saint Lucia respectively.
“Whilst the local food economy is always close to our hearts, our international partnerships are becoming an increasingly strong strand of the festival’s offering. Through our International Chef Exchange initiative, we’ve grown strong reciprocal arrangements with hospitality and tourism businesses across the globe with our Spring Harvest alone seeing friends from Vancouver in western Canada, Saint Lucia in the Caribbean, Läckö Kinnekulle in Sweden, and the beautiful Channel Island of Guernsey participate in our events whilst we participate in theirs, promoting the gastronomic offering of our region. It’s exciting for the festival team and our colleagues in the food and drink industry that some of these partnerships are now leading on to joint European Union projects.”
The festival organisation also hosts a year-round programme Sussex Wine and Gourmet Bus Tours, taking consumers behind-the-scenes at vineyards, breweries, cider makers, cheese producers, rare breed farmers, deer parks, chocolatiers and many other quality artisan producers in the county.
As many of you already know, I am a part of the festival, and throughout the festival you will find me on stage and hosting events. Come along and join us at the city’s biggest and best food event, enjoy the wide range of free events and special events for the whole family and say hello when you do. We will be very glad to welcome you to join in all of the delicious fun and games.
For further details of all free entry and ticketed events, please visit www.brightonfoodfestival.com
