Fare's fair
Clarke Hayes FT here's a fair glut of food festivals going on all across the country in the coming weeks, reflecting — and rightly so — the harvest. But how retro is that? Fantastic! Even better, to my mind, is that it proves that our collective mindset has changed dramatically — we are growing ever prouder of our food and its local provenance, willing even to think that British might really be best. That in itself is cause for celebration.
My local is the second annual Hastings Seafood and Wine Festival (22-23 September). This one neatly conflates the old and the new. Hastings's fishing industry is older than memory itself — we still boast Europe's largest land-based fishing fleet, modest both in number and size of boats and nets. This means that our industry is by definition environmentally and eco-friendly, a fact much championed by local MP Michael Foster when quotas are discussed in parliament and Europe. The result is simple — we have the best fish! Just ask Rick Stein.
Wine is the newcomer, obviously, but the likes of Carr Taylor, just ten minutes up the road from the seafront, has been in the vanguard of winemaking in Kent and Sussex for over 30 years (bring on global warming!). Sedlescombe Organic, Harbourne, Biddenden and Battle are just a few of the other vineyards within 20 miles of the town, and will be making their presence felt with tastings and talks.
Being Hastings, we have to have a procession to kick things off — Walking the Fish, 10 a.m. on Saturday — and lots of music too. The open-air Sunday Jazz Breakfast at The Sole marquee, with local star Liane Carroll, may be the pick of the events. Sunday is best for tastings, and the festival takes place right on the beach opposite our magical Old Town.
But to find out what's going on where you are, here is a wholly incomplete guide to food festivals coming up: Emsworth Food Festival, West Sussex, 14-16 September; Brighton Food and Drink, 1-30 September; Nantwich Food & Drink Festival, Cheshire, 28-30 September; Alnwick Food Festival, Northumberland, 2223 September; East Midlands Food & Drink Festival, Melton Mowbray, 6-7 October; Bidwells Norwich & Norfolk Food Festival, 12-21 October; Gwyl Fwyd Llangollen Food Festival, Wales, 20-21 October; Mendip Food & Drink Festival, Somerset, 19-28 October; Taste Southeast Cornwall, 9 November10 December.
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