The 2014 Aldeburgh Food Festival starts this week and promises two mouth-watering weeks dedicated to celebrating Suffolk’s thriving food & drink scene.
The Festival feast takes place during the weekend of the 27th & 28th September in the beautiful setting of Snape Maltings, next to the River Alde and close to the Suffolk coast, where reed-covered marshlands stretch into the distance towards Aldeburgh. Fringe events run right through until 12th October and feature some fantastic events to join in, observe and savour! My personal fringe highlights include sausage making at Kenton Hall and the sushi demo at Regatta.
This year the festival will be welcoming celebrity chefs including TV chef Valentine Warner; Sam and Sam Clarke of Moro and Morito, Marcus Verbene from Roast in London, 2013 Masterchef Winner Natalie Coleman, Jane Baxter, author of the new Leon Fast Veg cookbook and Michelin-starred Galton Blackiston from Morston Hall in Norfolk.
There will be over 80 food and drink producers from Suffolk, many from just a few miles away, gathering to sell their produce including raw milk, organic vegetables, sourdough bread, award winning beer and spirits from sponsors Adnams, cyder from Aspall and delicious streetfood.
The Festival is truly family-friendly with free tickets for under 12s with free activities for children and cookery workshops.
This year there’ll be more talks and masterclasses from celebrity chefs and hands-on activities include Adnams beer and wine tastings, the festival bakery (producing fresh bread all weekend), The Aspall World Pickled Egg Championships judged by Valentine Warner and the International Pigeon-Plucking Championship.
On Saturday the Festival will be open from 9.30am – 5pm and on Sunday from 9.30am – 4pm.
