The Bannau Brycheiniog Food Festival is, without doubt, the best Saturday in October for foodies, and a true celebration of the harvest gods. Saturday 2nd October in the Brecon Market Hall will mark the festival’s 13th successful year of promoting the very best of local food in the landscape where it is produced. In fact, we can pretty much guarantee that the produce has travelled less distance than you.
When you’re passionate about food, a cracking food festival is an experience like no other, but for some, the thought of cooking with local and often unique produce can be worrying. However this isn’t just an event for cooks, local meats and fresh produce are still there for those who want them, but like the popular Brecon Farmer’s Market there are also convenient readymade and freezer-friendly meals that will take only minutes to heat up at home. How do fancy pancakes filled with salmon and asparagus or Thai green chicken curry? What about authentic traditional meals like fresh filled pasta dishes and sauces, goat kid pies and fresh Indian curries?
For those who do enjoy the challenge of cooking a recipe from scratch, there’s still a fantastic range of local ingredients to choose from. The trick is not to be scared off by a unique new ingredient but to get in there and have a go.
What could be better on a cold winter’s night than serving old-fashioned, comfort food while knowing which farm the animal or produce came from. Welsh produce is nothing short of inspiring and never more so when there is so much produce to get creative with – game birds, duck, pigeon, pheasant, goose, turkey, venison, rabbits, mutton, salt marsh lamb, mushrooms, red cabbage, beetroot, apples, pears, maybe a few rosehips, chestnuts, walnuts, not to mention your good old fashioned root vegetables.
If yet more inspiration is needed you will be able to pick up some tips from local celebrity chefs giving cooking demonstrations, before browsing the stalls which have expanded throughout the picturesque market town of Brecon – including a Green Fair on the Struet that will showcase a range of innovative, energy efficient products and services to promote the use of renewable energy at a local level.
A record number of local food producers and suppliers have signed up to be part of the growing success of the Festival. “Currently over 70 Welsh food producers are booked to attend. The growth over the last 13 years provides a strong indication of the success the Bannau Brycheiniog Food Festival brings to exhibitors taking part. To organise and be a part of the Bannau Brycheiniog Food Festival is a wonderful experience. The atmosphere, the smell of home cooking and inevitably seeing so many happy families stocking up their shopping bags with local food is nothing short of amazing.” says Food Festival organiser and Catering Manager for Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority, Andrew Powell.
Mr Eric Saxon, Chairman of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority said: “We’ve come along such a long way since our first food festival in 1997 and over a decade later we are still going strong. The Bannau Brycheiniog Food Festival highlights just how many talented producers, growers, chefs and shopkeepers we have got in and around the Park. Each stall holder presents something unique but what these people all have in common with each other is their drive, passion and commitment to deliver some of the finest food and drink in the world, let alone Wales.”
-ENDS-
Pictures: Copyright of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority. For copies of the photographs please visit our website or contact me directly.
NOTES TO EDITORS
For further information on food festivals held in the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park please contact Andrew Powell on 01874 624 979 or email andrew.powell@breconbeacons.org