Stroller Tickets can only be purchased in advance online for this year’s Abergavenny Food Festival which takes place over the weekend of 18th and 19th September. Tickets bought up to and including Monday 13th September will be posted out. Buy after that in the immediate run-up and you will be able to pick up your Stroller Tickets on the day. No tickets will be sold at the event. Go to www.abergavennyfoodfestival.com for latest updates.
So what can you expect as a visitor on the Sunday? Exactly the same excitement and variety as the previous day. Of course, there are the extensive exhibitor markets to enjoy and lots of catering stalls with yummy food to go; but in addition there are cookery demonstrations in the Market Hall, talks and debate and a musical foodie quiz in the Dome, as well as the primal appeal of cooking with fire in the grounds of the Castle – from foolproof BBQ to wild and foraged foods.
Could Abergavenny Food Festival get any more cultured? ‘Mais Oui’ say Monsieur Bon Bon and Madame Saucisson who are bringing their artisan French flair to the grounds of the castle, with traditional games and challenges to keep the whole family entertained.
Keep your children happily engaged. Apart from rolling down the hill at the Castle (that’s a tradition) they can make vegetable-print bunting to hang up at home by joining drop-in workshops with illustrator Alexia Tucker, and young chefs will want to get hands-on at the Cook School cookery classes and learn how to make fresh pasta and pesto – always a winner. A percentage of places can be booked in advance online.
Rotary Young Chef Cook-off Finalists Zara Tilley and Charlie Cave from King Henry School with Franco Taruschio OBE who judged the previous heat
They’ll also want to watch the town’s finest aspiring chefs in action in the Market Hall when King Henry School finalists Zara Tilley and Charlie Cave go head-to-head in the Rotary Young Chef Final Cook-off; and there’s Jenny Chandler’s dem – ‘Green Kids Can Cook’ – which is all about getting your little ones to see vegetables as friends not foes.
Chetna Makan will be showing you how to make a quick and easy meal with recipes from her new book Chetna’s 30 Minute Indian.
Take a break from shopping and catch some of the food world’s brightest lights in action. We’re all short of time these days, so see Chetna Makan whizzing up a flavoursome 30-minute Indian, and ‘sourdough queen’ Vanessa Kimbell getting there even quicker with a tasty 10-minute sourdough. Older children might want to join in watching TikTok sensation Poppy O’Toole who’s been dubbed ‘the millennials answer to Delia Smith’ for her straight-forward no-nonsense style of cooking.
When your eyes aren’t glued to the stage, take a look overhead and see the amazing Festival ‘Wildlife of the River Usk’ installation made by the super-talented Bettina Reeves and volunteers. At the end of the day, go home laden with full shopping bags in the knowledge that you’ve done your bit to support some amazing people – growers and makers, chefs, writers and campaigners. Now that’s something to celebrate!
Hywel Griffith who has bought a Michelin Star to The Beach House, Oxwich Bay. His dem in the Market Hall will focus on harvest of the sea sourced from the local dayboats.
