A double helping of deliciousness at Thame Food Festival

THAME Food Festival is preparing to serve up a double helping of deliciousness as it unveils not one but two fantastic line-ups for the demo and interview stages this year.

Frances Quinn

Saturday, September 26, will see an amazing array of cheffing talent taking to the AGA Demonstration stage in the Upper High Street, hosted by Simon Brown, AGA Demonstrator and cookery presenter on QVC, the home shopping channel.

Getting things off to an inspiring start at 10am with a cookery demo especially for children to sit at with BBC One’s MasterChef winner 2013 Natalie Coleman, who will be encouraging budding young foodies to experiment with different foods and tastes and giving them brilliant ideas to try at home.

Breton baker Richard Bertinet, owner of The Bertinet Cookery School in Bath, takes over at 11am to share his passion for bread making and creating faultless bakes time after time. Things take on a distinctly Italian feel at 11.45am as husband and wife team Giancarlo and Katie Caldesi cook authentic Italian dishes inspired by their travels, cookery schools and restaurants Caldesi in Campagna, Café Caldesi and La Cucina Caldesi Cookery School. Join them for plenty of buono gusto.

The irrepressible David Mooney is back at 12.30 with his take on gorgeous gastro pub food fresh from his growing pub empire the New Moon Pub Company, before handing over to home-grown talent Lucie Greenwood at 1.15pm. Lucie cooks delectable treats at The Milk Shed in Weston-on-the-Green and will delight with some of her favourites.

The heat is really turned up in the afternoon with the start of the festival’s annual live cook-off between The Raymond Blanc Cookery School and Aylesbury College. Will the students pull off a coup this year improving their 2-1 score, or will Monsieur Blanc’s team win the day? Take your places at 2pm to find out.

Hot on the heels of this trilling challenge comes Thame Food Festival Ambassador himself Raymond Blanc, who will bowl everyone over with his love of cooking with the best, seasonal produce as he creates a truly wonderful dish at 2.45pm.

If you’ve been gripped by baking and the tension in the bake-off tent, don’t miss some of the faces you’ve seen battling it out on TV in an extra large helping of baking brilliance starting with Great British Bake Off Winner 2013 Frances Quinn and her extraordinarily imaginative bakes at 3.45.
A fabulous double act ensures the day ends on a high as two more talented bakers step into the limelight at 4.30. Luis Troyano (Great British Bake-Off finalist 2014) and Miranda Gore-Browne (2010) will show you techniques to take a bake from every day to show stopping and share their love of great home baking.

Book-ending the action across town in the High Street meanwhile will be the interview stage sponsored by Barr Kitchens where festival patron Lotte Duncan will be putting the big names through their paces. Natalie Coleman is the first to share her experiences about what it’s like to win MasterChef, how it’s changed her life and what she’s done since, at 11am.

Richard Bertinet will be back at 11.45 to talk a bit more about baking and why he loves nothing more than sharing his passion with others, and then at 12 noon it will be time for the big reveal of our own home-grown baking talent. Join Frances Quinn and the other Great British Bake-Off celebs to see who rose to the challenge to be Thame’s best baker in the Big Thame Bake.

At 12.45, Sophie Grigson will return from a shopping spree at the festival with a basket laden with goodies she’s found. Lotte and Sophie will tasting and giving their verdict on the pick of the stalls.

At 2pm it’s time for The Big Thame Bake – Fully Risen, a whole batch of celebrity bakers on the stage in one go. Don’t miss Frances Quinn, Luis Troyano, Miranda Gore-Browne and Howard Middleton. This is your chance to quiz them on what it’s like to be on the show, working with Paul and Mary and as well as all things baking.

Finally, you can listen to the incredible tales of culinary adventures and a life creating one of world’s ultimate gourmet boltholes, Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, as Raymond Blanc joins Lotte to talk about just some of his many passions.

If you want to have a hand in making all of these good things happen, the organisers would love to hear from you. The festival is looking for volunteers to get involved on the day, with tasks such as helping to clear pots and pans from the demo stage, the odd bit of washing up, some general fetching and carrying and other important, behind the scenes jobs on the day. It’s fun and means you get to see another side of the festival, as well as helping to make the day run as smoothly as possible.

So if you’d like to find out more on how you can do your bit to make it a memorable day, please contact Alison Isherwood at alison@thamefoodfestival.co.uk. The Thame Food Festival takes place from 9am to 5pm on Saturday 26th September 2015 in the heart of Thame town centre. For more information, to book any of the special festival events and to sign up for the Big Thame Bake, please go to www.thamefoodfestival.co.uk.

SOURCE: Contributed