Thousands flock to Thame’s (not just a) food festival!

BUILDING on the success of last year, Thame Food Festival delivered a myriad of tantalising artisan producers, demonstrations galore, celebrity chefs and bakers, plus some new features to thousands of people who flocked to bask in the glorious autumnal sunshine.

Food festival fans relax to the music in front of the FTMC stage

There were over 150 stalls in the extensive artisan food market and hot street food area, a pop-up pub, botanical gin garden and Prosecco bike by FestivAles.

Through-out the two days the headline sponsor – Magimix UK – showcased over 20 demonstrations on their dedicated stage including many of the country’s leading chefs and bakers such as patron Raymond Blanc OBE, Jane Devonshire (former winner of Masterchef) and Candice Brown (previous winner of Great British Bake Off). This was topped off by a myriad of yet more shows around the event including; Quality Standard Mark Beef and Lamb cookery demos by Stoke Park, expert tuition of Clementi Pizza Ovens by Bell Kitchens, edible gift demonstrations by WI Denham.

Adding to the ambience and festival atmosphere this year, was Thame’s First Thursday Music Club’s live music stage, with a broad programme of artists. Another new addition to the Thame Food Festival were the Humble Country marquee which was filled to the brim with kitchenalia to buy, the Schwartz Sensorium, the Greenpeace dome plus a range of children’s activities supporting local charities such as Thomley, and Thame’s Lions and Rotary Clubs.

For the second year, the foodie mix also extended to our four legged friends with specialist dog treat stalls alongside demonstrations and fun Dog Shows by locally based, national charity the Hearing Dogs for the Deaf. The winner of the inaugural Thame Food Festival Bursary for Local Artisan Producers, Lisa Hartwright from Tess’ Brilliant Bakes, was announced by her mentors Chris Wheeler from Stoke Park and Adam Johnson from Le Manoir aux Quat’Saison on the main stage where she received a Magimix Le Blender, plus £1,000 and a free place at the festival.

Lotte Duncan, Festival Patron and organiser of the event, said: “I am so proud of what Thame Food Festival has become. This year the team and I really wanted it to centre on celebrating artisan producers and showcase the diversity of wonderful foods that are produced in Britain, but to also add lots of new features, such as the children’s activities and live music to make it have even more of a festival feel. We wanted an event where people could come for so much longer, enjoy and experience so much more than they might have originally planned.

“Events like these require so much hard work, from so many people but when you see it all come together it is worth it. We are hoping as a Community Interest Company to be able to reinvest even more money back into the event and support more young local businesses like Tess’ Brilliant Bakes that won our very first bursary this year. So watch this space for next year.”

SOURCE (or should that be ‘sauce’ ?) Contributed