A few weeks ago, the Slow Food Society went to Dartmouth Food Festival.
That's right, our group of intrepid foodie adventurers sacrificed their weekend lie-ins and bundled onto the coach at 9am on a chilly Saturday morning, all for the sake of hunting down the best in local produce.
We were hoping for blazing sunshine to accompany this outdoor feast. Unfortunately Devon had other ideas.
Nevertheless our spirits were not dampened by the weather (even if it was absolutely freezing).
Once we had all jumped off the coach, people scattered in all directions. I turned my back for a couple of minutes to watch a pizza demonstration...
...and turned around again to find myself completely alone.
Now originally I had planned on following the Slow Foodies around, getting photos of them trying the copious samples available and making their purchases. Instead, I discovered that taking a bunch of foodie fanatics to a food festival results in pretty rapid disbanding. Within seconds there was nobody to be seen! Slow Food indeed.
But sure enough, we tracked a few of them down!
...and found them getting their hands messy behind the hob at the Omelette Olympics!
The Dartmouth Food Festival is a brilliant annual celebration of all things foodie and has been going for 11 years. After the amazing range of produce and the stunning location, the best thing about it is that it is completely free to attend!
That being said, you will probably want to save up some spending money before you go, the delights on offer are more than a little tempting...
Lots of stalls offer tasters and if you hang around looking hopeful the vendors are more than happy to have a little chat with you and tell you a bit more about their produce.
I went home with some truffle cheese from the Bianca e Mora Italian cheese stall above which (as you can just about make out in the photo) was a Slow Food winner. I wish I could have taken one of their impressive cheese wheels home but unfortunately I didn't quite have the cash on me...
Biance e Mora can also be found at London's Borough Market.
I next bumped into fellow blog editor Charlotte whilst admiring some rather delicious pottery.
You know you're becoming your own mother when you start lusting over ceramics the way we were. Is it bad that I've started getting excited about graduating and being able to afford such lovely salad dishes and jugs? There's something about it which really brings out the doddery, middle-aged hoarder in me.
Whilst the beautiful pottery wasn't quite within our budget, luckily most of the food was (hooray!)
Even better, there were free samples everywhere. I heard that some people spent the entire day religiously seeking out every stall and trying everything on offer. To those people, we heartily salute you!
Now some of the tents do get pretty busy which is great because it just shows how much of a roaring success the festival is. On the other hand, it means that getting about can be pretty hard work (claustrophobes beware!) and before long, the samples just weren't cutting it anymore - we needed more food.
I started by trying one of these delicious smoked mackerel, samphire, apricot and rose petal tartlets.
It was absolutely beautiful and I would have gone back for more had there not been so many other enticing things on offer!
Next up was potatoes cooked in scrumpy cider with homemade coleslaw (local pork sausages were then piled on top for non-meaties!)
Now I would just like to emphasise that there is absolutely no shame in stuffing your face or splurging all of your student loan in one go at the festival (although good luck explaining that one to your landlord!)
The festival is a not-for-profit event and organised entirely by a team of volunteers. That way you can be sure that every penny you spend goes towards helping out the local food suppliers and the fundraising efforts of the volunteers. Now if that's not an excuse to indulge, I don't know what is!
After lunch (which, lets face it, had been going on all day by this point) we conveniently stumbled across a tent full of sweet goodies.
We tried Cloud Nine's lemon meringue marshmallows. I've never really liked marshmallows; I find the texture odd and the flavour uninteresting but these were something else. They're made by hand and have a wonderful, slightly-gooey texture and come in a range of incredible flavours. A serious indulgence for the hardcore mallow fan.
And whilst it may have still been October, we had our first taste of Christmas with a sample of Georgie Porgie's beautiful pies. My favourite was the Orange and Cointreau - Christmas in a sack!
Now what's the best way to fit as much food in as you can?
You start with something savoury - like my tartlets and potatoes and cheese. Then you have something sweet like the puddings and the marshmallows. And then you go back and have something savoury again like a fresh crab wrap.
Or a stonebaked pizza with butternut squash, goats cheese and rosemary.
And then you go back for sweet again... and repeat and repeat and repeat...
By the end of the day, the sun was out over Dartmouth.
It truly is a beautiful place to go and is worth visiting throughout the year. There are plenty of local delis and cafes to keep you satisfied down here on the English riviera (but of course visiting during the festival is an obvious bonus!)
Worn out after a long day of traipsing around, we settled down and waited for the coach with our plunder and a good pint. The perfect end to a great day out with Slow Food!
If you're interested in joining the Slow Food on Campus Society at the University of Exeter, click here.
To find out more about Dartmouth Food Festival, click here and to read more about the wider Slow Food Organisation whom we unofficially represent, click here.
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