This weekend was my favourite food festival of all time, Porthleven Food and Music Festival. I really wanted to write a post about this magical (and expanding) festival, but didn’t really want to write the same thing all over again, it’s already online here.
So I’ve compiled my top 10 tips for getting the most out of your food festival experience and here they are:
1. Bring a ‘Food Friend’
This is by far the most important thing I could recommend. If, like me, you go to food festivals with the sole intention of tasting as much food as humanly possible this tip is for you. Every food festival we find Steven and I go together, why? you ask. So we can split the food, we’ll buy every other thing and share it. This way we can taste twice the food before we get full AND it costs half as much (kind of). Simple.
This year we managed to sample Slow Braised Pig Cheeks from The Shellfish Pig, a Kangaroo burger (I kid you not) from The Outback Shed, a selection of Nigerian cuisine from Flavors of Africa, a sausage-less roll from Pea Souk, a pulled pork wrap from Just Pigs Cornwall (so worth the long time I made Stephen wait as I was, unsurprisingly, quite full by this point!), a crepe suzette from artisan crepes and some insects from Cornish Edible Insects.
I’d recommend a tough audition process for this role (you really do need the right person). Find someone who has the same diet as you, I imagine having a vegetarian and non veggie would be a pretty tough mix. Someone who has the same level of willingness to try unusual food and, in my case, someone who has the patience of a saint and is willing to stand holding food while I take a stupid amount of photos! (Thank you Steven you are the bomb). It also helps if you’re short like me to have a tall food friend so you can find them when you’ve gotten distracted by all the food and wondered off.
2. Prepare for the weather (and please, don’t bring an umbrella)
Sounds obvious but you’d be surprised how many people don’t. Especially in Cornwall, one minute you’re going to be running into the produce tent for shelter from the rain and the next you’ll be blinded by the sun. I find dressing in layers and bringing a waterproof and sunglasses is the best defence for this problem. If you’re worried about the rain though, don’t bring an umbrella, these places are usually pretty busy and you’re not going to have room to wander with a brolly (unless you’re OK with stabbing people in the face).
3. Do your homework
Before any event the organisers will probably have a Facebook, Instagram and Twitter account active (I’ve linked to Porthleven Food festival here because I think they do a great job of keeping information flowing and also getting people into the spirt of the weekend!). These guys know the festival better than anyone and if there are going to be any issues with travel, parking, weather, live animals they’re going to know. Follow them and make your plans ahead of time. For example Porthleven is notoriously difficult to park in during the best of times so when so many people descend on the village we go in on the park and ride bus (if you get there early you can go to the front of the top deck).
4. Organise your bag
These events can get pretty stressful when there are load of people around and you have to keep stopping to get into your backpack every five minutes, so organise your bag before you get to the event. I always bring an over-shoulder-bag. This way you can just reach in and grab your purse, but also when you buy things, like chocolate bars, or need somewhere to put that extra jumper you might need later you have the perfect carrier. In my experience traders at these shows are there because they’re local, independent sellers. They’re aware of the environment and sustainability so bringing your own bag means you aren’t using up loads of plastic bags and you help keep the ethos of the event alive.
5. Don’t bring your dog
I appreciate this is an awkward one. Loads of people do bring their dogs to events like this, it’s a great place to socialise them and it’s outdoors so you get to walk the dog and have a mooch around. However, I have two dogs of my own and I wouldn’t bring them. Why? This is place filled with food, which can get dropped and if your dogs are anything like mine they’re going to be eating God-knows-what off the floor all day. Great if you don’t want to have to feed them when you get home, not so great the next day. It can also be quite a stressful environment if, like Porthleven, it’s super busy. On Saturday I saw a man accidentally step on a dog. It wasn’t his fault, it was very busy and we were all packed in, the dog was pretty small and he just didn’t see it so he felt bad for hurting an animal and the poor dog was in pain.
6. Be adventurous
This is a great place to try foods you wouldn’t normally. Street food stalls who sell food that is unusual or not local will usually do tasters or samples. Like Flavours of Africa, we got a taster box of all their dishes because neither of us knew what we’d like. I’m so glad we did, my favourite thing in the box, the Moin Moin or Bean cake, was not something I’d have ever thought to buy. It just looked like a beige block but it tasted lush! We also ate a kangaroo burger and tried crickets and mealworms – even my Mum did (admittedly after a couple of glasses of vino) and they weren’t half bad!
7. Talk to the people behind the food
As I wrote earlier the traders here are mostly all local, independent sellers and they really know their produce. It’s their passion and you can tell that when you talk to them, so if you have a question – ask! Chances are you’re going to get an expert answer!
8. Bring Cash
It’s one of those things that sounds obvious but when you’re used to paying for everything with card its something that can easily slip your mind. Especially in Cornwall this is important, cash points close to the event can run out of money and some stalls won’t accept cards.
9. If you can, don’t drive there
Food festivals don’t just attract food sellers – there will also be loads of drink sellers out there. It’s just not fair to walk past all the samples and not be able to try them (and we all know you can’t drink and drive).
10. Don’t forget to stop and enjoy it
At busy festivals like Porthleven there is so much going on that sometimes you just have to find a spot on the harbour to sit and let it all sink in. There are usually stalls with crafts at these places too and, like Porthleven Food and Music Festival, the festival might not be all about food. Unfortunately this year I didn’t get to go to any of the music events but there was plenty of music throughout the event. And remember, put your rubbish in the bin, you want to stop and enjoy the atmosphere, not pick through other peoples rubbish.
I hope this helps. If anyone else has any top tips for Food Festivals you think I’ve missed out, let me know in the comments below!
Cornish Food Baby 