One of my favourite months in Brighton is May as it’s festival time! And where better to start things off but my one of my all time favourites, Brighton Foodies Festival. Based on Hove Lawns, stalls and vans pitch up for a whole bank holiday weekend of culinary delights, there is even a bar bus! I couldn’t wait – for a real foodie (and a greedy little piglet) like me, the thought eating for a whole weekend is just heaven!
There were so many stalls, we honestly didn’t know where to start. With growling tummies, we eagerly walked straight down to the pop-up restaurants to decide on some lunch to start us off. There was so much choice, but I couldn’t help but steer towards my favourite cuisine, Mexican. I had an amazing Black Bean Burrito, topped with mountains of sour cream, guacamole, grated cheese and jalepeños from Dead Good Burrito, whilst our friends Tash and Dave tucked into BBQ Chicken with wedges, which all went down very nicely. We also got a few beers in and the afternoon was off to a flying start!
Tash & Dave’s pug Scarlett, she’s only 10 weeks old and SO adorable!
After lunch we headed off for a couple of the cookery seminars, starting with Baking with The Great British Bake-Off winner John Waite. He taught us to make a delicious carrot cake, he made it look so simple and his presentation was hilarious! Next up was Naked Cookery with Stacie Stewart, this wasn’t quite what it sounds but tips on ‘Clean Eating‘, she showed us how to make a Chocolate Fudge Cake that was Dairy and gluten free – impressive! It looked pretty amazing and apparantly tasted good too (I didn’t get any as you literally had to fight for a slice!). I’m really intrigued by Stacie’s cookery and have been reading her blog for some clean eating ideas for myself, it’s a great way to live but such a big lifestyle change, but I’m slowly trying to make a few changes for the better.
After the cookery seminars, we fancied something sweet, so we headed over to Raise Bakery, for the BEST Chocolate Chilli brownie I have ever tasted – it was utterly delcious, rich, moist chocolate and quite spicy too! Perfect.
With so much to still see, we had a mooch around the stalls, trying all kinds of different foods from cheeses to chilli sauces and even popcorn popped in Vitacoco Coconut oil. The atmosphere was buzzing, despite the slightly gloomy weather, which was nice as it was pretty chilly.
Last on our list of things to try was Merrydown Cider, so we headed over the the bar for a few drinks. With their heritage right here in Sussex, they offer both Medium ‘orginal’ cider and a fruity Blackcurrent flavour, which is just perfect over ice for Summer BBQ’s, yum! Thats the great thing about the Foodies Festival, so many of the brands there were all local, so we can feel good about supporting local producers, as well as stuffing our faces! Other Sussex brands at the Foodies were High Weald Dairy (with amazing cheeses!) and The Condiment Co, with delcious table sauces had stalls too, with produce all made practically on our doorsteps.
So, that was our day. We had such a lovely time, some great food, drinks and company too. If you have the Foodies Festival coming your way, I urge you to get tickets as it’s a really fun day out. (You can normally pick up some good deals with the tickets on Groupon too!)
Lastly, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of adorable Scarlett the baby pug, I realised when I went through my camera I took more of pictures Scarlett than the food! Typical!! (If you can’t get enough of these cute pictures, she has an Instagram account now too!)
From your photos I can see that it was a fantastic event – very lively indeed! There was so many great things that you could eat and try out. It must have been a lovely experience for you! Wish I could have went, but maybe next time though. I particularly liked the look and sound of the chocolate chillie brownies. What a great combo! I also love your little puglet, Scarlet O’Hairy – so CUTE!