A feast of delights at the big feastival

A feast of food
What can I say about the food except WOW!  The most amazing dishes for just £5 each, what a culinary experience it was.  And we had 9 dishes to eat between us, so we selected and shared.  We ate:
- Burger with spicy tomato relish
- pulled pork belly sandwich with apple and tarragon
- haggis and mash
- rabbit stew
- fish and chips
- Mango mousse x2
- Chocolate mousse

The mango mousse was fantastic, the rabbit stew amazing, but chicken tikka pie takes the award for most original and flavourful





A feast of fab music
In two venues there was music galore today and it'll get better over the weekend.  We danced away at the main stage and funked out at the band stand.  Although it wasn't really Rachel's thing.




A feast of fun
Going to the big feastival as a family was obviously very different than going as a couple, but the amount of entertainment and fun was fantastic for us all.

Rachel loved the little dudes tent.  


She had her face painted


She painted a picture of a bowl of pasta which was then displayed on the main tent board.  


She saw a magic show and she joined in with a singing and dancing workshop.


There was one down side of the little dudes tent - closing at 7pm is too early for those of us who had travelled a fair way and wanted to bribe the kids to stay a bit longer!

I was (surprisingly) disappointed by the WI tent; I thought there'd be more and with more space.  


It was however saved by the gorgeous Stacie of the Beehive Bakery and her delectable brownies.


And Mike; he was in his element with music, food, food and more food and drink in the July sunshine.


A feast of fabulous flavourful chefs
Chefs who were all using the Jamie at Home products; tongs, rimple dinnerware, knives, flip jars, chopping boards, pans, bowls. You name it, chefs used it; now if that's not an endorsement for Jamie at Home I don't know what is.
[want to know more? Visit my site at http://www.jamieathome.me/emmamajor]

First Michael Caines stunned us with his extraordinary creations; then Jamie and Gennaro topped it off with a double act of hilarity and Italian flavour.




Including Gennaro making holes in a royal wedding biscuit tin to make a mini smoking oven 


The cooking was great to behold but the men themselves were a joy above all.  Michael hung around happy to chat, Gennaro gave me a big squishy hug and Jamie both spoke to me and winked at Rachel.  It's a shame that Mike's camera skills are slow so evidence is non existent, but the memories will remain with these prompts...

Here's Michael cooking duck 


Gennaro right in front of me


And he was next to me in this group as we tasted his Tuscan bread salad


And here's Jamie walking away from our encounter



A feast of fundraising
A truly charitable event, as the big feastival website says:
This is a festival with a heart. All profits from The Big Feastival will be shared between The Prince’s Trust (charity no. 1079675)* and The Jamie Oliver Foundation (charity no. 1094536). Both charities run successful programmes for helping young people overcome disadvantages and create better futures for themselves. They have a fantastic positive impact on the lives of many young people, giving them the skills, motivation and inspiration to get into employment, education and training.

And we got to be a part of if.  Rachel was asked if she'd like to take part in a salad and dressing workshop with sone other kids.  She fancied it and it turned out to be being led by chefs from Fifteen and being filmed for the Foundation to show how easily kids can gain cooking skills.

She selected salad leaves and tomatoes


She made a lemon dressing


She mixed the two with Jamie Flair


And ATE it all!





The Big Feastival was fantastic, so fantastic it wore us out completely.  


Well done Jamie for what I hope will be an annual event.