I can’t think of a better way to spend a bank holiday than surrounded by lots of food, music, sun and sea and that is exactly what Brighton Foodies Festival offered up last weekend! The UK’s largest celebration of food & drink returned last Saturday with a fantastic line up of top chefs including Matt Gillan, Stephen Crane and Adam Simmonds. Maz and I headed down on Sunday, arriving in the early afternoon to an already buzzing and busy festival. I attended the Kenwood Foodies Festival in 2014 which was a fabulous day out however there’s something a little magical with having a food festival by the sea. The big double decker bus bar was back serving lots of delicious beverages and opportunity to go upstairs and chill out on the comfy sofas. Pimms served their delicious fruity drink from a big pink teapot and there was a pirate ship serving mojitos and other rum cocktails.
We started off at the beginning of the many stalls, slowly working our way round, sampling lots of sauces, oils, gin and cheese! There were lots of new stalls I hadn’t seen before and ones that really left an impression were:

Pan N Ice

Pan N Ice was set up by two friends Rob and Henry who discovered a new way of making ice cream on holiday in Thailand. Not only do they make the ice cream in front of your eyes in about 90 seconds but they make healthy frozen yoghurt choices too. This was Pan N Ice’s first year at Foodies Festival and they were definitely one of the most popular stalls!

Mary Berry’s Food

Mary Berry’s wonderful selection of sauces, chutneys and salad dressings were on offer at the festival. Maz and I couldn’t get enough of the Roasted Garlic and Onion Vinaigrette  and ended up buying three sauces for the amazing bargain price of £5! I did ask a few times just to check that they were actually selling three bottles for £5 which they were- the perks of a food festival!

Honest Eats

Honest Eats brings you a new online shopping experience. A really great idea for a business whereby you enter what you want your food to be free from such as dairy free, gluten free and so on. They offer the widest, most delicious range of free-from food and drink in the UK. Their website will be launching very soon so stay tuned.

CrabbieShack

CrabbieShack bring a taste of the Kent coast to the city with their incredible crab burgers, salads and sandwiches. Unfortunately the shack was so busy I had to opt for something else for my lunch but having a constant 40 minute que is definitely a sure sign that the crab is pretty good!

There was so much choice for food, the problem I find at food festivals is that I want to buy so many different food items for my lunch but each stall usually offers such a good sized portion of food that once you’ve had a buger, pulled pork sandwich or huge falafel wrap, there’s not much room for something else!

Jimmy’s Iced Coffee

Not only is this iced coffee delicious, especially the mocha flavour but the story behind Jimmy and how this iced coffee got made is really inspirational. Jimmy had the idea to create this product after leaving Dorset and heading to Australia to travel and surf! He fell in love with iced coffee and realised there wasn’t a good product in the British Market so decided to create one. Make sure to check out his beautifully designed website and learn about the different Jimmy flavoured iced coffees.

Connie’s Cakes 

If you’re a fan of carrot cake then you will love Connie’s Cakes! Connie brings you delicious carrot cakes with a twist. There’s chocolate carrot cakes, banana, coconut and they’re just a few. The texture of the cakes were soft, gooey and delicious simply by themselves or if you like them a little sweeter then try them with the buttercream!

Fiona Sciolti Chocolates

Fiona Sciolti is International Artisan chocolatier who draws upon her Anglo- Italian background and love of natural country flavours to make extraordinary botanical chocolates. Maz and I went up to sample some of the lovely looking chocolate not thinking we would by any as we were super full from our lunch but the Cocoa Nibs and Sea Salt chocolate was too delicious not to buy. All her products are gluten free with vegan friendly options available too.

Chilli Food Market

We had good fun watching the Chilli Eating Challenge hosted by the Chilli Food Market. I do like spice in my meals but am awful with really spicy food, if it’s a curry I’ll usually be the one opting for the chicken korma. Therefore the idea of watching a group of five people battle it out to win a prize by eating a variety of chillis which just kept getting hotter sounded pretty fun! The longer it went on the more entertaining it became and you could see the participants literally sweating, almost crying or hopping from one foot to the other after eating the chillis.

Not too far from the chilli stage was the Unsigned music stage where a variety of live bands played throughout the day. The atmosphere was amazing and everyone was in good spirits just chilling listening to music, pimms in one hand and a delicious ice cream or food treat in the other.

The Foodies Festival will be popping up in several different locations throughout the UK over the next few months so make sure to buy a ticket and try it out. From experience it’s always a fabulous day out and an opportunity to discover some incredible food producers, pick up some tips from talented chefs and demonstrators and usually leave with a bag full of delicious treats too!