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This year’s Cowbridge Food & Drink Festival has something for all the family to enjoy
THE Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival is back over the Whitsun Bank Holiday, showcasing some of the best food and drink from South Wales and beyond against the backdrop of the pretty market town and here are some of the foodie higlights you won’t want to miss.
Ridiculously Rich
The Welsh winner of the BBC’s The Apprentice show is bringing her sweet treats to the Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival this spring.
Alana Spencer, who runs her own baked goods company ‘Ridiculously Rich’ selling her delicious cakes and chocolates, was previously known as Narna’s and has been a regular exhibitor at the Cowbridge event for a number of years.
Now The Apprentice champion will be taking part in a live demonstration at this year’s festival on Sunday at 10am.
Lord Sugar’s latest business partner specialises in creating indulgent, gooey treats including chocolate brownies, peanut butter fudge cakes, crème brûlée brownies, Belgian chocolate rocky roads, salted caramel slices and sticky toffee flapjacks.
Alana will be divulging some trade secrets to festival goers in Cowbridge by demonstrating the baking process and ingredients behind her chocolate brownie ‘cake pops’.
The History Chefs
Take a taste tour back in time at an exciting demo with the History Chefs.
This local chef duo are also academic specialists in Ancient History and will be bringing their popular interactive and educational sessions to the festival.
From an Ancient Roman cheesecake, to Aztec hot chocolate, a prehistoric welcome stew, or a wartime eggless sponge, the History Chef ’s demo and taste sessions are sure to get everyone involved and living history.
Live Fire Demos
The Live Fire Demos is a new addition to the Vale Forge site on North Road.
This is your chance to try some of the tastiest and most popular dishes in South Wales right now.
Asador 44, the new restaurant offering from the Cowbridge born brothers behind Bar 44, will be
cooking delicious Spanishinspired Chuleton steaks, charcoalgrilled fish and vegetables (3pm Monday); Meat and Greek will be serving up their ever-popular grilled Greek-Cypriot street food (3pm Sunday) and Hangfire Smokehouse will back at the festival with soul food classics, award winning barbecue meats and grilled goodies (4pm Sunday and Monday).
Little Chefs
Young foodies are never forgotten at Cowbridge and the weekend will host a variety of children’s activities at The Old Hall Gardens.
Families can expect crafts, facepainting, live music, birds of prey, a pottery wheel as well as other food-themed fun. Make and Take your
Tea is sure to be a favourite with those age 3-7 who will be able to make their own pizza at the festival and then put it in a box to take home to cook. (2.30pm Sunday, 1.30pm Monday - limited availability, first come, first served basis)
Comedy Cook
One of Wales’ funniest men will be trying out some new-found culinary skills at the Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival this year.
Visitors to the event on Sunday May 28 might catch a glimpse of this different kind of celebrity chef - and even get the chance to try some of his creations as part of the live cooking demonstrations taking place throughout the weekend, but for now, the details are still top-secret.
Drinks
You’ll need a tipple to wash all that down, and you won’t be left thirsty. Tomos a Lilford, a three man-Microbrewery based in Llandow, Vale of Glamorgan will be on site and doing a demo of their full flavoured ales (Monday 2.30pm); local vineyard Llanerch will be holding a tutored tasting of their delicious wines with the opportunity to buy after the talk (Sunday 3.30pm) and there will be tastings and talk from very local craft cider producer, Nick Craddock (Sunday 2.30pm), amongst a host of other drinks producers and sellers.
Look out for Tin Can Filly – aka Myfanwy –a lovely old horse box newly kitted out as a bar for outside events. Myfanwy will be serving deliciously chilled prosecco by the glass as well as offering-local foraged botanical syrup flavours courtesy of Tast Natur.
Up your Skills
The Skills Marquee is open throughout the weekend at the Old Hall Gardens and visitors will have the chance to try their hand at everything from bee keeping (11.30am Sunday and Monday); Samba at an interactive music workshop, guaranteed to make you move (3.30pm Sunday and Monday) or willow weaving at the Craft Marquee.
You can even learn how to make your own foraged botanical syrups with Tast Natur at 2.30pm on Sunday.
Bara Brith
The favourite traditional Welsh teacake gets a twist from exhibitor Blaenafon Cheddar.
The specialist cheddar cheese company is based in the World Heritage site of Blaenafon where they handmake a delicious range of waxed truckles; including bara brith cheddar - blended with plumped juicy raisins and mixed fruit which has been infused with Black Mountain liqueur, a medieval apple and blackcurrant brandy produced by the Celtic Spirit Company.
Look out for the cheese, covered in a rich brown wax at the Blaenafon
Cheddar stand. And if you’re a fan of bara brith in its traditional loaf form, the festival is also hosting Baked By Mel.
Mel’s Bara Brith recipe, lovingly made in her Llantwit Major kitchen, is so special it’s exclusively stocked by Royal grocer Fortnum and Mason.
Tickets for the event are available for both day entry and full weekend access, and include discounts for visitors across all sites.
Children under 12 can enjoy the festival for free and those who preorder tickets receive a complimentary shopping chiller bag.
Ticket holders receive discounts and access to additional activities and town traders also offer promotions to ticket holders.
For tickets: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/172808
cowbridgefoodanddrink.org