All diets and tastes are catered to at the Foodies Festival.
Heading further into the heart of the site revealed extremely friendly vendors who were both knowledgeable about their products and passionate about their benefits. It was very easy to while away the afternoon sampling their wares and chatting about their companies. A particular mention in this respect must go to Life Care Edinburgh, who were selling homebaking and encouraging festival goers to share their food based memories in a book for others to see. Their cakes also had that wonderful “homemade by granny” feel which set them apart from the other baked goods vendors the festival. All proceeds from this stall go to supporting the running of Life Care Scotland, which helps elderly people to maintain independence in their own home.
For those with less of a sweet tooth, there is an array of succulent barbeques and food stalls which will have you floating in the air towards them in like Wylie Coyote. Whether it’s slow roasted pulled pork with apple or halloumi wraps that make your stomach rumble, all diets and tastes are catered to at the Foodies Festival.
At the back of the site, there were larger tents in which cookery demonstrations, wine pairings and all manner of other fun events were taking place. Though some of the cookery demonstrations could have benefited from a host to keep the audience engaged at times, the presentations were generally very informative and instructive, and audience members were invited to sample the recipe that had just been prepared at the end of a demonstration.
In terms of entertainment, the small stage positioned in the large seating area offered those enjoying a boutique fizzy gin cocktail or a homebrewed cider the opportunity to take in a range of musical stylings from local musicians. There’s also a bouncy castle at the back of the festival for kids to have a play, and I’m quite sure children and adults alike will be intrigued by the liquid nitrogen ice-cream stand.
At the Foodies Festiva, there is a great deal of fun and interesting things to sample and see. The people are lovely, the festival is well organised and the staff and vendors are exceedingly welcoming and friendly. It can be said however that there could be more effort to include child friendly entertainment, as although there is a bouncy castle it is rather small and there is little else for children to do.