Foodies Festival 2016

Foodies Festival Returns to Bristol Next Weekend with Celebrity Chefs, the British Street Food Awards and Foodie Fun at The Downs 13th - 15th May

• Michelin-star chef Josh Eggleton, celebrity chef Rosemary Shrager and Bristol's top chefs cooking in the Chefs Theatre
• West heat of the British Street Food Awards being held
• Celebrity chef Aldo Zilli launches his street food range Zillicious serving Italian Burritos
• Focus on Brazilian street food on the Street Food Avenue
• More award-winning producers than ever before
• Champagne, wine and craft beer masterclasses
• Secret Bar Hosted by Sharp's Brewery
• New Bug-Eating competition and the famous Chilli-Eating Challenge
• Local bands competing to win the Unsigned Music Awards

Bristol's food-lovers can look forward to a another taste-bud-tickling day out as Foodies Festival returns to The Downs next weekend 13th - 15th May with a lip-smacking line-up of culinary features, celebrity chefs, the British Street Food Awards and lots of foodie fun.

British Street Food Awards

Across the three day festival, visitors can feast on signature dishes served from street food vendors and vote for their favourite to win the People’s Choice Award. A panel of experts will also judge the competing vendors for other categories including Best Main, Best Sandwich, Lifetime Achievement Award and Best Vegetarian Dish, with all the regional winners being announced late Sunday afternoon.

Cook - Aga Rangemaster Chefs Theatre

This year's festival sees a 5 star line-up in the Aga Rangemaster Chefs Theatre, where top chefs showcase their culinary skills, share insight into 2016’s food trends and answer questions from the audience. Chefs taking part include (more TBC):

• Rosemary Schrager - Celebrity Chef and Star of BBC's The Real Marigold Hotel
• Josh Eggleton - The Pony and Trap (Michelin starred)
• Simon Hulstone - The Elephant (Michelin starred)
• Ping Coombes - MasterChef Winner 2014
• Tony Rodd - MasterChef Finalist 2015
• Louise McCrimmon - Harvey Nichols
• Nigel Brown - Celebrity Chef
• Romy Gill - Romy's Kitchen
• Xanthe Clay - Food Writer
• Kalpna Woolfe - Food Writer
• Jackie Kearney - The Hungry Gecko and MasterChef finalist 2011

Discover – Feel Good and Superfoods

Visitors can enjoy a new 'Feel Good Foods' theme at Foodies Festival this summer, with healthy living chefs and food writers joining the line-up to cook with superfoods including kefir, lucuma, freekeh, kelp and banana flour, and sirt rich foods such as blueberries, kale, celery, buckwheat, turmeric, chilli and red onion.

Festival-goers can discover the advantages of eating ‘Feel Good Foods’ such as cheese (a source of phenylethylamie - the love drug) and dark chocolate and seaweed (both sources of serotonin - the happy drug) as experts promote their nutritional and emotional benefits with energy, happiness and calm inducing recipes available to take home.

Sip - Drinks Theatre

Expert mixologists and sommeliers, including Neil Phillips and Charles Metcalfe, host champagne and wine masterclasses, and beer connoisseur and writer Melissa Cole is on-hand with craft beer tutorials.

Visitors can test their taste buds with blindfolded challenges, where they will have to taste and smell to try and identify ingredients and country of origin.  These classes are also a great opportunity for novices to learn about champagne, wine and beer notes.

Feast – Street Food Avenue

With flavours from all corners of the world available on the Street Food Avenue, hunger will be banished and taste buds tingled with the huge array of cuisines on offer. Japanese, Thai, Malaysian, Argentinian, Turkish, Indian, Korean, Mexican, French and African are just some of the flavours to feast on this summer, and celebrity chef Aldo Zilli will be serving Italian Burritos as part of his new street food offering.

There’s a special focus on Brazilian street food this year to celebrate the Olympic host’s cuisine, including traditional Brazilian BBQ and Rio’s favourite dish Feijoada made from black beans, salted pork, trimmings, smoked sausage and jerk beef, which is cooked in a traditional clay pot. Brazil’s national cocktail Caipirinha, a mix of lime, sugar and Cachaça (made from sugarcane juice with an ABV of 48%), and Brazilian coffees will be available.

Shop – Artisan Producers Market

A glittering array of Great Taste Award winners are available to shop and sample from this year, each being hailed as a producer of ‘Exquisite, Outstanding and Simply Delicious’ food and drink – a fantastic opportunity for visitors to meet artisan producers from the local area and across the country, learn their story and stock up on award winning produce. With over 120 stalls to peruse at each festival, selling everything from Seaweed Seasoning to Champagne Infused Fudge, visitors will be spoilt for choice for what to eat at the festival and take home to enjoy.

Indulge – Cake, Bake & Tasting Theatre and Vintage Tea Room

Baking extraordinaire Charlotte White, master chocolatier Fiona Sciolti and top local cake-makers work their baking wizardry on the Cake & Bake stage, inspiring visitors to reach for their whips and spatulas at home and create show-stopping cakes and delicious summer bakes. A neighbouring Chocolate, Cake and Bake Village sells freshly baked breads, sponges, tarts, jellies and trifles to enjoy with a bubble tea or fresh juice.

Afternoon tea can be enjoyed in the beautifully decorated Vintage Tea Room, where teas, handmade cakes and scones with clotted cream and jam are served on china from a tea trolley by vintage styled tea ladies and gentlemen.

Crunch – Into the Jungle

Festival goers can munch their way into the depths of the jungle this summer with a trip to the Vietnamese Street Food stand, where those with a taste for the exotic can indulge in insects, including grasshoppers, caterpillars, mealworms, beetles, scorpions, locus and ants. These tasty critters will also be sold in powder and flour form – a high source of protein - to bake, season and cook with. For those brave enough, there’s a daily Bush Tucker Trial on the Challenge Stage, where visitors compete against one another by eating jungle insects, from small ants to large juicy grubs, with the contestant eating the biggest and the most being crowned champion.

Explore - Childrens Cookery School

The Olympic theme continues into the Childrens Cookery School, where little foodies can decorate their very own gold medal with coloured icing, glitter and edible ribbon.  Pizza and cupcake making classes also allow kids to explore their taste buds and learn basic cookery skills to practice at home.

Spice It Up - Chilli-Eating Challenge

The famous Chilli-Eating Challenge continues in 2016, inviting fans of spice to beat an eye-watering 16 million scoville record set by Shahina Waseem last year. Participants start at the low end of the chilli spectrum by eating bell peppers, but things quickly get a lot hotter with Habanero, Scotch and Carolina Reaper (world's hottest chilli) chillies being added to the menu. Those still standing are then inflicted to pure chilli extract, increasing in strength, until a winner is crowned.

Relax – Live Music and Pop-Up Bars

After a day of feasting and fun, visitors can relax and soak in the atmosphere with live music from award-winning local bands at the Unsigned Music Awards Stage and a glass of bubbly or refreshing cocktail from the Giant Pimm's Teapot or double-decker BarBus.