A guide to the 6 tastiest UK food festivals to whet your appetite.
• Meatopia
Anything with a tag line of ‘eat, sleep, meat, repeat’ can only mean good things.
A three day festival in London celebrating all things meaty and marvellous was bought to the UK from New York. A range of meaty delights are cooked over charcoal and wood provides delights for the nose as well as the mouth.
Catch it from 30th Aug to 1st Sept at the London tobacco dock, or from the 5th to the 7th of July at the Guinness open gate brewery if your meaty snack needs a boozy buddy. Vegetarians might want to sit this one out.
• The Big Feastival
Ready, set, feast! This family fun festival, is set on a farm in the Cotswolds – the cutest corner of the country. It’s one that’s got it all – harness your inner Tarzan and try some tree climbing or teepee making, work your Mary Berry magic at a cooking class, browse from stall to stall of sizzling street food or get your gig on at the big music festival – headliners last year included Olly Murs, Congo Natty and Madness!
Try to curb your enthusiasm until the 23rd to 25th of August 2019, then head to Alex James’ farm in the Cotswolds.
• The Leeds Food and Drink Festival & North Leeds Food Festival
The list wouldn’t be complete without showcasing Leeds’ foodie offerings, with not one but two funky festivals. The Leeds food and drink festival is now in its 9th year is totally free and bought together by Leeds City Council, The Yorkshire Evening Post and Heart Yorkshire to show the best of local produce and street food.
The North Leeds Festival, ‘a celebration of international influence and local talent expressed through international food, independent drink, music and arts’ promises a lot of marvellous munching for just £7 for the whole weekend.
The Leeds food and drink festival is in the heart of Leeds in millennium square from the 28th until the 30th June 2019 while the North Leeds food festival fills Roundhay park with delicious delicacies from the 22nd to 23rd June 2019.
• The Big Cheese Festival
More cheese? Yes please! Some of the finest artisan cheese in the UK can be found at this free weekend festival in Caerphily Castle, the second largest castle in Britain. The Big Cheese Festival brings together local Welsh produce, spanning across three huge food halls. You can sample as many cheeses as your heart desires – from mozzarella sticks to raclette to the humble halloumi fry, this is a dairy-lovers dream.
Combine your love of cheese and castles from the 26th to the 28th July 2019.
• London Coffee Festival
All this fabulous food needs washing down and what better way to do so than at the hottest date in a coffee connoisseur’s diary. Over 250 stalls showcasing the best caffeine in a cup teamed with demonstrations from talented baristas. However you like your coffee; strong and steamy, classic and chilled or in a mighty martini, there is something for you.
Head to the old Truman brewery in edgy East London from the 2nd to the 5th April 2020. Good things are worth the wait.