Foodies Festival This Weekend

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Masterclasses, street food and all things food at Syon Park

MasterChef Winner Jane and Michelin Star Chefs, Street Food and Artisan Producers, and Baking and Champagne Masterclasses are all on the Menu for this Weekend’s Foodies Festival at Syon Park 28th – 30th May

• MasterChef winner Jane Devonshire and finalist Jack Layer, and Michelin-star chefs Atul Kochhar and Janos Veres cooking in the Chefs Theatre
• The best of London's street food in the Street Food Avenue
• More award-winning producers than ever before
• Champagne, wine and craft beer masterclasses
• Giant Pimm's Teapot and Mojito Ship
• New Bug-Eating competition and the famous Chilli-Eating Challenge
• Local bands competing to win the Unsigned Music Awards

Aga Rangemaster Chefs Theatre
This year's festival sees the capital's culinary elite in the Aga Rangemaster Chefs Theatre, showcasing their culinary skills, sharing insight into 2016’s food trends and answering questions from the audience. Chefs taking part include:

• 2016 MasterChef winner Jane Devonshire and finalist Jack Layer
• Atul Kochhar - Benares (Michelin starred)
• Janos Veres - The Hindshead (Michelin starred)
• Paul Shearing - Bread Street Kitchen
• Tony Rodd - MasterChef Finalist 2015
• Davide Degiovanni – Union St Café 
• Guy Betteridge – Heddon Street Kitchen
• Allan Pickett - Piquet
• Owen Sullivan & Gabriele Zanini - Maze Grill
• George Lyon - London House
• Will Stanyer - York & Albany
• Dhruv Baker - MasterChef Winner 2010
• Ben Waugh & Behzad Gotia - Maze Grill
• Rob Hunter - The Gun, Docklands
• Saiphin Moore - Rosa's Thai Cafe
• Adebola Adeshina - The Petersham Hotel
• Nigel Brown - Celebrity Chef

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 whisky 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 whisky and its history.

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.

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. 

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..

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. 

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.

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.

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.

Syon House is offering buy one get one free tickets into Syon House and Gardens for anyone that has a Foodies Festival ticket, right up until the end of the season – 30th October. 

Being the bank holiday weekend and half term holiday children go free into Syon House and Gardens.  That is 2 free children per full paying adult, not to be used in conjunction with any other offer or promotion

May 25, 2016