It’s been tough on the York Food Festival this week, the stall holders had to withstand two shocking days of rain on Monday and Tuesday and as the river levels rose, York topped the news with dire warnings of flooding.
While the Ouse, looks dramatically full, quite thrilling in fact, the streets are unaffected and the stall holders and chefs demonstrating, need you down there to support them. We were there yesterday, trust us, it takes more than a drop of rain to stop Squidbeak tracking down good food.
We had a brilliant shopping day at the Parliament Street market and came home laden with some fabulous food. Truffle infused cheese from Tuscan specialist Etruscany in Masham, a shopping bag of lamb reared in the Dales by students from Askham Bryan College, smoked salmon from Bleikers, a beautiful sour dough loaf from the much loved Haxby Baker, kippers from the kipper man. We sampled and bought a warming winter cordial of blackberry and liquorice from Country Cordials. Weighed down with our bags what better way to finish off than with a wheel of tapas from Ambiente which we ate in the Champagne tent with a glass of the Champagne Warehouse’s best fizz.
This afternoon I’m off to watch the double act demo with chef Darren Iddon of Raithwaite Hall and fish man Matthew Asquith and at 3pm cheese tasting with Love Cheese on Gillygate.
The York Food Festival runs until Sunday, it’s the biggest and the best in Yorkshire, so get down there now. Support those small producers who’ve had a miserable couple of days. Forget the supermarket this week and shop local.