About the Abergavenny Food Festival
"Abergavenny is to Food as Cannes is to Film - an annual festival for spotting rising stars in Britain's artistan food firmament"
Observer Food Monthly
From its inception in 1999 the festival team has kept three core principles at the heart of everything:
- We aim to celebrate craft in food-making - be it on the farm, in the factory or in the kitchen.
- We aim to celebrate the diversity of foods and traditions, both here in Wales and those of other places.
- We aim to celebrate the conviviality and sociability that surrounds eating and drinking, whether with friends or strangers - and we aim to do it all in the most special and spectacular style that we can manage.
This year Abergavenny will be hosting its thirteenth Food Festival. Much has changed since the first festival was held on a wet Sunday in October. On that day about 30 local food and drink producers exhibited their wares in the Market Hall and, despite the weather, we were all surprised and delighted by the number of people who came out to taste and buy their products. Marguerite Patten and the Taruschios gave talks in the Market Hall and, in the evening, Martyn Lewis chaired a debate about GM Foods.
On the previous evening, the Hall witnessed an even more remarkable event. About 180 people sat down at trestle tables to enjoy a delicious dinner, punctuated by interludes of song and speech. Despite the manful efforts of the blow-heaters, many of us kept our coats on; but spirits were high. We were well fed, well entertained and were reliably informed afterwards that the last time a large group had sat down to eat together in the Market Hall was during the VE celebrations in 1945.
Over the years the Festival has grown. The date soon moved from October to September, in search of better weather. The scale of the Festival has increased, taking in new venues around the town, as has the scope of the activities on offer. And we now have other events taking place across the year.
However, as the Festival has grown - and continues to grow - we are determined to hang on to the basic principles around which it started. To help us do this, we have been privileged over the years to enjoy the company of some of the most skilled, passionate, knowledgeable and articulate food-lovers in the country; the commitment of Abergavenny's own burgeoning food community; the support of a large and growing bunch of artisan food makers from Wales, the Marches and further afield - and, of course, the enthusiasm or our many visitors who love to eat, shop, prepare and discuss food. It's a heady brew and we hope it will remain so.
Martin Orbach
Programming Director
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