A huge food festival with nearly 200 traders selling food, drinks and delicious street food is returning to Wells. Wells Food Festival celebrates Somerset’s rich farming and artisan food and drink producers as an annual food event, with plenty of free food and activities for the whole family at Market Place this Sunday (October 8) between 10.30am and 4.30pm.
The free event draws 15,000 visitors to Somerset’s cathedral city, which spans the medieval Market Place, the Palace Green and Moat and the Recreation Ground of Wells. Its Artisan Market and Street Food will see 200 stalls situated in Market Place, on Palace Green, along the Palace Moat and into the Recreation Ground.
Using local ingredients, independent traders and businesses are providing an exciting trip around the world including the flavours of Guyana, Caribbean, Mediterranean, Middle East, South Africa, Tibet, Australia, Thailand, Mexico – as well as the very best of the South West.
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The food festival will host a ‘Food For Thought’ initiative will demonstrate what communities can achieve when they come together to tackle some of the challenges that face us through food poverty, food waste, high energy bills and family issues. Participating charities and organisations include Help for Homeless, Somerset Community Food, the Vineyard Foodbank, the Shepton Community Fridge, The Country Food Trust, Roots Connections and Wells City Council Allotments.
Festival director Jon Abbott said: “This will be the festival’s 11th year and I’m delighted that out of the 200 traders, we are expecting to join us, nearly all our regular stallholders are returning, including some who have been with us since the very beginning. We are also excited to welcome some really interesting newcomers, so visitors can expect to be surprised and delighted by the breadth of what’s on offer!’
Charlie Bigham’s is returning as the headline sponsor of the festival. “Like so many foodies, once again, I’m really looking forward to the 2023 Wells Food Festival,” Charlie said. “It’s a joy to meet the hardworking, passionate producers, and to sample such a wide variety of artisan food and drink.”
The festival will also host ‘Charlie Bigham’s Plate Spinning Championship’ and give plate spinning a whirl in this new competition. Explaining the rationale behind this fun feature area, Charlie says: “We recognise how busy life can be, there isn’t always time to make a delicious dinner. We want to seek out and celebrate all those people who know how to keep the plates spinning.
“This year, we will be introducing the first-ever, world plate spinning championship competition. The winner will receive dinner for two for a whole year on Charlie Bigham’s.”
A celebration of English Wine will be held on the Palace Green and visitors will be able to chat to individual vineyards about their wines and taste a glass or two with cheese and nibbles.
The award-winning cookery school Fun Kitchen also returns and aims to provide free cookery sessions for children throughout the day using seasonal ingredients to make traditional recipes with a twist. This year’s theme is Oodles of Noodles, creating a ‘posh pot noodle’ packed with vegetables to take home.
The 45-minute sessions start at 10.30am, 11.30am, 2.30pm and 3.30pm. They are free to attend but numbers are strictly limited,
A children’s zone next to the Bishop’s Barn will have some interactive fun with lots of kiddie-sized street food. The popular, interactive children’s trail will once again provide a fun way to see the festival, with a small prize for all correctly completed trail sheets.
You can get more information on Wells Food Festival’s website through this link.
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