Viva Brighton April 2015 Issue #26

trade secrets
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Sue Hitchen
Foodies Festival founder
It all started in Edinburgh ten years ago. The
whole city lights up throughout the festival in August
and I wanted to add a vibrant food and drink
event to the line up. We had such a great response
from participants and visitors that I knew it could
be a success in other festival cities.
Brighton was a natural next step. So we set
up on Hove Lawns. This will be our sixth year.
Brighton is such a fun festival; it’s the start of our
year and our biggest event in terms of capacity.
Then we’ll go to Birmingham, Richmond, Bristol,
Alexandra Palace, Clapham Common, Tatton Park,
Edinburgh, Harrogate and Oxford throughout the
summer, with three further festivals in the winter.
It’s a busy year and we’re a small core team, but we
rely on local experts to manage each venue.
The highlights of the Brighton Foodies Festival
this year will be the local chefs. They are what
make it really special. This year we’re delighted to
welcome Andrew Mckenzie from Drakes of Brighton
and Dave Mothersill from The Coal Shed.
We’ve also got John Whaite (winner of the GBBO)
and Ping Coombes (winner of Master Chef). We’re
adding a tasting theatre this year, which will offer
visitors the chance to try new flavours and the
expertise required to experience them. There’ll be
oyster shucking, mushroom foraging, herb cocktails
and raw food. Brighton won the national chilli
eating competition last year and was the only city
we visited to reach fourteen levels of chilli. We’re
also introducing a BBQ competition.
Food trends have changed over the years since
the festival began. There’s a much bigger focus on
street food now with more and more entrepreneurial
cooks offering authentic cuisine from all over
the world. Many of them have a really interesting
back-story, sharing recipes and traditions learned
from parents and grandparents. We’ve always
championed them, encouraging them to come with
us and share their flavours around the country,
making the Street Food Avenue one of the most
interesting parts of the festival. We’ve also noticed
a growing trend towards raw and vegan diets. People
are increasingly health conscious and careful
about what they eat and are willing to rethink their
eating habits entirely.
Brighton rightly deserved its recent billing
as the ‘best city for restaurants and bars’ in
the UK. It’s been impressive to watch how the
restaurant and food movements have advanced
over the six years since we’ve been visiting with
the festival. Another wonderful, if unexpected,
foodie destination is Birmingham. There are some
amazing things going on there with street food
and experimental chefs and so we’ll be running a
festival there for the first time this year.
My favourite place to eat in Brighton is the
Chilli Pickle. It has absolutely amazing food and a
really relaxed vibe. I’ve eaten some of the best fish
I’ve ever tasted there. Lizzie Lower
www.foodiesfestival.com
Hove Lawns 2-4 May
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