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We’re only a day away from Forest Showcase 2019! Coming up tomorrow and trying to stick to a vegan or coeliac diet, or just wanting to try different options? Here’s a selection of our producers that may be able to help you out…

            Lottie’s Vegan Bakery, as the name suggests, are a local bakery dedicated to offering vegan options. From shortbreads and rocky road to muffins and cheesecakes, they’ll make sure no vegan has to miss out on picking up some delicious homemade treats this weekend.

            This year we’re lucky enough to have two specialist bakeries! Hinton’s Bakehouse offer both vegan and gluten free options, focussing more on the savoury with their (vegan) pies and sausage rolls, alongside the usual cakes and traybakes. 

            Mycocoa know that being without dairy usually means having to walk past all the amazing chocolate stands, so they’ve created an exciting new vegan chocolate range. 

            Pine Nut Path are promising to ‘surprise your palates’ with their assortment of creation fine foods. Their vegan options include sugarless jams and specialist cooking ingredients. 

            Rain or shine, Kelsmor are always at the festival with their ice creams and freshly made milkshakes. You don’t have to miss out if you’re avoiding dairy though, as they’re bringing their non-dairy fruit ices and sorbets as an alternative.

            For lunch, a few of our street food providers are also catering for free-from diets. Mad Mamma’s Mexican Meals serve chillis and wraps, and always have a vegetarian option. But most importantly, they’re bringing vegan cheese and chipotle mayonnaise for the non-dairy among you, alongside gluten-free tortillas.

            For another lunch option, Parson’s Nose are a good option. They’re known for their sausages – sorry vegetarians and vegans – and for the coeliacs, they’re bringing their gluten free version. 

            If your fancying a sweet treat (or the kids are), then you can find Churros Ole outside. They’re vegetarian if served with the chocolate dip, but vegan if you go for the cinnamon option. 

            To take home for your dinner, Plenty Pies have an award-winning assortment of pies – with some unusual combinations! Among their flavours are some vegetarian and vegan options, so worth checking out to prepare for your meals in the week ahead. 

            To drink, you can’t always guarantee alcoholic beverages to be vegan and gluten free. If that’s what you’re looking for then find VQ in the food-hall, who promise their wines to be ok for everyone. 

These are only a selection of the free-from options we have available, so if what you’re looking for isn’t listed then just ask.

We hope you all have a fun and food-filled day in the Forest!

From the nutritional and healthy, to the indulgent naughty but nice, The Forest of Dean comes alive on Sunday 6th October with its Annual Food Festival held in the grounds of The Speech House Hotel.

The Forest Showcase is an event with a lot more going on than most food festivals…featuring the best fresh regional produce from over 100 top local & artisan producers, from gourmet burgers and handmade scotch eggs, to award winning preserves & chutneys, fine cheeses, farmhouse ciders and speciality wines, ales & plenty of flavoured gins!. It’s a great opportunity to get a real taste of the best of the area.

This year we will be offering free family foraging sessions brought to you by The Rewild Project. You can join local foragers as they take you on a family foraging walk through the beautiful Speech House woods. As you walk, you and your children will learn how to identify and gather a range of wild foods including spices, seeds, nuts, berries fruit and more, turning what grows in your garden and in the wild into store cupboard ingredients. With expert guidance, you’ll learn how to preserve all these finds to make your winter diet packed full of delicious flavours, there will also be some wild cooking on rocket stoves and washing drums.

The cookery theatre will bring you a variety of cookery demonstrations from some of the areas top chefs including meat based, vegetarian and plant based diets, designed to get you cooking with hints, tips and secrets from the experts. Gareth Jenkins, head chef at The Speech House Hotel will be preparing a dish using a pigs heart from Plump Hill Farm and Wye Valley gin. Yvette Farrell, owner of the Forest of Dean’s premier award winning cookery school will be showcasing some Free From recipes and Dan Blewitt from Esse Stoves will be making Butternut squash & chickpea curry with fragrant rice, garlic & coriander flatbreads.!

Our new talks & tastings area will bring you classic gin cocktails from Duncan Fox, owner of Haven Distillery,  Matt Newell from Wye Valley Meadery, a classic cheese board from Debbie Jones owner of The Forest Deli and Kerry Voke talking teas from Leaf & Petal. 

Also returning this year will be our very popular Parent & Child cookery classes with healthy eating advisor & cookery teacher Glyn Owen from ‘Kids & Food’. This year we will be making Bean burgers flavoured with sage, rosemary and spring onion. Places are limited & you can book your place on these classes & the forage on the Forest Showcase website.
After you’ve done your foodie shopping, you can sit and listen to some great live music whilst  enjoying tasty hot food from some of our top street food vendors & a refreshing drink (or two), we have some great gins, prosecco, beers, wines & ciders to try!. 

The event will feature children’s activities with entertainment throughout the day from Jitterbug Circus, we have a Mad Science show with a lab bursting with foodie inspired chemical concoctions. There are also plenty of free food related arts workshops. With a selection of arts & crafts on display along with green ideas on composting, an animal or two!, a vintage cider press crushing apples, tips on vegetable growing & keeping bees this really is an event worth visiting, so come with empty tummies & we promise you will be full to bursting when you leave.  

The Forest Showcase will be held in the Speech House Hotel grounds, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire,on Sunday 6th October from 10am, tickets can be purchased in advance to avoid the queues from the website www.forestshowcase.org

The Forest Showcase Food Festival is expanding to offer a new & exciting festival family forage for those foodies that would like to discover the bounty of nature’s best ingredients available right on the doorstep.

Visitors to the event will be able to join local forager Liz Knight as she takes on a series of free family foraging walks through the beautiful Speech House woods. Each walk will last for 45 minutes & at the end of the day our fabulous chefs in the cookery theatre will use the ingredients gathered to make some very tasty dishes.

Join Liz & as you walk, you and your children will learn how to identify and gather a range of wild foods including spices, seeds, nuts, berries fruit and more, turning what grows in your garden and in the wild into store cupboard ingredients. With Liz’s expert guidance, you will learn how to preserve all these finds to make your winter diet packed full of delicious flavours.

Liz Knight runs Forage Fine Foods from her kitchen in rural Herefordshire she is a forager who teaches wild cookery courses, writes and makes a range of wild/botanical flavourings.

The Forest Showcase will be held in the grounds fo The Speech House Hotel, Forest of Dean on Sunday 7th October 2018, further details & tickets are available form http://www.forestshowcase.org

From the nutritional and healthy, to the indulgent naughty but nice, The Forest of Dean comes alive on 1st October with its Annual Food Festival.

The Forest Showcase is an event with a lot more going on than most food festivals…featuring the best fresh regional produce from over 100 top local & artisan producers, from gourmet burgers and handmade scotch eggs, to award winning preserves & chutneys, fine cheeses, farmhouse ciders and speciality wines, ales & plenty of flavoured gins!.

It’s a great opportunity to get a real taste of the best of the area.

Ian Barnes from Infamous catering will be exploring some Creepy Crawly Cookery in our Cookery Theatre this year! Edible insects, a crispy crunchy ingredient….come & taste & discover why this is becoming an important sustainable food source.
There will also be cookery demonstrations from the regions top chefs including Rob Cox, head chef from The Tudor Farmhouse Hotel, Yvette Farrell, owner & principal of Harts Barn Cookery School, and Stuart Spicer from The Speech House Hotel. The cookery theatre is sponsored by Hales of Drybrook, Esse stoves and Gloucestershire College.

Returning this year will be our very popular free Parent & Child cookery classes with healthy eating advisor & cookery teacher Glyn Owen from ‘Kids & Food’.
This year he will be teaching how to make a middle-eastern inspired mezze of salads with 2 or 3 different salads using seasonal ingredients , and how to make a beetroot leaf pesto, labenah cheese and flat breads  all using simple cooking skills which can then be replicated at home and can involve the children as much as possible.
The families would then take home all the salads, some pesto, some labenah and some flatbreads. You can book your place on these classes on the Forest Showcase website.

After you’ve done your foodie shopping, you can sit out enjoying tasty hot food & a refreshing drink (or two), with great live music including The Paris Jazz Café Swing Band bringing you acoustic music from the Parisian café era and the French jazz of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, with a taste of classics from the roaring 20’s and swinging 30’s and 40’s to the finest Hot Club Jazz. We also have music from Microjazz & The Ukes Uv Azzard will be performing.

The event will feature children’s activities with entertainment throughout the day from Jitterbug Circus. There are also plenty of free food related arts workshops. With a selection of arts & crafts on display along with green ideas on composting, an animal or two!, a vintage cider press crushing apples, tips on vegetable growing & keeping bees this really is an event worth visiting, so come with empty tummies & we promise you will be full to bursting when you leave.

The Forest Showcase will be held in the Speech House Hotel grounds, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire,on Sunday 1st October from 10am, tickets can be purchased in advance to avoid the queues from the website http://www.forestshowcase.org

We will be hosting a new festival this year,  it will be held at Beechenhurst Lodge on Sunday 26th November & will be The Forest Xmas Showcase, full of lots of local produce as well as Xmas ideas & recipes, cookery demo’s,  arts & crafts & live music. …more details soon.

 

We’re excited to say that The Forest Showcase Food & Drink Festival has been chosen as one of the top Food Festivals in a recent blog article 15 Delicious Food Festivals That Will Give You Serious Lunch-Envy .

The blog article from Holidaylettings.co.uk – UK’s leading holiday rentals website and a TripAdvisor company.

You can find the full article here:

https://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/blog/15-delicious-food-festivals/

From tossing turnips to vegetable creatures and chickens, the Forest Showcase Food & Drink festival is an event with a lot more going on than most food & drink festivals. The recipe for the day? ……..well take over 80 top local and artisan producers, a big serving of stunning hot food, add a dash of real ale and wine, interesting talks, parent & child cookery sessions and lots of children’s activities, top chef demos, stir in a few competition, the launch of the new Wye Valley and Forest of Dean sweet with lashings of excellent live music, and arts & crafts. Mix all this together to make a lovely foodie family day out.
The festival will be held in the Speech House Hotel grounds, in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire,on Sunday 2nd October from 10am and will be opened by TV chef , baker, author & cookery school owner, Peter Sidwell.
Peter has been a chef for 20 years, cooking his way around the continent, the bright lights of the big city were tempting for a while, but having furthered his training on the London restaurant scene, he decided that he’d like to get back to his roots to work on a passion of his; baking. Peter will be demonstrating in the cookery theatre along with other local top chefs including Rob Cox, head chef from The Tudor Farmhouse Hotel & Yvette Farrell, owner & principal of Harts Barn Cookery School.
The cookery theatre which is provided by Hales of Drybrook & Esse stoves will also be the place to be if you want to see the final of the ‘Battle of the Boar’ fun cookery competition where finalists will the battling it out to find a healthy boar dish with a taste of the Forest!

The Festival has attracted producers showcasing the best in local, seasonal and speciality food and drink. It’s a great opportunity to get a real taste of the best of the area. With tasty treats ranging from handmade scotch eggs, freshly baked artisan breads, locally brewed beers, award winning preserves, farmhouse ciders, cheeses, homemade cakes and much more.

Returning this year will be our very popular free Parent & Child cookery classes with healthy eating advisor & cookery teacher Glyn Owen from ‘Kids & Food’, this year he will be teachig how to make a ham and cheese calzone (just cheese for the vegetarians) with a carro, lemon and poppy seed salad, all using simple cooking skills which can then be replicated at home and can involve the children as much as possible.

After you’ve done your foodie shopping, sit out enjoying tasty hot food, a refreshing drink (or two), with great live music including Lydbrook training band & The Paris Jazz Café Swing Band bringing you acoustic music from the Parisian café era and the French jazz of Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, with a taste of classics from the roaring 20’s and swinging 30’s and 40’s to the finest Hot Club Jazz.

The event will feature children’s activities with entertainment throughout the day, there are also plenty of free food related arts workshops and a cookery book swap. With a selection of arts & crafts on display along with green ideas on composting, a vintage cider press crushing apples, tips on vegetable growing & keeping bees this really is an event worth visiting, so come with empty tummies & we promise you will be full to bursting when you leave.

Bought a cookery book and finished with it?
Don’t know what to do with it?
If you’ve Read It, Swap It!

This year we will be holding a cookery book swap to recycle all of  those unused & forgotten cookery books.

Just  bring them along to the festival swap zone & donate them, see if there is anything there that you would like instead?

 

 

We are very pleased to announce that Peter Sidwell will be joining us at this year’s Forest Showcase.

Peter Sidwell has been a chef all his working life, he has developed over the years a simple, fresh and inovative way of cooking that focuses on the importance of ingredients and making sure it is cooked the right way to make sure it is at its best.

Peter is a popular speaker for live events and regularly hosts demonstrations at events such as BBC Good Food Show, Ideal Home Show, and The Cake and Bake Show.
Peter’s first TV series, Lakes on a Plate, was shown on Channel 4, and more recently he has appeared as co-judge and presenter alongside Mich Turner in Britain’s Best Bakery, on ITV1. . It was among ITV’s top 5 best performing daytime shows and nominated for a ‘Best Daytime’ National TV Award.

Pete has travelled the world cooking, talking and demonstating his approach and we look forward to seeing him in the Cookery theatre at the Forest Showcase on Sunday 2nd October 2016.

http://www.simplygoodtaste.co.uk/peter-sidwell