{FRONT} Food & Drink
Food&Drink
Foodies for Luvvies As the Foodies Festival prepares to set its stall, Donald Reid takes a bite out of what you can expect this year
F or many years, the missing Edinburgh food festival was a void waiting to be filled. After all, it was festival season in August and lots of food was being eaten. And, of course, everywhere else in the country was running food festivals. Five years ago, Foodies was one of a number of responses, but it has endured and matured, with a three-day event dedicated to food and drink taking place in Holyrood Park from 12 to 14 August. In fact, the Foodies Festival brand has now gone national, with seven festivals this year around the UK attracting 140,000 people in total.
In many ways the format is familiar enough, with produce stalls, cooking demos and drinks promotions. At their Restaurant Village, newcomer The Salisbury Arms and Italian Hitlister Locanda di Gusti are prominent. According to event organiser Roben Hera, Foodies is a little bit different because it puts an emphasis on participating in masterclasses and tasting sessions, all included in the ticket price.
SIDE DISHES NEWS TO NIBBLE ON
A HIDDEN haven in the Old Town, Divino Enoteca at 5 Merchant Street (off Candlemaker Row) is celebrating its first birthday with a full programme of free live music throughout August, accompanied by good food and wine to midnight.
MORE ITALIAN culture to be found, of course, at Valvona &
Crolla on Elm Row. The headline show there this year is Italia ‘n’ Caledonia, a new show telling the history of Italian emigrants to Scotland. DURING AUGUST, the new Whiski Rooms on North Bank Street at the top of The Mound has daily tutored whisky tasting sessions at 5pm, including a tour of the regions.
Another draw is the atmosphere. ‘It’s very family friendly,’ says Hera, ‘and with the green field setting, people enjoy sitting on picnic blankets and really enjoying themselves for the whole day. The live entertainment stage with Fringe performers creates a fun festival vibe.’ ■ foodiesfestival.com
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L A V I T S E F Hilary mixing up a Heart Beet cocktail for our friends at Ronde, 66 Hamilton Place, Stockbridge, Edinburgh. Find out what nutritional qualities this combination of Beetroot juice, pressed apple juice, agave nectar, Hibiscus tea, fennel and apple crisps reveals at realfoods.co.uk or read Hilary’s blog at hilarybonnedonald.wordpress.com
UNIQUE HEALTHY COCKTAILS! Hilary Donald is an art student and Real Foods customer who has mixed some flavoursome and unique cocktails packed with energy and nutritional qualities.
idea of creating her own healthier mixes by really considering what goes into each recipe to create
the most nutritional punch. These cocktails are
not your usual run of the mill smoothies though, their delicious and delicate flavour combinations
really enliven the palate, as well as your mind
Fed up with nights out and unhealthy cocktails and body.
full of sugar, egg white and cream, Hilary had the Real Foods stocks all of Hilary’s fabulous
REAL FOODS | 37 Broughton Street | EH1 3JU & 8 Brougham Street | Tollcross | EH3 9JH | www.realfoods.co.uk 24 THE LIST 11–18 Aug 2011