It's more like a Farmers' Market than a posh Food Festival

Over the weekend we took a drive up to the hills. To the Hampton High Country Food & Arts Festival. Never been? Oh? Well you should!

You know there are those Food Festivals that are all about the large-scale commercial food brands and the 3 hatted chefs cooking for you and the fancy foodistas? Yeah, those ones that charge an arm and a leg and give you wee morsels of food on fancy plates accompanied by polished glasses of champagne... this isn't like that.

This Festival had me at the front gate. It's more like a Farmers' Market in the sense that great quality, organically grown food in it's raw awesomeness along with the local people (and I mean LOCAL, the majority being from around the Hampton region) that grow it, are being celebrated.





We grabbed a seat and hunkered down against the biting wind to watch a cooking demonstration by Poh Ling Yeow. She used local persimmons from the Perseverance Farming Co. and kale from Homegrown Health. Col Seccombe and Darrin Pateman were on hand to chat with her and us, about their produce, how they grow it and tips on how we could at home too.

Surrounding the event area were no less than 40 odd market stalls (both food and beverage - what would a food festival be without a wine tasting or three) where we could speak to each and every grower, sample their produce and purchase items to take home for cooking, growing or admiring ourselves.
We caught up with friends and family there and between us had a grocery collection of chilli chocolate, coconut ice, blueberry gourmet dessert sauce, verjuice, jerky, sourdough bread, cupcakes, relish, peanuts, dried pasta, persimmons, cider, ground coffee and Verdelho.


It was all a bit much for the littlest foodie on our crew.

Throughout the day we were lured by some of the most amazing smells past the various restaurant stalls where we pretty much ate ourselves silly. With both hands full of Turkish char-grilled chicken kebab, we settled down for a break on a hay bale, relaxing to the tunes coming from The Mill Stage.
Ok so we may have relaxed by the The Mill Stage a few times. There were plates of Filipino and Indian samplings, not to mention the vanilla bean icecream with blueberry sauce or the coffees and vino. But hey, we were at a food festival, as if we could say no.

Apparently it was the largest crowd they've had to date. Approx. 4500 people!



yummmmmmmm!



Double yum!
We had to get one of each (raspberry coulis and blueberry sauce) to try them both.

On the drive home a few more tastings occurred...


...I'm hungry.

These persimmons were delicious.
So much so that the once full bag only had 2 left by
the time we got home!