26/09/11…Festival patron ‘proud to have been involved’

AN estimated 12,000 people visited Thame on Saturday to experience the town’s very own brand of hospitality and vitality, in the form of its fourth food festival.

The cliche ‘something for everyone’ was never more true than for the variety available of locally grown food, drink, spices, oils, cakes, bread, biscuits, olives, cheeses, cookware, Japanese food, meats and teas, to name just a few.

Demonstrations included using herbs and spices, with sponsor, McCormick Foods, Country Delights with TV cook and Chinnor deli and cafe owner, Lotte Duncan as well as Wedding canapes, Italian cooking with Giancarlo and Katie Caldesi, chocolate making and a cook-off between Le manoir aux Quat’Saisons and Aylesbury College.

Henrietta Lovell, otherwise know as The Rare Tea Lady, gave an entertaining and facinating talk at The Spread Eagle on the providence and philosophy behind her very special teas, and her campaign to ‘de-bag’ Britain and persuade us to use higher grade and better value lose tea again as we did in the past.

For younger family members, The Cottage Bakery ran childrens’ workshop all afternoon teaching them how to work with dough to produce an amazing variety of tortoise shaped loaves to take home, and The Good Biscuit Company was kept busy all day with youngsters wanting to join in with biscuit decorating.

The competition for the best Thame Tart, new for this year, drew lots of entries and was won by Shirley Edwards who lives in Thame. The judge was the inimitable Food Festival Patron, Lotte Duncan. She told ThameNews.Net: “What an absolutely fab day! Thame Food Festival this year was bigger and better than ever. The streets were thronged with food lovers from both the local area and afar and it makes me so proud to have been a part of it.

“Such a wonderful event! I’m already looking forward to next year with immense anticipation.”

Local Deli owner, Sally Dickinson of What’s Cooking in Cornmarket, Thame, has taken part in all four Thame Food Festivals. She said: ” ?What a staggering food and drink success and a proud moment for Thame?s businesses and the wealth of wonderful producers from the region!?

PHOTO: Local people took their own apples along to the food festival to be pressed into juice by the Haddenham In Transition’s group’s apple press