Foodies Festival London

The sun kindly appeared just before the start of the Foodies Festival in Battersea Park this weekend. I went with my friend Kate on the Saturday and enjoyed it so much I returned with Sam on the Sunday.

Both days followed a similar pattern. We started off walking around the stalls tasting everything from mushroom and bacon sausage to banoffee pie.  It took us over an hour to cover the festival due to the number of stalls with enthusiastic owners who would stop and tell you about their products. We had great fun chatting away about our favourite foods and sampling different delicacies from across the global, not to mention the free shots of gin and caramel liquor!I was sad to see that on Saturday my favourite exhibitor The Little Round Cake Company were trading under their Merangz brand due to the scorching heat, which unfortunately meant  no cakes! Nonetheless, these looked absolutely divine, especially the pistachio which was topped with a fine sprinkle of nuts. The Little Round Cake Company sold fresh, homemade Eton mess which included their famous meringues.

When lunch arrived, Kate and I were too full from the samples to actually purchase food but we sat down in the sunshine with a glass of Pimms. Picnic blankets and deck chairs were placed in front of the stage which hosted a number of live acts. The music was incredibly good and we could have sat there for hours!On the Sunday, Sam went for his usual; a huge portion of Thai food, so big the server placed two forks in it as if we were sharing (that made me laugh!).  I walked around for what felt like an eternity trying to decide on what to have. It was a toss-up between ice cream and a cold savoury dish as it was just too hot for cake. This was unfortunate as on the Sunday, The Little Round Cake Company had a delivery of freshly baked tweeners and tarts.

Most of the exhibitors sold ice cream as opposed to gelato and those that did, had strange flavours such as bubble gum, which was served using a scoop. You know how fussy I am with gelato, and these factors meant that I did not see this as REAL gelato, good enough to try. In the end I went for a sweet potato, beetroot and ricotta savoury muffin from the Italian deli. The muffin was truly delicious, and so dense I had a shock when I first picked it up. The roasted veg inside was plentiful and made the bread form a gooey sticky mess. The consistency and rich flavouring meant it would be absolutely perfect if filled with blueberry or chocolate. I strongly suggest they try their hands at creating a sweet version of this fabulous treat!

The afternoon was spent sat in the sun, listening to music with a cold Thai beer called Chang. I’m not usually a beer drinker but Chang is light and refreshingly smooth and went down easily on the hot summer day. Regrettably, I didn’t purchase anything at the food festival because I didn’t go straight home afterwards which meant food would have been difficult to keep fresh in the heat. I certainly won’t moan about the heat though, it was a beautiful sunny day and my lack of cake just gives me another excuse to follow The Little Round Cake Company to another event across the country. The day ended with two scoops of REAL gelato from Oddono’s in Northcote Road, Clapham. Bliss!

Living life, loving cake,

H x