Tickets available now from The Honeypot Guest House and Tearoom
Dancin’ shoes or tackety boots? All heading to the Foot Stompin’ Fife Supper
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A glimpse of Crail Gallery
If you’ve seen our posters and leaflets, you’ll already be familiar with the eye-catching designs and colours of Susie Lacome’s work. She and David Sim run the Crail Gallery right in the centre of Crail’s High Street.
On a recent visit to the Gallery, we spied some more of Susie’s lovely designs, perfect for the foodies amongst you to remind you of your visit here.
We’re also excited about a new collaboration currently being planned between the Crail Gallery and one of our local food businesses – come along to the Festival to find out more!
Crail Food Festival 2012 Programme and News
Our Event Manager, Graham Anderson, was so excited to report back from the Byre Theatre St Andrews Food Fair, which he and the Crail Food Festival 2012 team attended yesterday. It was a busy day, with lots of mentions for our event, the accommodation network in Crail, and some new followers of our Facebook page for Crail Food Festival. It saw the launch of our 2012 programme, so we’ll be getting copies out around Fife soon.
If you can help to distribute the 2012 Crail Food Festival programme, call in to see Graham at the Honeypot in Crail and let him know. We do, of course rely on volunteer help to run our event, and there are plenty of ways to get involved.
One person who’s risen to the request to get involved is Phil Cook, whose blog Philly’s Food World, we found when searching out people who were writing about the best of Food in Fife. He’s been to see the fine chefs at Ostler’s Close in Cupar to find out about how they’re making use of local ingredients, and foraging to increase the range of wild ingredients on their menus.
And he’s also been thinking carefully about how he can use other locally sourced ingredients to create a dish which shows the quality of the food available here. Take a look at the recipe for Roast Pigeon on a Potato and Carrot Risotto with Asparagus and Wild Mushrooms which Phil’s devised.
Roast Pigeon Breast - photo from Phil Cook's Blog
We’ve also been hearing news of more collaborations from local businesses in Crail with food producers from around Fife, so keep visiting to find out more, and if you’re enjoying reading about our preparations remember to send us a Tweet; share our posts on Facebook; or leave us a comment right here on the website. We’re a community event, and the more sharing, the better the event will be.
St Andrews Food Fair
This weekend at the Byre Theatre in St Andrews, the St Andrews Food Fair is being held at which you can meet producers of fine food from Fife, and hear our Crail Food Festival Event Manager, Graham Anderson, give full details of our Festival Programme.
So if you want to hear about Bread in Fife, Pastry Making, The Whole Hog and The Scottish Country Kitchen as well as having the opportunity to try and buy delicious local produce, then head to the Byre Theatre on Saturday 12 May 2012 between 10 am and 5 pm. Entry is free, and Graham Anderson will have his ’15 minutes of fame’ between 3:45 and 4 pm.
Find out more here.
Byre Theatre 12 May 2012
Crail Collaborations
Those of you lucky enough to have tasted St Andrews Brewing Company‘s ales at the Crail Food Festival launch night, will be delighted to know that they have come up with a recipe for a limited edition Real Ale to celebrate this year’s Crail Food Festival, 15th-17th June.
300 bottles of the special ale, aptly named ‘Crail Ale’, will be produced as part of the
second annual festival which celebrates Fife local produce over 3 days with a lively
seaside market, food demonstrations from professional chefs, taster sessions and top notch evening entertainment.
St Andrews Brewing Company at Crail Food Festival Launch night
When the Crail Food Festival was looking for ways of creating new collaborations between local businesses in the village and food and drink producers, one of the first businesses to get involved was Crail Pottery. The Festival organisers were looking for creative ways for food and drink businesses to engage with businesses in Crail to extend the fun and events at the Festival. The collaboration this year will see tankards made by Crail Pottery being used for tasting the limited edition Crail Ale.
The summer golden ale will be ‘full of citrus and floral flavours’, and how better to enjoy it than coming along to visit the Crail Pottery in Crail.
Mugs produced at Crail Pottery
Full details of programme and events will be released at the Byre Theatre St Andrews Food Fair on 12 May 2012.
If you’re a local business who’d like to get involved in hosting an event for Crail Food Festival, then contact us soon – all welcome.
Cochrane Cottage returns for a second year
Another advocate of local produce and healthy homemade offerings, Cochrane Cottage, showcased their range of Fat Free Drizzles and Sweet Balsamic Dressings at the Crail Food Festival last year. The crowd loved them, so they’re back for a second year to tantalise the taste buds of foodies across the country. I caught up with Kevin to ask him a few questions about this year’s event.
Did you enjoy being a part of the first ever Crail Food Festival?
Absolutely, it was definitely an enjoyable weekend.
Did you benefit from being a participant?
Oh yes! Our range of Fat Free Drizzles and Sweet Balsamic Dressings went down a treat on both days.
Why do you think the festival was so successful?
Crail is a lovely village, and the stunning views from the working harbour are a real treat. The visitors to the event were also friendly. The biggest factor, however, which made the day a real success, was the effort that had gone into organising the event itself – a big thank you to all involved.
Do you think people are becoming more aware of the array of great produce available on their doorstep?
I would say so. Our customers are certainly becoming more familiar with the range of products made locally in Scotland, and are keen to support us. We producers need to make sure we acknowledge this support by offering the highest quality products. Scotland has such fantastic selection of produce, which puts us in a position to offer a variety of fresh, seasonal food, with something to suit everyone.
What advice would you give to a producer thinking of participating in the festival?
We are all in this together, and we must be willing to lend a hand. If you see someone else needs help, don’t delay in offering. It’s all in the name of great, local produce, which helps to make a great, local event.
Ardross Farm aims to please yet again
Supporters of the event last year, Ardross Farm Shop are back for a second year. Showcasing some of the best produce Fife has to offer, I caught up with Nikki from the Farm, who shared her thoughts on last year’s Crail Food Festival, while keeping us guessing about what would be on offer this year.
Why do you think the first ever Crail Food Festival was such a success?
I can think of two reasons; the people who organised it and the current buzz around local produce. A fantastic team of hard working enthusiasts really engaged with the community. Additionally, local food in the past few years has really taken off. People are now genuinely interested in buying local ingredients to cook with at home. The combination of a hard working team and a topic that people feel passionately about made the festival a success.
Why do you want to participate again this year?
We had a great day last year. We spoke to customers who visit us regularly and met lots of people who had never shopped with us before. As a result, our shop became busier than normal, as many new customers drove from the festival to visit us on their way home. The reason we started the shop was due to our frustration with the food chain; why did our carrots get taken down to the south of England to be cleaned, just to be driven back up to our local Co-op? The Crail Food Festival connects producers with the end customer resulting in minimal food miles, while delivering a better quality product to the customer.
What can we expect from Ardross Farm at the event this time round?
We haven’t quite decided yet, but rest assured it will be fresh, local and chosen especially for food lovers!
Did you benefit from being a participant in the festival last year?
Yes, we attracted new customers and new suppliers. Educating people about what is going on in our area regarding food is also fundamental to our business – the people who visited last year were genuinely interested in us and what we are doing.
Do you think the festival has been successful in raising awareness of Fife produce?
I would definitely say so. It was lovely to see people coming into our shop after the event specifically looking for certain products that they had sampled at the festival
Posted by Chiara from Wine and Olives.
