Food festivals - what are your opinions?
Posted by Lou_LouB@reddit | AskABrit | View on Reddit | 19 comments
I've been to a fair few food festivals in my time and I don't think I would bother again.
Everything is so expensive, and my biggest issue is that if I'm at a food festival I want to try ALL the foods. But when all the stalls are selling massive portions for high prices, I can't afford to buy much and also I run out of space in my stomach pretty quickly. I'd much prefer. To have sample sizes of the different foods os that I can sample food from more than one business. Does anyone else feel the same way?
I get that ingredients are expensive, I understand that the owners of the business and staff need paying, and if it was just a random lunch I'd happily pay. But the overwhelming selection of foods to choose from almost makes me panic, I worry that I'll make the wrong decision and end up eating something disappointing and then the festival (which often cost me money to enter) would have been a waste of time.
I dislike that in some festivals you need to prebook or pay extra to listen to the talks. I do like the stalls selling things like cheese and artisan donuts etc and often come away with something from these stalls.
What have been your experiences with food festivals lately?
Paulstan67@reddit
The exhibitors are there to make a profit and generally promote their products.
The cheesemonger that visits my town every 2 weeks loves doing food festivals.
He can take 10 times a normal day's trade in just a few hours. I don't blame him for wanting to go to more.
I personally am like you, I won't go anymore , they are expensive to get in, food is generally good quality but at a disproportionate price, and don't get me on the crowds either.
DinkyPrincess@reddit
The Southampton one was pretty good.
Lots of different food stalls. Lots of other goodie finds like hot sauces, cakes and honey.
Music by all accounts was pretty good.
bloomsburysquare@reddit
The Kent Food and Music Festival is particularly bad for not being a food festival of any kind: it's just an expensive field with some stalls selling regular food. Some organisers have cottoned on to the fact that the words "food festival" make something sound posh, which means you can charge more for entry into a field.
_Cridders_@reddit
Yeah I'm kind of on the fence. I went to one called Meatopia last year, in Tobacco Dock in London. It was really good, the dishes were all the same price, so the vendors were trying to make the best dish for that price, and everything was delicious, a real selection of stuff too.
BUT I spent maybe £200 all told. I did eat a lot and was there most of the day, but it was maybe £30/35 odd to get in, then your 'meat bucks' (food tokens) were £7 I think. Then a pint must have been about £7/8.
gowcog@reddit
having just returned from a trip to Norway and Denmark, I paid more for a coffee and cake in Devon than either of those expensive countries.
Miss-Hell@reddit
I want to organise a food festival over here that is like “the taste of xxx” and there are a number of stalls, they make a few dishes, everyone gets x amount of tokens and you just go grab a dish in exchange for a token. Quick, you mix and match from different places. You get to have a taste from a range of things.
Lou_LouB@reddit (OP)
That sounds like an amazing idea. 😍
Evolutionary_u-turn@reddit
I have to agree with much of this in regard to big portions, big costs and big queues.
We have one every year, on the main street in town and it's advertised as showcasing a variety of cuisines and styles.
What actually happens is the fairly well established vendors who do the foody circuits rock up and set to, selling as much as possible as fast as possible. Because it's an affluent area, all the money toting snobs way to show how very avant-guard they are by buying as much as possible.
"Look Geremy, I'm eating something artisanal!!"
The result is no room for samples or trying new things as every stand has huge queues.
The stage that should be for interest has been reduced to a few local bands to be ignored on and the obligatory chilli eating contest.
The real winners are the local pubs who quite literally cannot sell beer fast enough to keep up with demand.
Fluffy-Inside-4191@reddit
There's no such thing as a food festival. It's a line of overpriced food from robbing vendors selling average burgers.
Alicam123@reddit
festival food has always been expensive, mainly because no other place does this type of fresh food and because there is probably no where else near that you can quickly grab something to eat or it’s really late at night 🤷🏻♀️
that’s just the way it is
BocaSeniorsWsM@reddit
It's supporting independents and artisanal. You pay over the odds. I can live with that because of the upside.
Lou_LouB@reddit (OP)
I would spend so much more money if I could buy smaller portions of their food though. (im talking about food trucks rather than produce sellers, if that makes sense.)
sleepy-popcorn@reddit
I completely agree with this. Give me a third of the portion for a third of the price and I will happily queue three times at three stands. Then I’d leave feeling satisfied that I got to try a few things. Also with all the queueing time, I’d probably have room for a fourth!
ukrepman@reddit
I like them mainly because they tend to be small business people, rather than corporations for a change. I went to one in Sheffield last year and they had a tonne of free samples, especially all the cheeses. I loved it
Lou_LouB@reddit (OP)
Yes, I like this too, and samples are good 😊
Estrellathestarfish@reddit
I went to Taste Of London last year and really enjoyed it, going again this year. The portions were a size where you'd easily have 3 dishes and I didn't buy a drink because I had so many samples. There was a wine stand that was particularly generous and wasn't even on the hard sell, just showcasing wine from bordeaux. It cost £25 and I definitely drank £25 worth of free booze. It was really busy but the queues moved pretty quickly.
Have been to others that weren't great though - the one in Syon Park was underwhelming but that was some years ago
Milotiiic@reddit
I live about 15-20 minutes from Ludlow and it was usual to go every time it was on - They always did a pretty good food festival with loads of great stalls that weren’t too expensive but it was all worth it as it was proper home made. The beers and ciders were always great as well. Been a few years since I’ve been but I always had a fun time.
Toc13s@reddit
Pretty similar.
They're not showcasing the food, as I'd expect. Just selling meals.
Very few interesting people to talk to about their food
Same stuff available wherever you go. Very little to differentiate between festivals
qualityvote2@reddit
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