Malvern Autumn Show is a Real Feast!
2009-09-17

Advocates of healthy eating and honest cooking which uses simple, fresh products farmed, fished or reared locally, look set to enjoy a real feast at next week’s Malvern Autumn Show (26 & 27 September).

Food is a major ingredient in Malvern’s tried and tested recipe for success, and 2009 is no exception, with a mouth watering array of delicious cheeses and meats, ciders and local beers, homemade sweets, spices and honey, and a whole host of cookery ideas on the menu.

Even the Good Life Cookery Stage - designed by innovative garden designer, Claire Potter, and featuring a ‘flowing wine feature’ made from old demi-johns, foraging areas and a rear screen made from recycled industrial carpet tubes, planted up with delicious herbs - is a triumph in edible art!

Tuscan-born, Worcestershire chef, Felice Tocchini, who hit the national headlines first with his ‘Sprouty Cake’, aimed at enticing children to eat their greens, and more recently, with his record-breaking biscuit, the ‘Worcester Dunker’, will be at Malvern with Felice’s Kitchen over the weekend.

On Saturday 27, he will welcome kitchen guests Sue Braithwaite of Slow Food Worcestershire, and Peter Mitchell of the Three Counties Cider and Perry Association, on stage, to cook with perry. Later on in the day, he’ll join forces with BBC Gardeners’ World presenter, Joe Swift, for the Bramley Apple Cookery Challenge.

Felice will be back on stage again on Sunday with two more practical demonstrations, and is hoping to develop a Bramley apple version and possibly a perry version of the ‘Worcester Dunker’, which survived up to a minute in a hot drink before crumbling, smashing the current record of 25.5 seconds for a chocolate digestive!

The Festival of Food & Drink is always a favourite with show visitors who will be able to try and buy everything from artisan cheeses and smoked delicacies to exotic, award-winning fruit liqueurs, and The Festival of Perry is a chance to sample delicious, locally produced perries and ciders, and vote for the best in The People’s Choice Award.

Said Sharon Gilbert, Press & PR Manager for show organizer, the Three Counties Agricultural Society: “Re-connecting ourselves with the origins of our food is very much in vogue, and the Society is keen to support local and regional producers, especially the smaller, up-and-coming artisan businesses.

That commitment extends to our catering outlets too, and we are fast approaching an 80% British content measure in the static catering outlets. Our mobile units are using locally sourced ingredients wherever possible, too.

At this time of year, our thoughts turn to the Harvest, so the Malvern Autumn Show is the perfect platform for highlighting the health benefits of wholesome cooking and eating.”

Food is just one attraction at the Malvern Autumn Show, which includes an RHS Flower Show, a big Harvest Pavilion with giant vegetables, floral art displays, a menagerie of animals, countryside pursuits and pastimes, and vintage caravans and mowers.

The Malvern Autumn Show takes place at the Malvern Showground in Worcestershire on Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 September 2009. There’s plenty of free parking and discounts for children (under 5’s free), families and groups.

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