If you think it’s just wildlife that’s endangered, think again. Many of our foods are in danger of extinction too, and if we don’t eat them we may lose them. Food lovers are being offered a unique chance to taste many of these foods, and to meet their producers, at a special Endangered Foods Feast in a village hall near Bristol.
The four-course Feast in Long Ashton village hall on Friday 9th May, will be cooked by Richard Davies, Michelin-starred chef at The Manor House, Castle Combe, who last year was a winning contestant on BBC2’s Great British Menu.
The Feast is part of the Bristol Food Connections festival which takes place from 1 to 11 May, and will be recorded by BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme for a special programme on Britain’s endangered – or ‘forgotten’ – foods.
Attending the Feast will be the producers of some of these foods, many of which are in Slow Food’s UK Ark of Taste. Each will talk for a few minutes before the course containing their special ingredient, and explain why it should be preserved as part Britain’s edible biodiversity.
The precise menu is a closely guarded secret but we can reveal that the artisan producers who will be there will include Tom Calver, who crafts Caerphilly cheese at Westcombe Dairy in Somerset; Hampshire watercress grower Dr Steve Rothwell; Richard Vaughan, who produces rare breed meat from rare pedigree animals at Huntsham Court Farm, Herefordshire; and cobnut grower Alexander Hunt from Potash Farm in Kent.
Tickets for the Feast, priced at just £38, are bookable in advance through the website www.feastwithachef.co.uk.
The Endangered Foods Feast is organized by Feast with a Chef, run by Bristol-based food writer Clare Hargreaves. Feasts are cooked by top chefs in village halls with the aim of bringing fine dining to a wider audience in an informal setting. Clare calls it ‘Fine dining without the starch’ or ‘Fine food without the fuss.’ ‘High-end restaurants can often be rather formal and intimidating, so it’s great to be able to bring top chefs and their amazing cooking to the more relaxed setting of a village hall,” she says. “Many people get to taste food they might never otherwise experience.”
Earlier the same week Feast with a Chef is organising a Foraged Feast, cooked by two-Michelin-starred chef David Everitt-Matthias, also part of the Bristol Food Connections festival. All feasts so far have sold out several weeks before the event, so early booking is recommended to avoid disappointment.
For more information and to book, visit www.feastwithachef.co.uk.