From 1st – 11th May 2014. Bristol is hosting a revolutionary food festival spanning the entire city.
Aptly named Bristol Food Connections, the event will bring together the many vibrant food cultures and communities already thriving in Bristol, and inspire visitors to celebrate and engage with them.
In collaboration with the BBC, Bristol City Council, Bristol University and other Bristol institutions, the festival will educate and build on Bristol’s pioneering attitude to food. Events will be affordable and accessible to all with the emphasis on knowledge, participation and fun.
From a large celebration in Millennium Square to Eat, Drink, Bristol Fashion in Queen Square, Bristol’s streets will be alive with the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of good food for the full 11 days. The BBC Food and Farming Awards will also be held in the city for the first time during the event.
The BBC will be hosting one of the main sites of the Food Connections Festival on the waterfront. Throughout the festival, a wide range of BBC broadcast programmes and their stars will visit the site and there’ll be a host of hands on activities designed to inspire a deeper knowledge of food and its role in our lives, as well lots of help with everyday cooking skills.
The festival will also harness other events taking place in the city during the 11 days. These include the Bristol Half Marathon and Bristol Walking Festival, helping to connect the dots between food and exercise.
Speaking of the event, festival curator Lorna Knapman said: “Food Connections is the perfect opportunity to join the dots and work together as a city to inspire and get people excited about good food. It’s so important that we look at the bigger picture when it comes to food. What we eat, how that food is produced, with whom that food is eaten, the lifestyle we have around food, exercise, making sure everyone has enough to eat are all so intrinsically linked. Bristol has a vibrant food community and unique food culture and that needs to be seen and celebrated.”
Commenting on the unique BBC collaboration, Clare McGinn, Head of BBC Radio & Music Production Bristol said: “It is great to see the unique partnership between Bristol and the BBC resulting in the Bristol Food Connections festival. This is a creative city with a can-do attitude and you can really see that in the inventive way people relate to food. We are delighted to be a partner in this exciting festival that, we hope, will get people across the whole of Bristol and beyond sharing their stories, opinions and food knowledge with each other.”
For more information and to get involved in this exciting event visit www.bristolfoodconnections.com. The team wants to hear from communities, individuals, restaurants, producers, chefs, volunteers and anyone interested in being a part of Food Connections.