Food festivals in June

June sees the festival season move into full swing with more quality food festivals than you can shake an umbrella at. Luckily The Staff Canteen’s monthly ‘what’s on’ of food and drink festivals is here to keep you up to date. So don’t pull on your wellies or pack your glamping gear without checking here first. No sooner is the month underway than the first food festival is upon us with York Spring Food Festival on June 1^st and 2^nd with food stalls all along the historic city’s Parliament Street and live cooking demos from top local chefs. The following weekend sees the second of this year’s Grillstock festivals, this time with its debut visit to Manchester. The event will take over Manchester’s Albert Square on June 8^th and 9^th with a two-day ‘low and slow’ barbecuing competition as well as chilli-eating and rib-eating competitions, all accompanied by American roots music and washed down with craft beers from three beer tents. The same weekend is packed with festival goodies across the country with the Flavours of 2013 Food and Drink Festival in Beccles, Suffolk and Foodie Fest in Barrow-in-Furness. Flavours of 2013 is one of East Anglia’s biggest food and drink festivals with lots of top quality producers and demos from talented local chefs including Paul Foster of Tuddenham Mill and Richard Bainbridge of Morston Hall and Great British Menu fame. Foodie Fest is a new food festival to 2013 set between the Irish Sea and the Lakeland mountain range and with a host of famous guest chefs including Jean-Christophe Novelli, Simon Rimmer and Andrew Nutter. The 14^th-16^th June sees one of the UK’s most

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prestigious foodie events, The Cheltenham Food and Drink Festival taking place across a number of establishments around the town over three days. The ‘two greedy Italians’, Antonio Carluccio and Gennaro Contaldo, are a highlight of the festival’s Chef’s Kitchen event. The focus switches to the nation’s capital on 20^th – 23^rd June with Taste of London in Regent’s park. This UK version of an international festival will feature dishes from 40 of London’s top restaurants and other suppliers as well as a stellar line up of chefs including Simon Hulstone and Nigel Haworth. Pembrokeshire Fish Week Festival runs from 22^nd – 30^th June with over 250 events over the course of the week including fish markets, cookery demonstrations, a fish pop up restaurant and a festival treasure trail. Another debut festival for 2013 is Taste of Sudbury Food and Drink Festival in Sudbury, Suffolk on 23^rd June with cookery demonstrations throughout the day including skinning and preparing muntjac deer and cooking foraged fresh water crayfish on a camping stove. In the same part of the world the Colchester Food and Drink Festival 2013 is celebrating its 10^th anniversary on 29^th-30^th June with over 120 stalls of food and drink set in award-winning Castle Park with a backdrop of folk, jazz and other live music. The last weekend of June also sees the Shrewsbury Food Festival with over 130 local exhibitors, talks and demos as well as – rather originally – screenings of food-related movies such as Sideways and Babette’s Feast. A nice way to round off a great month of festivals!