Ah, food at music festivals. What do you usually opt for to get through all of the music and mayhem? Cans of cold beans? Soggy bacon bubbling miserably on a tiny stove? A £23 lamb kebab? Or just beer, a curly wurly and sheer willpower?
Fortunately, there’s a British music fest that exists to give you better options. Conceived by celeb-chef royalty Jamie Oliver and taking place on the Cotswolds farm of Alex James (Blur bassist turned Countryfile cheese baron), the aptly named Big Feastival promises a smorgasbord of tunes and culinary delights.
Here’s why the Big Feastival is the ultimate marriage of food and music:
It ain’t all about the food
Considering it’s the brainchild of food-obsessives and takes place on a dairy farm, the Big Feastival doesn’t put the music on the back-burner. After sampling some of the edible goodies on offer, you can move to the dulcet grooves of Craig David, burn off some of those calories to Basement Jaxx or get soulful with Paloma Faith. With numerous tents featuring a variety of acts, you can be sure to find musical pedigree at the Feastival. After all, Alex James doesn’t just have cheese chops – he’s delivered some pretty iconic britpop basslines over the years.
There’s two lineups
Most festivals have a music line-up with a couple of comedians thrown in for variety’s sake. The Big Feastival has two line-ups, one with the big name musical artists, and one packed with iconic chefs from around the world, such as Marco Pierre White, Raymond Blanc and Pierre Koffman. These famous foodies hold Q & A sessions during the festival, and also take to the Big Kitchen Stage, where they show-off their skills, lock spatulas in head-to-head cook offs and teach the crowd some of their favourite techniques and recipes. So, it’s really up to you: Paloma or Pavlova?
Street Food Alley brings the heat from all over the world
If the chefs strutting their stuff on the big stage has your tummy rumbling, you’ll be spoilt for choice with some of the hottest names on the UK street food scene bringing culinary concoctions from all corners of the globe. From Bangwok to Breddos Tacos, Buddah bowl to Burger & Beyond, you can be assured of finding some delicious grub to satiate beer-related cravings. Don’t fear family festival goers, there’s also child-sized street food, to satiate juice-related cravings.
There’s a cheese hub
Did we mention that Alex James is a bit obsessed with cheese? Not satisfied with having a cheese stall sitting proudly alongside the array of street food, James insisted on a dedicated double-decker ‘cheese hub.’ This fromage-ophile’s paradise (or edam eden), features a feast of artisan cheeses for revellers to gawp at, sample and buy. The cheese hub’s also home to an all-day cocktail bar where the man himself, Alex James, takes to the DJ decks and spins the night the way.
ALSO READ: A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE CHEESES OF THE WORLD
You can try your hand/risk your hand at some cooking yourself
Feeling inspired by all of these proud food stalls? Fancy yourself a bit of an undiscovered Gordon Ramsey? In the Cookaholics Culinary School you can put your skills to the test, crafting your own gourmet menu with a team of experts. As you put the delicate finishing touches onto your luxurious prawn linguine, you might just decide that your curly wurly days are behind you.
