A Festival for Foodies - Wrexham Food Festival 2014

I don't normally make foodie posts to my blogs. Not, at least, foodie posts involving recipes. (I post plenty of blogs featuring food to Hypnotic Erotic, but these are usually just there to torture you. I'm also doing a series of food posts to tlhIngan paQDI'norgh, but after this week's food post you will never want to eat again. Trust me).

This weekend, however, I decided to attend the Wrexham Food Festival. This festival, an annual event, takes place in May each year, taking over Llwyn Isaf, the small public park behind the Guild Hall, for the two days of the weekend. Tickets cost £5, with concessions.

So this was Day 1.

The exhibitors lucked out with the weather. They could not have been more fortuitous with the day - the sun was cracking the flagstones all day. The well-attended festival was a feast, not just for the mouth and nose, but for the eyes and ears, with so much to see and try out. This family festival brought people in from all over Wales and the North West to enjoy the cookery demonstrations, the exhibits by such organisations as Coleg Cambria, to sample the alcoholic beverages and to listen to the band playing in the bandstand doing covers of well-known songs. Much fun, as they say, was had by all.

I honestly wished I had a sense of smell when I entered the main tent; I could imagine all the different aromas from the stalls lingering and blending together in that cool, shaded enclosure. The stalls which had the most people hovering around them were, naturally, those offering tasters and freebies - and not all of the stalls offered food. One was offering everything for the kitchen, another (listed below) wood and slate items for food preparation, and one very friendly stall offered aloe vera products, extolling the medicinal benefits of that particular plant for adults, children and furkids alike.

Ever-present throughout the exhibit were volunteers from the Nightingale House Hospice, the charity to which the proceeds from this event will go. The weather certainly was with them, and here's hoping that the event helps raise thousands for them.

Here's a list of the featured exhibitors, presented initially without links - I will edit this blog to furnish links later on. There are a lot of them, and they really deserve all the publicity and customers they can get. In these harsh times, we all need all the help we can get, and these guys are assets in the food market.

Adesso (H20 Ltd.)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil; Dressings, Dips, & Marinades & Kitchen Ware - from Sustainable Olive Wood


Alison's Teats
Brownies, Flapjacks, Rocky Roads, Lemon Drizzle, Bara Brith and so much more.

Amanda Jayne's and Adamson's of Anglesey
Exquisitely piquant produce. I really wished I had a sense of smell for this.

American Street Food Company
Professional Street Food Caterers - sizzling southern street food, hot dogs

Anna's Chocolates
Handmade Chocolates and Truffles made in the highest village in Wales. I pointed out that, while my chocolate allergy tragically meant that I could not sample their wares, nonethelesss it would be remiss of me to deny the pleasure to everybody else.

Caffeine Rush
Coffee, Tea & Chocolate Drinks. Award winning coffee for the past 10 years. Good tea here, plus pleasant conversation.

Cherry Tree Foods Ltd.
A Family run company based in the West Country. Since 1997 they have been dedicated to producing the highest quality pickles chutneys and preserves.

Chuck Wagon BBQ
American Smoked BBQ - 16 hour smoked pulled pork, ribs, brisket, flamed salmon


Clear Black Wine Company
I don't have much to do with wines - I'm tee-total - but you, my beloved readership, should not be denied the delights of wine and chocolate alike.


Cleopatra's Foods
Traditional South African Biscuits, chilli pesto, cheeses, cranberry & herb sauce


Coopers Gourmet Sausage Rolls
A gourmet selection of Sausage Rolls made with local free range pork. No freebies, but some of what they offered looked so tempting.

Croeshowell Restaurant, Bar & Grill
I liked the samples. Very tasty.


Daniel's Delights
Family Chocolatiers based in Staffordshire. Largest range of chocolate bars in the UK. Rows upon rows of chocolate bars, and I could not eat a damned thing. Doesn't mean you should be denied the pleasure.


Derby House Catering Services
Outside Catering Trailer serving 'a little taste of Mexico' in the form of Fajita Wraps

Eboni ac Eifori
Award winning fudge, toffee & confectionery. Ye Gods, their products packed flavour. email

The Falafel Wagon
Vegetarian Mobile Catering. This was one of the outside wagons.

Farndon Foodservice
Distributor of High Quality 'free-from' sauces. Try their South Western sauce. Better than what Subway serve.

Foodstation Wales
High quality Mediterranean delicacies. Have any of you tried mint flavoured Turkish delight? These guys have mint Turkish Delight.


Food Technology Centre
providing NPD, technical advice & training to the food industry. Nice people. If you've got a catering business and you're reading this blog, go and chat up these fellows.


French Connection
Sweet & Savoury Crepes, Baguettes, Hot & Cold drinks. I just wanted so much for a sense of smell when passing by this one.


The Gift Of Oil
Delicious single estate virgin olive oils. Stunning, genuinely matured balsamic vinegars.


Hafod Brewing Company Ltd.
Welsh real ale with a twist. Since 2011, Hafod Brewery has created innovative beers that draw on local produce and influences from further afield. Popular with the blokes, but you should have seen the crowds around the Wrexham Lager stall outside.

Hannah Restaurant
Authentic Indian Cuisine, freshly prepared on site using fresh local ingredients. Tasty.

Home Farm Produce
Free range rare breed local meat produce & Hogroast Stall


Jones Butchers
Welsh Beef, lamb, & pork products. Mutton, award winning sausage & burgers. From Farm to Fork with full traceability.


Ka Plonk
Full Bar/wine, ciders, beers, spirits

Lewis' Farm Shop
Home Made and Home produced food

Little Furnace Artisan Wood Fired Pizza
Wood Fired pizzas to go, fresh from Liverpool's finest pop up pizzeria.

Machine House
Informal fine dining restaurant and bar in the lovely village of Rossett. Nice food. email


Megan's Kitchen
Producer of traditional handmade welsh-cakes & Bara Brith.

MKS Food Distribution
A wide selection of olives, nuts, Turkish Delights & Baklavas

Mukaase Foods Ltd.
Afro-Caribbean Curried Goat, Dumplings, Chicken Curry, Rice & Peas, Jerk Chicken, Curry Sauces


North-West Game
Cold, dressed seasonal game, hot gourmet game and street food. I got my Sunday lunch from here. email

Orchard Pigs
Handmade Bakery goods: Pies, Pasties, Artisan breads & cakes.


Ostrich Direct
Exotic Burgers:- Beef, Kangaroo, Ostrich, Bison, Venison, Wild Boar, Zebra, Crocodile.


Penypound Preserves
Small mid-wales company producing yummy preserves, chutneys, dressings & flavoured vinegars.

Pickles & Spice
A diverse range of pickles, chutneys, jams, marmalades and spices.

Riverford Organic Farms
Award Winning Organic Fruit & Veg Boxes delivered direct to the door


Rosie's Triple 'D' Cider
Craft Cider maker of multiaward winning cider & perry


Sabor de Amor
Speciality Spanish Products


Snowdonia Cheese Co.
Premium Welsh cheeses for every occasion


Twist & Kick (Effin Fine Foods)
Create fantastic salt and spice blends for fantastic tasting food at home - come & taste

Ultimate Fudge Outlet
Family Business making a full range of traditional & speciality homemade fudges

Volette
Bake fresh cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cookies, celebration cakes, corporate events and confectionery.

Wood & Slate
Wood & Welsh slate home and table wares. Made in North Wales

Wrexham Lager
Wrexham Lager on Draught, bottles & Presentation packs