First class food, top chefs and tasty beers at Bridport Food Festival (From Bridport and Lyme Regis News)

First class food, top chefs and tasty beers at Bridport Food Festival

3:49pm Thursday 2nd July 2009

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FINEST quality west country produce, top local chefs and some very tasty weather were the ingredients for another hugely successful Bridport Food Festival at the weekend.

Thousands packed the Asker Meadows showground to enjoy a wide variety of culinary delights – washed down by plenty of local ale and cider served up at the Round Table’s annual beer festival.

Home-grown celebrity chef Mark Hix launched his new beer, Hix Oyster Ale, while BBC MasterChef winner Mat Follas took timeout from his new Beaminster restaurant to give cookery demonstrations along with Indian food expert Helen Choudray from the Taj Mahal in South Street.

Also passing on their culinary tips were Ian Simpson of the White House Hotel in Charmouth and Michael Michaud who runs Peppers by Post near Bridport.

The theme of this year’s festival was Celebrating Food for Life and to get the message across Bridport Allotment Society offered advice on growing vegetables in pots for those without gardens. More than 30 local producers from across the region put the fruits of their labours on show.

And thanks to a visit from a 12-ton truck, festival-goers got the chance to get really hands-on at this year’s event. Fitted with four fully-equipped kitchens the ‘Feast Bus’ gave visitors the chance to learn new skills at a series of workshops throughout Saturday under the expert guidance of trained chef Kevin Brown from Yeovil College.

Exterior plasma screens also allowed workshops to be seen from the outside.

It was the first time the truck had visited the festival – and it was there thanks to sponsorship from Nantes solicitors.

Festival administrator Elizabeth Field said the bus had been a huge success as had the entire weekend.

She said: “I reckon there were more than 3,000 there – it went very well indeed with everyone very happy and relaxed.”

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