The line-up
This season I’ll be entering the following team into the official Premier League fantasy football league. I’m quite pleased with the choice this year, for some reason defenders seem to provide the best selection of food based surnames every season.
There is quite a strong fish representation this year and the defence is packed with carbs.
I’ve left the most tenuous names on the bench, one being 2 thirds of a yellow fruit and the other being a condiment from Sheffield.
When we heard that Jamie Oliver was organising a new festival on Clapham Common with a view to making the food as important as the music, we couldn’t wait to hear more. He promised to create a new style of event with restaurants from London taking the place of the old burger vans and pizza stalls.
When Joe and I arrived at The BigFeastival we were handed a pre-loading payment card and directed towards a long line of food stalls. As the saying goes “The proof is in the pudding” so we got stuck in. After a lot of umming and ahhing we finally began our
Summer veg taco
glutenous journey at Wahaca, an old favourite. The Mexican chain were serving summer veg tacos with courgette, sweetcorn, re-fried beans, feta, lettuce and tomato, or a pork pibil version. Both were excellent dishes full of flavour and well presented (-all dishes at the festival were served on biodegradable, environmentally-friendly palm leaf plates.).
Lamb sandwich and tofu skewers
With so many top restaurants to choose from it was tricky to pick our next stop but I settled on Providores and their New Zealand lamb sandwich while Joe went for the tofu satay skewers and roti. We took these over to the 30ft mismatched dining table to enjoy. The lamb was beautifully cooked but all flavour was overpowered by an overly generous portion of minted yoghurt. The tofu skewers on the other hand were a tasty treat with a smokey and spicy satay sauce.
The Feastival’s website stated that there would be “plenty of tasty food if you’re vegetarian of vegan”, which we sound found wasn’t quite true. Many of the stalls we went to had no veggie option at all. This included Jamie’s own restaurant, Fifteen, where the chefs offered Joe a lemon as the closest thing to a vegetarian dish! It seems a lot of stalls had overlooked the increasing demand for vegetarian dishes but they did promise some for the next two days.
Having chosen the best meal it was only fair to pick out the worst. After hearing such good things about Four o Nine we couldn’t wait to try their food. With an excellent list of ingredients the Sardinian pasta salad should have been top of the bill, but with the extra half kilo of salt (ish) it lost all appeal.
Our feast was brought to a spectacular end with a visit to Cinnamon Kitchen. Their main restaurant is currently offering a mango inspired menu and the chef’s brought along a taster or mango mousse with a mango mint salad. With all feastival dishes at £5 a pop this seemed a little pricey at first but it was quickly justified. This creamy and sweet desert was a definite highlight of the day.
Mango Mousse
After a few teething problems with the pre-loading cards and the lack of veggie options the Big Feastival got off to a poor start. But over the day it made up for this with a great family atmosphere and entertainment for all. We can’t wait until next year!
As always the summer brings with it many festivals around the country where you can enjoy a huge range of music and have fun with friends and family, but this year is different. This summer Jamie Oliver will debut a new style of festival on Clapham Common which will make your mouth water. If, like us, you are sick and tired of the dodgy festival food like rubbery burgers and bland veggie nachos then The Big Feastival will be right up your street.
The festival promises pop-up restaurants from some of the UK’s leading establishments each serving a different set of dishes on The Big Menu. With Italian dishes from Jamie’s own restaurant Fifteen, Mexican treats from award winning group Wahaca and the famous hand-crafted burgers from GBK you will be spoiled for choice. And of course, there are many vegan and vegetarian options like the Innes log goat’s cheese Sardinian pasta salad from Fouronine or the vegetarian piadina from Locanda Locatelli.
The Big Feastival is not just about the food . There will be music, tents and stalls to explore when you take a break from the feast. Two stages will be running throughout the weekend where many big acts will perform, including headliners Soul II Soul, The Charlatans and Athlete. As well as the music there are other attractions including the Little Dudes Den, the Funfair and the Artisan Food Market making The Big Feastival a fantastic day out for the whole family.
With proceeds from the festival going to The Princes Trust and The Jamie Oliver Foundation there is no need to feel guilty for enjoying a day of excellent food, refreshing drinks, fantastic music and (hopefully) some glorious sunshine! As Jamie says himself “[it’s] a really good festival for everyone with great music AND great food, all for charity.” We hope to see you there.
The Big Feastival runs from 1-3 July on Clapham Common. For more details and tickets visit The Big Feastival.
Today the launch of The Kitchen Wall’s new editorial section. This area will be updated frequently by a number of contributors and we will be providing the following:
Be sure to book mark this as we’re set for a busy summer…
Joe
