Cardiff International Food & Drink Festival

Cardiff International Food & Drink Festival

Ben and I went to the International Food & Drink Festival on Friday 10th of July. My diet went out of the window as we worked our way round the stands buying scotch eggs, cakes and pots of jams and pickles.

The Handmade Scotch Egg Company sells not just any Scotch eggs, but meals in their own right. They aim to reinstate the humble Scotch egg as Britain's favorite snack food, producing quality food in an environmentally and socially responsible manner using only free range eggs and pork in their recipes.

We bought four eggs after first taking out a mortgage to buy them. At £10.50 for four they are not cheap.

Ceilidh
'Kay-lee' Based on a traditional Irish White Pudding recipe made with free-range Saddleback pork, bacon, barley, oatmeal, leeks and spices.

Old Stager
A traditional pickled egg, wrapped in free-range Saddleback pork and rolled in crumbled Tyrells sea salt and black pepper crisps.

Chieftain
Specially created with Burns night in mind,traditional Haggis with Saddleback pork.

Passion
Free-range pork combined with smoked bacon, fresh beetroot and tangy red onions.

Miranda’s Preserves was not a new stand to buy from, as we had bought from her at the Abergaveny Food festival last year. Now, that is a date to put in your diary for this year. The food festival takes place in September and is not to be missed.

This year we bought Lemon Curd and Apple & Mint Jelly from Miranda. She told us that she is only doing the Sunday at Abergaveny this year due to too many Jam sellers applying for stands. The organisers are not wanting to swamp the event with lots of Preserve sellers.

Another lady who we bought from was Emily of Emilys Jams & Pickles. From this stand we bought home made ground mustard with olives. Ben likes his mustards when it comes to pork pies and fresh ham off the bone.

My Biggest downfall was The Pudding Compartment Ltd, which was selling cheesecake. I don't normally enjoy cheesecake, but after a sample of the lemon one I had to go back on the Sunday to buy some.

I had been savouring the taste for two days and on my return could not buy any tubs to take home as they had truly been a fantastic seller. the owner was cutting up his display cheesecakes, so I bought a portion to eat at the market. Instead of sharing one with Ben to save on the rich pudding braking my diet, I bought two portions for us. I was only third of the way through my portion when truly knew this would have been better bought as a tub so I could have taken it home and savoured it for a couple of days, as it was so rich.

An actor providing entertainment by pushing his Babies round in a pram.