Foodies festival

I arrived on the platform five minutes before the train was to depart, typical me.
Obviously there was only one seat left, backward facing, tiny window, next to a bunch of kids singing: "Mummy are we there yet? Mummy are we there yet?" with such ... angelical voices. Yes, I was smiling and happy, I was on my way to the Foodies festival.

I read the foodies magazine religiously every month, so there was no way I would miss the show.

I arrived to a jam packed Edinburgh: silly me, I had totally forgotten about the Edinburgh festival, man this will be fun.

Making my way through the crowd I felt like an explorer in the jungle: bikers with long grey beards, camera attached japanese tourists, "I wants anotha icecweam" chanting kids, purple hair, old couples, what a mix of people.

It took me about forty minutes to get to Inverleith park. The sun was burning my skin, and I wondered for a minute if I was going to get a tan on top of a great day out (I did in the end, yes!)

As I entered the festival, I was greeted by Sue Hitchen, the editor of the magazine who gave me a programme.
I signed for a cooking masterclass with Lucy Porter, this had to be interesting.

I then started my journey across the stands. What struck me from the beginning is how smiling people were. Sure the sun must have had some effects on the general mood, but no, it did felt like a massive family picnic.

People were lying on the lawn, laughing and drinking cocktails, or standing by the stalls, tasting and chatting with the merchants.








There was such a diverse range of products on hand, and it took me a good two hours to see them all.

I started off with what I will call the "producers alley", with mostly food stalls, then made my way through the"seasoning alley", with chillis, spices mix, rock salts.

More on that in my next article.

I ended my tour with the street food alley: what a choice! Basically, it saves you a £5000 round the world ticket: Jamaican food, Chinese food, French food, Spanish food, Morrocan food, cider stalls, coconut stalls (yes, fresh coconut water!).

At last I had a wee look on the west aisle of the show which featured some well known restaurant such as Glasgow's "Southern spice" who were offering taster dishes for between £3 and £5. Very mouthwatering.

Before I knew it , it was time for my masterclass...