Enjoy A Taste of Angus this Autumn!
Appetite for Angus, the Regional Food Group for Angus, is delighted to announce the launch of A Taste of Angus Food & Drink Festival, a celebration of the fantastic produce and hospitality you can enjoy across the county.
Appetite for Angus, the Regional Food Group for Angus, is delighted to announce the launch of A Taste of Angus Food & Drink Festival, a celebration of the fantastic produce and hospitality you can enjoy across the county.
The week-long festival will run from 4th to 11th November and will encourage producers to work with venues to showcase the amazing food and drink you can find across Angus.
“We are so lucky to have such a wealth of amazing food & drink on our doorstep. With the best berries grown in our fields, world famous PGI status Arbroath Smokies and a plethora of innovative food & drink producers, we are spoilt for choice. It makes for the ideal place to host a Food & Drink festival, with a real focus on provenance and collaboration” explains Fiona Walsh, one of the event organisers.
With funding from Scotland Food & Drink, and support from Angus Council, the festival aims to encourage local sourcing of ingredients, and championing local food and drink on hospitality menus throughout the region. “Consumers are growing more and more aware of how far their food has travelled to make it onto their plate, they are keen to see local produce on menus and on the shelf of their local farm shop” explains Walsh. To help make this happen, Fiona and her fellow event organiser, Helen Margaroli, will be helping to connect producers and venues, to ignite new ideas and spark conversation and collaboration. “Having run my own restaurant, I understand the value in putting local food on the menu and working with local suppliers is really rewarding. We are supporting the Angus economy whilst giving our diners the very best produce available”, explains Helen.
There will be a wide range of events happening throughout the week-long festival. A dedicated website will launch in mid-October, but all event information will be updated on their dedicated event Facebook Page, @atasteofangusfestival which is now live. The event will kick off with a business to business networking supper on the 3rd of November at Upper Dysart. Public events kick off on the 4th with a producer night market at Charleton Fruit Farm in Montrose, which will also run throughout Sunday daytime for those who can’t make the evening event. A coffee and chocolate pairing event at Hospitalfield is also planned for the 4th, hosted by award winning Forfar based chocolate maker Chloe Oswald of Chocolatia and Angus’ first coffee roastery, Sacred Grounds of Arbroath. Further events include a pop up Restaurant by Rae’s, a “Great Taste” celebration dinner at Wee Cook and taster sessions at Redcastle’s popular Blending School in Arbroath.
“We want to ensure the event is accessible and affordable for everyone”, explains Helen. “We have over 90 members at Appetite for Angus, but this event is open to anyone who is in the Food & Drink industry in Angus, get in touch with us to find out how you can be part of it”.
“From a new dish on your menu or a cocktail on your drinks list, you can easily incorporate A Taste of Angus into your offering and be part of this celebration. Perhaps you would like to host an event, a tasting, a demonstration or other special event, we welcome all your ideas, and we are here to help you bring them to life” says Fiona.
Local Angus photographer, Peter Jackson of Backlit Films, will be capturing images and videography content from the participating companies, and these images will be available, free of charge, to the producers and venues after the event. “We are aware of the value there is in high quality food photography, and we want to offer this to our participating companies as a thank you to them for supporting this event” explains Helen.
The public are encouraged to keep an eye on the Taste of Angus Festival page on Facebook, where information about events will be posted regularly. Growers, producers, hospitality venues and retail outlets across Angus are encouraged to email info@appetiteforangus.com to find out how they can take part. “We are so excited to bring this festival to Angus. We live in the food basket of Scotland and our aim is to put Angus firmly on the Scottish Food & Drink map” states Fiona.
A Taste of Angus Food & Drink Festival will run from Saturday 4th to Saturday 11th November at venues throughout Angus.
