With just days to go till the big event, the countdown is on among the county’s foodies as they prepare to sink their teeth into the all new Love Northampton Food and Drink Festival!

The free festival, being funded by the Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) and supported by Northampton Borough Council, is taking place on Friday and Saturday at the Guildhall and is set to attract hundreds of visitors to the town

Among the highlights will be the chance for festival-goers not only to sample the newly unveiled finalists in the five product and drink categories of this year’s Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards and vote for their favourites, but also to pick up a brochure packed with some amazing vouchers and discounts being provided by many of the nearby restaurants, cafés, and pubs.

Meanwhile some of the members of ‘Made In Northamptonshire’ – the networking group set up to support and promote the county’s food and drink producers – will be sampling and selling their delicious wares ranging from beers to ciders, chocolates to chutneys, while would be-chefs can be inspired by a series of cookery demonstrations including how to create sizzling summer salads, south-American salsas and saucy sorbets made from Northamptonshire gin!

With visitors also able to take advantage of two hours’ free parking on Friday and free parking all day on Saturday, the town centre is set to be buzzing.

After months of planning, BID Director Richard Clinton is one of those who can’t wait for the event to finally arrive: “For Northampton Town Centre to be partnering with the food and drink awards by hosting the Love Northampton Food & Drink Festival is a really positive sign and indicates just how vibrant the town is becoming.

“The Festival will not only be bringing foodies into the heart of Northampton, it will also be supporting our fabulous restaurants, pubs and food retailers who already attract so many to the town” he added.

For more details of the Love Northampton Food and Drink Festival, please visit www.lovenorthampton.co.uk/blog/food-and-drink-festival

Masterchef judge, TV food critic and writer William Sitwell will be setting aside his campaign against square plates to cut the ribbon on the new Love Northampton Food and Drink Festival being staged in the town next month!

The free festival, being funded by the Northampton Town Centre Business Improvement District (BID) and supported by Northampton Borough Council, is taking place from 11am to 4pm on Friday 4^th July and Saturday 5^th July and will centre on a food fayre in the Guildhall, while nearby restaurants, cafés and pubs will tempt diners and drinkers with month-long festival vouchers and special offers and be promoting the best of Northamptonshire produce on their menus.

William, who lives in the south of the county and who has recently been hitting the culinary headlines for leading the charge on round plates over their square counterparts, is looking forward to the opportunity to sinking his teeth into the array of tasty wares from the local artisan producers who are sampling and selling their mouth-watering range of goodies across the two days – everything from beers to biscuits, chutneys to cheese; “My beloved Northamptonshire represents so much that is great about modern foodie Britain – and it’s getting better!” enthused William.

“So I really hope that this new festival will attract a large number of visitors to Northampton, keen not only to discover the local delicious delights that we have to offer but also to help our county town flourish as a real dining hub” he added.

Rachel Mallows of The Mallows Company, who is organising the festival on behalf of Northampton Town Centre BID, says she is thrilled to have the Masterchef judge’s backing; “We’re absolutely delighted that William is showing his support for this event as it offers a culinary stamp of approval to what we know is going to be a wonderful festival” explained Rachel.

“There’s already a real excitement building up among the town’s eateries and the food businesses involved who are all really looking forward to the two days and so we’d encourage all food lovers to join us and make the most of the fantastic dining discounts and tasty treats that will be on offer!” she added.

For more details of the Love Northampton Food and Drink Festival, please visit

www.love northampton.co.uk/blog/food-and-drink-festival or like us on facebook or follow us on twitter @NorthamptonBID or #LoveNFADF. Alternatively please call 01933 664437.

Last Thursday over 50 guests joined us for an evening of cookery demos, knife skills, wine tasting and delicious canapés.

The evening gave our guests and past students the opportunity to try some amazing wines from The Wine Connection in Northampton, sample some delicious canapés made by our friends at The Red Lion.

Jo from IOShen demonstrated his amazing knife skills and provided some top ‘chefy’ tips.

Ondine took centre stage and cooked up two great dishes, Thai Fishcakes and her own Salsa Verde with steak.

After the success of last years Christmas gift voucher sales, we decided to extended our online gift range and have sourced some beautiful and unusual items, all with a foody theme. We have also combined a number of our courses with books and aprons to provide unique Christmas Gift boxes, all beautifully packaged up, so you only have to add the gift tag! Guests on the evening got a sneak preview of the range with many taking advantage of a bit of early Christmas shopping.

Many thanks to everyone who attended and also for your kind words, we shall certainly be running another event late November.

The Taste is a brand new Channel 4 cookery competition that puts taste at the forefront of the show. Whether you’re a home cook, a food blogger or you work in the industry, it doesn’t matter how experienced you are, only how amazing your food tastes!

Based on the hit USA format, Nigella Lawson and her fellow judges, American chef Anthony Bourdain and French chef Ludo Lefebvre will battle it out to find The Taste’s first British winner. Contestants will try to please the palates of the professionals with just one spoonful of food, and with the tastings performed blind the pressure is on to make one small, but perfect, serving.

We are looking for a variety of cooks and we want to find the best of what the UK has to offer in home cooks, supper club cooks, pop-up cooks, food market cooks, student cooks and professional cooks… the list is endless. If you just love to cook then we want to hear from you!

We are nearly at the end of our nationwide audition tour so time is of the essence. There is only ONE audition date left so if you are interested in auditioning for the Producers, apply NOW!

AUDITION DATES: Tuesday 17th September

Auditions are 20 minutes long, they are very informal and include a Q&A as well as tasting some of your pre-prepared food. The link to our application form is below. We recommend submitting your application form ASAP to avoid missing the chance to audition.

Please also send photos of yourself and of your food to thetaste@cplproductions.co.uk once you have submitted your application.https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1N5MVxJUTde5rjNjZWlvjLob6-VpN_3b9P29n5ShN-gs/viewform

This Easter the National Space Centre is set to make tummies rumble and taste buds tingle in the ultimate celebration of all things foodie!

A brand new Space Kitchen has been installed in the heart of the galleries and the very best suppliers, producers and chefs from the East Midlands will be dropping in daily to host demonstrations and workshops for visitors to enjoy.

These range from afternoon tea in 30 minutes, including baking scones and making jam from Sandra at Whetstone Pastures, to a baked bean curry for the kids to make for Mum from the cook at home curry kings Previns.

When the real foodies are not showing off their skills, our very own Space Crew will be taking over to have fun with food science.

Bacon and egg instant ice-cream, making sweet things taste sour and sour things taste sweet, future foods, tasty creepy crawlies and even meat made in a lab for astronauts, will all take centre stage.

Easter also sees the return of the Great Egg Race, thanks to the Centre’s very own Technical Director who won the BBC2 TV show in 1981 with Professor Heinz Wolff. Graham and his team have created a challenge for visitors to design and build a spacecraft for an egg that will ensure it does not crack up upon re-entry!

Malika Andress, Head of Marketing at the National Space Centre said; “It has been great putting all the activities for this holiday period together, as everybody has been so enthusiastic. I am sure it has something to do with the fantastic food that will be filling the building for three weeks, but it has also been great talking with the real East Midlands foodies who are truly passionate about sharing their ideas, products and love of food with everybody, young and old.”

For full details of the daily events and how to get a free Annual Pass upgrade to come back every day over the Easter holiday, please see www.spacecentre.co.uk

After much anticipation and a great deal of excitement, the winners of the twelve categories in the Carlsberg UK Northamptonshire Food and Drink Awards 2012/13 are finally celebrating being named the best of the county’s best!

The results were announced at a glittering Awards Dinner (Weds 14^th Nov) sponsored by Electrolux and staged at The Wing, Silverstone courtesy of Silverstone Circuits Ltd. Those were (in order of presentation):

Northamptonshire Jubilee Breakfast: (results announced in June)
Winner: The Church Restaurant, Northampton
Runner-up: Oundle Mill, Oundle

Artisan Local Product/Drink of the Year:
Winner: Home Cured Bacon – Sauls of Spratton, Spratton
Runner-up: Fire Bellied Toad – Frog Island Brewery, Northampton 

New Local Product of the Year:
Winner: The Hot Runner – The Pickled Village, Bulwick
Runner-up: Fruity Apple and Plum Chutney – The Village Orchard, Flore

New Local Drink of the Year:
Winner: Golden Russet Apple Juice – The Village Orchard, Flore
Runners-up: Hart No. 1 (4.1%) – Hart Family Brewers, Wellingborough and Hop Trotter – Potbelly Brewery, Kettering

Local Food Hero of the Year:
Winner: Gerald Bailey of Newlands Farm, Hannington
Runners-up: Pudding Pie Cookery School, Middleton Cheney and Seven Wells Butchers, Oundle

Spice Chef of the Year:
Winner: Bodrul Islam – Saffron, Northampton
Runner-up: Hao Dang – Dang’s, Northampton

Young Chef of the Year:
Winner: William Mountain – The Saracen’s Head, Little Brington
Runner-up: Viktorija Bernataviciute – The Wig and Pen, Northampton

Booker Chef of the Year:
Winner: James Ingram – Mercedes Benz AMG, Brixworth
Runner-up: Liam Goodwill – Rushton Hall, Rushton

Restaurant of the Year:
Winner: The Exeter Arms, Easton on the Hill
Runners-up: Oundle Mill, Oundle and The Seafood Café, Northampton

Pub or Bar Restaurant of the Year:
Winner: The Saracen’s Head, Little Brington
Runner-up: The Royal Oak @ Eydon, Eydon

Community Pub of the Year – Town:
Winner: The Swan and Helmet, Northampton
Runner-up: The Lamplighter, Northampton

Community Pub of the Year – Rural:
Winner: The George, Tiffield
Runner-up: The Stag’s Head, Great Doddington

In addition, three chefs were also ‘Commended’ in their category – those being:
Ondine Hartgroves of Dîner Privé Par Ondine, Northampton in the Spice Chef category
Ollie Jaycock of The Red Lion, Culworth in the Young Chef category
Oli Butel of Frank’s Steakhouse, Northampton in the Booker Chef category.

So the night brought double celebrations for Duncan and Sarah Evans of The Saracen’s Head in Little Brington who not only watched their head chef, William Mountain, pick up the ‘Young Chef of the Year’ award but also took the ‘Pub or Bar Restaurant of the Year’ title. “We were already so delighted that Will had won earlier in the evening, but then to hear the venue’s name called out as well was just the icing on the cake,” explained Sarah after the results were announced by Jeff Whitaker of category sponsors Whitco, the specialist catering equipment firm based in Thrapston. “The whole team put their heart and soul into everything that they do and this is real recognition of their wonderful efforts. We are all just chuffed to bits!”

Meanwhile Jonathan Chaplin of The Village Orchard in Flore also came away with two accolades after his Fruity Apple and Plum Chutney was named runner-up in the ‘New Local Product of the Year’ category, only for his Golden Russet Apple Juice to go one better in the ‘New Local Drink of the Year’ category. “We are always so wonderfully surprised and of course thrilled to pick up any award so to come away with a second and a first is fantastic!” enthused Jonathan after hearing the results from David Brown of Beckworth Emporium, the category sponsor. “It’s all the more pleasing that these are two of our newer products and we’ll be displaying our certificates and our winner’s trophy with great pride!”

Those trophies – beautifully handcrafted in polished stainless steel by Sandwell UK, the shot peening and metal coating specialists based in Towcester – were presented by a selection of this year’s Award judges, including editor and food writer William Sitwell, TV chef Sophie Grigson  and the co-founder of ‘Ready Steady Cook’, Steven Saunders from Aspire Hospitality.

It was his Executive Chef, Lee Scott, who prepared a wonderful three course menu for the 350 guests including entrants, judges, sponsors, media partners and supporters. They were treated to a starter of potted Pitsford trout, a trio of pork from Spinney Barns in Irchester served with apples from New Creation Farm in Nether Heyford which had been caramelized in honey provided by the Northamptonshire Beekeepers’ Association, followed by treacle tart using bread from the Northampton bakery FF Tee and served with dairy vanilla ice cream from Rossi’s Ice Cream in Kettering.

Guests were welcomed to the event by the competition’s co-ordinator, Rachel Mallows of The Mallows Company and later in the evening, NEP’s Chairman Paul Southworth thanked them for their support. “As the organisation behind these awards we are delighted that this competition is playing such a valuable role in this increasingly successful sector for the county.

“Last year, that was worth £1.5 billion to our local economy and Northamptonshire should quite rightly feel mightily proud of its many nationally-recognised producers, venues and chefs being celebrated tonight,” he added.

For more details about the Awards and to see photographs from the event, please visit www.letyourselfgrow.com/foodanddrinkawards