Cowbridge Food and Drink Festival is an annual

food festival A food festival is a festival, that uses food, often produce, as its central theme. These festivals have always been a means of uniting communities through celebrations of harvests and giving thanks for a plentiful growing season. History Food ...

held in

Cowbridge Cowbridge ( cy, Y Bont-faen) is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for e ...

, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.

Overview

The festival takes place over the May

Bank Holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or held ...

(Sunday 29 and Monday 30 May) and attracts up to 15,000 people. There is an entry fee. The festival has a wide variety of stalls, live demonstrations and attractions that are held each day. The food stalls are located at the Arthur John carpark. There are over 80 food and drink exhibitors, which have included an oyster bar and a champagne tent. Other attractions have included a Craft Fayre selling jewellery, homeware and other items. Children's activities are held in The Old Hall Gardens and have included magic shows, face-painting and treasure hunts.

Educational projects

In 2016 the festival obtained funding for an educational programme focused on demonstrations promoting healthy eating and cooking on a budget. In 2017, the festival's Forgotten Foods project explored the culinary traditions, heritage and history of

Welsh cuisine Welsh cuisine (Welsh: ''Ceginiaeth Cymreig'') encompasses the cooking styles, traditions and recipes associated with Wales. While there are many dishes that can be considered Welsh due to their ingredients and/or history, dishes such as cawl, W ...

, including traditional recipes such as

Welsh cakes Welsh cakes ( cy, picau ar y maen, pice bach, cacennau cri or '), also bakestones or pics, are a traditional sweet bread in Wales. They have been popular since the late 19th century with the addition of fat, sugar and dried fruit to a longer stan ...

bara brith Bara brith is a traditional Welsh tea bread flavoured with tea, dried fruits and spices. A decrease in its popularity led to supermarket Morrisons removing it from their shelves in 2006, and a year later a survey showed that 36% of teenagers in ...

Welsh rabbit Welsh rarebit or Welsh rabbit ( or ) is a dish consisting of a hot cheese-based sauce served over slices of toasted bread. The original 18th-century name of the dish was the jocular "Welsh rabbit", which was later reinterpreted as "rarebit", ...

and

cawl Cawl () is a Welsh dish. In modern Welsh the word is used for any soup or broth; in English it refers to a traditional Welsh soup, usually called ''cawl Cymreig'' (literally 'Welsh soup') in Welsh. Historically, ingredients tended to vary, but t ...

. These were prepared in a series of professional demonstrations that allowed people to learn about Welsh preparation methods and the history of the country's traditional dishes. At the Old Hall Gardens site two local academics and culinary experts, known as The History Chefs, conducted a taste tour of two past eras in a series of historical interactive food sampling sessions. They explored less mechanised means of production and harvesting and created food and drink with

foraged Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Foraging theory is a branch of behavioral ecology that studies the foraging behav ...

and home grown ingredients from exhibitors such as Tast Natur and Herbs in Wales.

Charitable work

In 2017 the festival raised money for

Tŷ Hafan Tŷ Hafan is a Welsh registered charity that provides holistic palliative care for children with life-limiting conditions and their families from throughout Wales. A wide range of care and support is offered at the hospice, based in the Vale of G ...

by exhibiting a sculpture of a Snow Puppy made from

canvas Canvas is an extremely durable plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, shelters, as a support for oil painting and for other items for which sturdiness is required, as well as in such fashion objects as handbags ...

for young people to finger-paint in a choice of three colours. This event was part of Snowdogs: Tails in Wales trail, a collaborative art event between Tŷ Hafan and Wild in Art. Painted Snow Dogs from across Wales were positioned at various locations in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

and the

Vale of Glamorgan The Vale of Glamorgan ( cy, Bro Morgannwg ), often referred to as The Vale, is a county borough in the south-east of Wales. It borders Bridgend County Borough to the west, Cardiff to the east, Rhondda Cynon Taf to the north, and the Bristol C ...

. The Cowbridge Puppy was subsequently auctioned to raise further funds for Tŷ Hafan. The festival has also set up the first community fridge in South Wales for people to deposit surplus food for use by others. The fridge is located at Cathays Community Centre in Cardiff.

Structure and rationale

The festival was founded in 2004 by the Cowbridge Charter Trust, a registered charity, as part of its 750-year celebrations. The Trust was formed in 2003 with support from over 200 patrons in order to celebrate 750 years since the granting of the first

ancient borough The ancient boroughs were a historic unit of lower-tier local government in England and Wales. The ancient boroughs covered only important towns and were established by charters granted at different times by the monarchy. Their history is large ...

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

on 13 March 1254 by

Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester Richard de Clare, 5th Earl of Hertford, 6th Earl of Gloucester, 2nd Lord of Glamorgan, 8th Lord of Clare (4 August 1222 – 14 July 1262) was the son of Gilbert de Clare, 4th Earl of Hertford and Isabel Marshal.History of Tewkesbury by James Benn ...

and

Lord of Glamorgan The Lordship of Glamorgan was one of the most powerful and wealthy of the Welsh Marcher Lordships. The seat was Cardiff Castle. It was established by the conquest of Glamorgan from its native Welsh ruler, by the Anglo-Norman nobleman Robert FitzHa ...

. The festival is run by a private company limited by guarantee.

References

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External links

Food from above, festival videoCowbridge Charter Trust web siteOld Hall Gardens web siteAbout Wales, Welsh Food Festivals
Food and drink festivals in the United Kingdom Vale of Glamorgan Annual events in Wales 2004 establishments in Wales Recurring events established in 2004 Summer events in Wales