Abergavenny 2009

It’s still our favourite food festival- easy to get to, easy to unload and set up, lovely lovely stall holders, lovely lovely customers and a town with a relaxed and friendly atmosphere.

This year we’d been moved to a slightly different location which threw us a bit, but we soon got to know our neighbours, Elan Valley Mutton. Our side by side graphics gave rise to a number of misconceptions: the lady who asked us if our salt was made in the Elan Valley, and the man who asked them if they were selling salt marsh lamb but apart from that the products seemed to complement each other quite well. We took a pack home with us and have already enjoyed a deliciously rich mutton stew. The lamb theme was carried on by the fabulous life size sheep and lambs hanging in Market Hall.

It was also a festival stuffed full of chefs- ones we already work with, ones we are now working with, and ones we’d still like to work with- you know who you are! Among the innovative dishes in which Halen Môn was included was a range of pickles made by Cyrus Todiwala, they were eye wateringly spicy and delicious stirred into pasta or rice. Cyrus heads up Cafe Spice Namaste as well as a cooking school.

New this year was a series of ‘rants’ sponsored by Rude Health, our favourite breakfast cereal makers. We love them for all sorts of reasons but mainly because they sponsor our son-the-oarsman by sending him packets and packets of muesli to help him get his 6000 calories a day. Rude Health don’t actually use salt in any of their cereals but they generously allowed David to rant about the need for salt in the diet- obviously not just any old salt. You can see the rant on their website, [use the drop down menu to find David's rant] and read more about who else was appearing on www.rudehealth.com.

Finally we had a FAB night at The Angel Hotel, delicious meal, wonderful bottle of red and a comfortable night- thank you William- before coming home via Ludlow Food Centre to stock up on the world’s best piccalilli and scotch eggs.