Few Bathonians shed a tear when it was announced that the Channel 4 ‘Taste’ festival wouldn’t be returning to Bath for a third consecutive outing in 2009. The festival organisers blamed the recession for the cancellation, but local sources tell the Pig otherwise, citing ridiculously high entry fees, complicated pricing structures and an overdose of big name, commercial sponsorship for suffocating what should have been a glamorous picnic in Bath’s poshest park.
In July last year, the ‘Flavours of the West’ festival at Milsom Place promised a less commercial alternative to ‘Taste’. But despite the grand claims, what should have been a properly local affair still failed to offer a true representation of the Bath food scene, as only restaurants with a Milsom Place address participated in the festival as a whole. While ‘Flavours of the West’ haven’t announced dates for their 2010 shebang yet, the Pig is wholly supportive of any event that genuinely promotes the many thriving food- and drink-related businesses within our city walls, and is happy to work closely with festival organisers to ensure that their event is given the publicity it deserves. But before we can do that, we need to define exactly what ‘local’ means.
When it was first announced, the Bath Coffee Festival (the first of its kind in the UK, taking place on May 15 & 16) looked very good indeed, what with the lovely Marshfield Bakery folk declaring sponsorship early on. The organisers promised “more news of Bath-based sponsors to follow shortly”…but to The Pig’s mind, Ginsters Pasties don’t really fulfil the criteria. And now, fresh from The Pig’s inbox, comes news of the ‘Bath Food and Drink Festival’, coming to Victoria Park on July 3 & 4 and bringing with it “a line up of the most tantalising food and beverage producers in the country, with more than 130 local and regional exhibitors showing a vast array of products, drinks and quality food”. The organisers say that this two day event will display “a cuisine of delights, including a Food Lovers Kitchen, a Wine Theatre, presentations from national and international food writers and industry experts, and…” hang on! This is all sounding a bit too close to ‘Taste’ version 2.0 for comfort. And how come none of The Pig’s favourite restaurants, cafes and food producers know anything about it?
Whether it’s a food, drink, coffee, tea or cupcake festival taking place in the city this summer, that’s good news for Bath. But if it isn’t genuinely exclusive to Bath, The Pig politely requests that the organisers of such events don’t try to claim otherwise: it’s not big, it certainly isn’t clever, and it only leaves us with a bad taste in our mouths after the circus rolls out of town.
Thursday, February 25th, 2010
Your Comments
