Scores pitching support

Jul 12 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

MORE than 80 retailers and suppliers have signed up to take part in what promises to be the biggest and best food and drink extravaganza ever held in the North East – just four days after The Journal announced its Taste 2 event.

And such is the interest in Journal Taste 2 in association with Tesco, that scores more artisan producers are expected to secure a pitch at the day-long festival on August 30.

So far, 84 local food and drink producers from across the region have come on board the event tied into our Taste North East England Campaign to encourage people to buy local, use local and eat local.

This is 22 more than attended our first food and drink fair on April 26 which saw more than 10,000 people descend on the National Trust’s Gibside estate at Rowlands Gill.

Support for The Journal’s Taste initiative launched at the end of January has been such that people have been queuing up to ensure this event at Macdonald Linden Hall Hotel, Golf and Country Club, near Morpeth in Northumberland, is a celebration of the finest produce on offer.

Journal editor Brian Aitken said: “We were bowled over by the support we had for our Gibside event which saw 62 food and drink people from across the North East coming together for our first foray into this area. But it’s fair to say we never envisaged the magnificent response we have had to Taste 2.

“To have 84 food and drink producers and suppliers on board just four days after announcing the Linden Hall event to the public, shows the support there is for The Journal’s Taste North East England campaign. We have said from the beginning that Journal Taste 2 in association with Tesco is going to be the biggest and best food and drink festival in the North East – and with so many already signed up it looks as if we are well on the way to achieving it.

“Our sole aim has always been to get North East produce on the local and national menu, and I can’t think of a more high profile way to achieve that.

“August 30 promises to be a day of gastronomic delights for all.”

Stallholders include rapeseed oil producer Borderfields, vegetable box scheme suppliers North Country Organics, Moorhouse Farm Shop from Stannington, Rothbury Wines, Geltsdale Brewery, the unique Cake Root, which uses locally- sourced root vegetable ingredients in their bakery products, Lanchester Dairies and Artisan Foods from Blaydon, the makers of the Beckleberry’s range of luxury ice creams and sorbets.

Set against the Georgian backdrop of Linden Hall and its 450 acres of park and woodland, visitors can expect an action-packed day. Star guests will be Simon King and Dave Myers, better known as TV’s Hairy Bikers. Simon, from Prudhoe, Northumberland, and Dave, from Cumbria, will meet and greet fans alongside wine writer Malcolm Gluck.

One of the major triumphs of our Gibside event was the cookery demonstrations. A host of the region’s top chefs will be showing off their skills in our mobile kitchen, including Newcastle-born Michelin-award winner Kenny Atkinson who joins Seaham Hall’s White Room Restaurant on August 1; Vicky Turnbull of Durham’s boutique Grafton House Hotel; Richard Sim of the Made in Northumberland project; BBC MasterChef finalist David Hall; Pierre Rigothier, head chef at Jesmond Dene House, and restaurateur and Journal Taste columnist, Bill Oldfield.

Children will have the chance to join in the fun courtesy of The Journal’s own Cool Cooks, Gillian Kenyon and Jane Lunec, whose weekly recipe column runs on our www.journaltastene.co.uk website. Entertainment will be provided from the North Tyneside Steel Band.