Blenheim Palace set for Food Festival!

Celebrity chef Jean-Christophe Novelli and Masterchef finalists Billy & Jack are among the food stars at this year’s Blenheim Palace Food Festival, held over Spring Bank Holiday weekend, from Saturday 27 May to Monday 29 May. The Festival was recently named as one of the top ten food and drink festivals in the world.*

The Festival will feature over 100 food and drink stalls including local Oxfordshire producers, children’s workshops and cookery classes, wine and beer pairings and food foraging trips. New for this year will be a Talks and Tastings Hub with a full programme of free talks and demonstrations, with opportunities to taste, learn, meet and talk with top chefs and producers.

William Prosser from organisers Fantastic British Food Festivals, says:

'There’s something for the whole family at this year’s show whether it’s sampling food from local producers, attending a children’s cookery workshop, chatting to top chefs or going on a food foraging trip – all in the beautiful setting of Blenheim Palace.'

Visitors will find regional produce from local producers such as chutneys and jams from Holmesmade; cakes from family run bakery Palace Cuisine, as well as crepes from Oxford Crepes. Or sample gluten free ice cream from Carmels and vegan cuisine from No Horsing Around. Marshmallow Heaven will be showing its imaginative range of marshmallows with toppings such as rhubarb and custard, pineapple and mango.

International cuisine will be well represented from Taste Tibet’s traditional dumplings and Himalayan curries, Korito’s Korean barbecue, Lebanese street food from Shawarma Box and Greek street food from food4festival. 

This year’s festival will have a wide choice of drinks from Mojito’s Mavericks’ cocktails (children can join in with a non-alcoholic version), Rubis luxury chocolate wine from Fred and Henry Enterprises, gin from No Comply and lemonade from Hullabaloos.

Jean-Christophe Novelli says “I’m looking forward to participating at this year’s Festival. It is in such a wonderful setting with so many activities for all the family. I’ll be giving demonstrations and talks at the Talks and Tastings Hub and answering questions about my dishes. See you there.”

Highlights of this year’s Blenheim Palace Food Festival include:

• Jean-Christophe Novelli, celebrity chef
• Bill & Jack, 2016 BBC TV Masterchef finalists
• Rob Kennedy, executive chef from the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst with over 85 culinary awards including 20 gold medals
• Mark Peregrine, head chef, Raymond Blanc Cookery School
• Emma North, chef at the Nut Tree Inn near Blenheim Palace where he has held a Michelin star for the past eight years
• Marlow Renton from Wild Food UK, who will lead foraging walks
• Nick Deverell-Smith, head chef/proprietor The Churchill Arms at Paxford
• Kathy Slack “Gluts & Gluttony” on growing your own kitchen garden
• Hanna Sillitoe, author of “Radiant” full of recipes that help to heal the skin
• Wine and beer pairings
• Children’s activities – cookery workshops, face paintings