Updated July 16th 2007
BELLING KICKS OFF ITS ‘KEEP BRITAIN COOKING’ CAMPAIGN AT THE CHILDREN’S FOOD FESTIVAL
Number One cooking brand* Belling has started a nationwide initiative to ‘Keep Britain Cooking’ at the first Children’s Food Festival, which took place on the 14th and 15th July in Oxford.
Organised by the Northmoor Trust, this special festival was a celebration of food and cooking aimed at young people. Over 360 children participated in interactive cookery sessions in the Belling Kids’ Kitchen; a dedicated marquee that ran a series of 12 cookery sessions across the two days to teach children how to make a variety of dishes, with two high capacity Kensington 90E range cookers on hand to help.
Supported by celebrity chefs Raymond Blanc and Sophie Grigson, cookery writer Amanda Grant and Nora Sands, from the TV programme, Jamie’s School Dinners, the festival saw Belling kick off its ‘Keep Britain Cooking’ campaign, with the clear aim of ensuring family recipes handed down through the generations do not become a thing of the past and to make cooking fun and accessible for everyone.
Across the two days, children keen to learn more about cooking came on down to the Belling Kids’ Kitchen to receive their Belling chefs hats, balloons, badges, and for every child who took part in the cooking sessions, a certificate congratulating them on their achievement.
Laura Greenhalgh, Brand Executive of Belling, comments:
“At Belling, we have been keeping Britain cooking for 95 years, and because we believe cooking is vitally important, we have launched a campaign to ensure we all keep on cooking for at least another 95 years.
“The Children’s Food Festival was a great opportunity for the potential cooks of the future to learn about food and cooking and we were awestruck by the response from parents and children alike.
“With over 18,000 people in attendance across the weekend – twice the estimate of the organisers – it was encouraging to see how keen young people are to know more about the food they eat and from the comments received on the Children Food Festival website, we couldn’t be more proud to have been involved.
Belling sponsors the first ever children's food festival
Updated July 12th 2007
When? 14th and 15th July 2007, 10am-6pm
Where? Abingdon Airfield, Oxfordshire
Belling is inviting children to discover the wonders of food and cooking at the UK’s first ever food festival created especially for them.
The Children’s Food Festival, organised by the Northmoor Trust, will take place over the weekend of 14 and 15 July 2007 on Abingdon Airfield in Oxfordshire, and aims to transform young people’s approach to food by celebrating food and cooking.
Cookery writer Amanda Grant and chefs from leading children’s cookery schools will be running the Belling Kids’ Kitchen; a dedicated marquee running a series of six cookery sessions each day for up to 30 children at a time, where they will learn how to make a variety of dishes, with two high capacity Kensington 90E range cookers on hand to help.
Amanda Grant is not the only well-know face at the festival - celebrity chefs Raymond Blanc and Sophie Grigson are joint Patrons and will be giving cookery demonstrations along with Prue Leith, Antonio Carluccio, best selling children's food writer Annabel Karmel and Nora Sands, from the TV programme, Jamie’s School Dinners.
As well as watching the pros, children will be able to taste all kinds of food and try out all kinds of hands-on activities, including smoothie blending, chapati rolling and pizza tossing. Themed tents will follow ingredients from field to fork, including: The Meat Tent, The Dairy Tent, The Bread Tent, The Fruit and Veg Tent, the Rowse Honey Tent and the Smell and Taste Experience offered by the Academy of Culinary Arts. Owing to generous support from sponsors and to enable as wide a participation as possible, entry to the festival will be free.
Children can make pasta in The Saclà Italian Tent and do fun things with spuds on the Potato Bus. ‘Gastro-comedy’ includes the live dinner table and the 30ft sleeping sow. Tastes from around the world will be there to try, including Mexican, Thai, Egyptian and Caribbean, as well as local, organic and fairtrade produce from the Farmers’ Market. And there will be farm animals, as requested by children themselves.
Festival Director, Eka Morgan says:
“This festival is about children having a fantastic time and becoming adventurers in the world of real food. We want to get children back in touch with where food comes from and re-establish cooking as something we can all do with confidence and pleasure. Cooking is a vital life skill and an essential part of culture, like sport, art and drama.“
For further information, please visit: www.childrensfoodfestival.co.uk