Tastes from all over the world at festival’s food stalls

Breckland Orchard
www.brecklandorchard.co.uk
Celtic Vale Natural Mineral Water
www.celticvale.co.uk
The Fresh Lemonade Co
Fresh lemonade and cocktails!

Hollow Ash Orchard
www.hollow-ash.co.uk

The Lemonade Lady
Freshly squeezed lemonade

Llanllyr Source
www.llanllyrsource.com
Shocka’s Coconut Hub
Freshly-chopped coconut water alongside alcoholic Shocktails mix

Welsh Farmhouse Apple Juice
www.welshfarmhouseapplejuice.co.uk

Yarty Cordials
www.yartycordials.com

SPIRITS & LIQUERS

Bramley and Gage Ltd
Chase Distillery Ltd
www.chasedistillery.co.uk
Da Mhile Distillery
www.damhile.co.uk
Moorland Spirit Company
www.hepplegin.com
Pinkster Gin
www.pinkstergin.com

Sam Sake
www.samsake.com
The Shack Revolution
www.theshackrevolution.co.uk
Sibling Distillery
www.siblingdistillery.com
Tipsy Fruit Gins
www.tipsyfruitgins.co.uk
Warner Edwards Distillery
www.warneredwards.com
TEA & COFFEE

Chantler Teas
www.chantlerteas.co.uk
The Coffee Camper
www.thecoffeecamper.com
The Coffee Gondola
www.thecoffeegondola.com
Delicia Cakes & Teas
Cakes and loose leaf teas.

Handlebar Barista
www.handlebarbarista.com
Moo & Two
Passionate tea lovers, fanatic even; delicious coffee too.

Sherston Tea Company
www.sherstontea.com
Tea People
www.teapeople.co.uk
Welsh Coffee Company
www.welshcoffee.com

WINE

Bordeaux Undiscovered
www.bordeaux-undiscovered.co.uk
Cwm Deri Vineyard
www.cwm-deri.co.uk
Frome Valley Vineyard
www.fromevalleyvineyard.co.uk
Gilbies
www.gilbies.co.uk
Serravinci Ltd
www.serravinci.co.uk
Viader Vintners
www.viader.co.uk

BEER & CIDER

Apple County Cider Co
www.applecountycider.co.uk
Blaengawney Farm (Hallet’s Cider)
www.halletsrealcider.co.uk
Bland’s Cider
www.blandscider.com
Brecon Brewing
www.breconbrewing.co.uk
Butford Organics
www.butfordorganics.co.uk
Gwatkin Cider Company
www.gwatkincider.co.uk
Gwynt Y Ddraig Cider
www.gwyntcider.com
Llangollen Brewery
www.llangollenbrewery.com
Skyborry Cider and Perry
www.skyborrycider.co.uk
Tiny Rebel Brewing Co.
http://www.tinyrebel.co.uk
Tudor Brewery
www.tudorbrewery.co.uk
Ty Gwyn Cider
www.tygwyncider.co.uk
Untapped Brewing Company
www.untappedbrew.com
Welsh Mountain Cider
www.welshmountaincider.com
Williams Brothers Cider
www.cider.wales
Wye Valley Brewery
www.wyevalleybrewery.co.uk
CEREALS

Casa del Cymru
www.casadelcymru.co.uk

Simplyseedz Ltd
www.simplyseedz.co.uk

DAIRY

Calon Wen Organic Dairy
www.calonwen-cymru.com
Llaeth Y Llan / Village Dairy
www.villagedairy.co.uk
READY MEALS

Coconut Chilli
www.coconutchilli.com
SEEDS, NUTS & DRIED FRUIT

Franchi Seeds 1783
www.seedsofitaly.com
Hodmedod
www.hodmedods.co.uk
Hotroastednuts
Cinammon roasted nuts and Italian licquorice sticks

Wild Trail
www.wildtrail.co.uk
Willy Chase’s Popcorn
www.willychases.co.uk
Wils Smokehouse
Smoked organic gluten free foods with attitude.

Cook the box with top chef Alexlouise Brown

alexlouisebrown

Alexlouise Brown (pictured) was trained by Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc, she ran her own pub-restaurant and her own catering company.

Now, she is sharing her passion for food by teaching people how to go back to basics and make delicious meals from scratch.

Once a month, the owner of Alex’s Supper Clubs hosts Alex Cooks The Box at her base in Pontypridd.

Riverford Organic Farms vegetable and meat boxes are the centrepieces of every session. The contents change every month – produce is seasonal and from Riverford’s network of farms.

Alexlouise, 35, has just a few days to come up with mouth-watering recipes which are simple enough to be demonstrated to and remembered by her visitors without a recipe.

Remember how our mothers and grandmothers created meals from available ingredients without ever looking at a recipe?

Alexlouise is taking cookery classes back to the future.

When I visit, the vegetables include wild garlic, cabbage, courgettes, carrots, rocket, cucumber, spinach leaves, purple sprouting broccoli, onions, potatoes, and mushrooms. The vegetables are supplemented by Riverford organic meats and organic free range eggs, milk, and cream. The only non-UK fruit and vegetable ingredients are bananas – which, of course, have to be imported.

Alexlouise’s philosophy is simple: cook using organic produce and cook from scratch.

“Food doesn’t have ingredients, food is ingredients,” she says.

We’re greeted with a glass of prosecco or her own kombucha, a fermented tea which is slightly sparkling. Alexlouise has added berries to the probiotic drink. It’s refreshing and good for the digestive system.

As she expertly slices the potatoes into wedges and sprinkles them with garam masala and cumin, we talk about the toll food processing can take on ingredients.

Alexlouise shows us how to spatchcock a chicken within minutes. Her cooking doesn’t require complicated kitchenalia – just a roasting tin or two, a frying pan, a saucepan, one sharp knife, a sharp grater, and a hand mixer.

As the chicken and potato wedges roast in the oven, Alexlouise sets to making us her mouth-watering mushroom soup.

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Solid coconut oil is heated to become liquid, and onions fried until translucent. If no vegetarians like me attend, Alexlouise could use lard. Then, Alexlouise grates in the mushrooms. Water, rather than stock, is added, and the soup is seasoned. It simmers until ready for hand blending and is served in tea cups with a dollop of sour cream and a square of homemade rosemary focaccia. It’s fresh and delicious.

We all marvel at how much taste Alexlouise packs into a simple soup.

Our six courses include a home-made coleslaw with soft-boiled eggs which lives on a different planet from the runny affair we buy in tubs in supermarkets.

The grater is king – carrots and cabbage are grated, mayonnaise is added, and everything is seasoned to perfection.

We are also treated to linguini with a tangy lemon and chilli sauce and a crunchy topping of cob nuts, a salad of leaves topped with a balsamic syrup and Indian paneer cheese griddled in Indian spices, roasted, spatchcocked chicken and potato wedges, and Alexlouise’s pudding, a caramelised banana fool.

Rhondda Cynon Taff-20160407-00947

We’re shown how to caramelise sugar correctly – never leave un-melted sugar grains – and how best to coat the banana slices. Cream is whipped and Alexlouise assembles the pudding in champagne flutes, topped with an orange physalis berry on the rim of the glass.

Rhondda Cynon Taff-20160407-00950

At the end of the three-hour session, we’re enlightened, full, happy, and determined to put Alexlouise’s simple recipes into action in our own kitchens.

The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed enough to reassure even the most timid would-be cook. Vegetarians like me are welcomed.

It’s the perfect foodie night out with friends or family.

Alex Cooks The Box is hosted in Pontypridd every first Thursday of the month at £35 per person. Check availability, see a sample menu, and book on her website here: http://www.alexssupperclub.com/#/event/alex-cooks-the-box

‘Everyone wants to order boxes after the event’

Riverford Organic Farms franchiser in South East Wales Janet Mier, who is also at the Alex Cooks The Box night, says the sessions have inspired visitors to order regular vegetable and meat box deliveries.

“Some people who come along are already customers and have heard about the events through us, but others are inspired by the recipes and the produce and sign up,” she says.

“They see the quality of the produce and taste how good it is. We’ve been involved in the nights for a few months now, and it’s been excellent.”

Janet serves customers from Penarth and Sully to the Heads of the Valleys and Monmouthshire border to the east, delivering around 850 boxes a week.

To learn more about Riverford South Wales, see their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/RiverfordSouthWales/ and to order boxes call 01633 867661.

Alexlouise’s culinary career

At 15, Alexlouise went straight from school into a job in a kitchen after a work experience placement at 14. She washed dishes and prepared vegetables, but soon realised she could work her way up.

“If you stay in kitchens long enough and you learn, you will progress,” she says.

She went on to work in restaurants like those at the Celtic Manor, then worked under Michelin-starred chef Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir Aux Quat’Saisons near Oxford. By the time she was 22, she was running her own pub-restaurant Y Draenog in Pontyclun.

A spell running her own catering company followed, then a move to Switzerland, the home of the hospitality industry.

Alexlouise catered to exclusive ski chalet clients like Prince Andrew, the President of Kazakhstan, the Saudi royal family, and billionaire businessmen and women.

When she returned to Wales, she began working at her other love, property development. Cooking went on the back burner for a while, but her love of food eventually drew her back to the kitchen.

She started her Alex’s Supper Clubs business, where a group of people visits her base in Pontypridd, each bringing an ingredient. Everyone cooks together.

Then came Alex Cooks The Box.

Now, Alex is also spreading her love of cooking by teaching families how to cook with affordable, fresh ingredients in Llanhilleth.

Maria Williams is a professional blogger, copywriter, and PR for small businesses. Go to www.wordsyoucanuse.co.uk.

All you need to know about Cardiff’s International Food Festival this weekend

60,000 people are expected at Cardiff's International Food Festival — 60,000 people are expected at Cardiff’s International Food Festival

AROUND 60,000 food fans are set to descend on Cardiff Bay this weekend.

The annual Cardiff International Food & Drink Festival will feature eating, drinking, live music and entertainment.

Visitors can watch cooking demonstrations by top chefs, browse stalls selling local produce, and there will be a farmers’ market. There will be taste from around the globe. The timings for the free event will be:

Producer’s Fayre: 12noon-9pm Friday, 11am-9pm Saturday, 11am-7pm Sunday

Farmers’ Market: 12noon-7pm Friday, 11am-7pm Saturday/Sunday

Food Piazza: 12noon-10pm Friday, 11am-10pm Saturday, 11am-7pm Sunday

Craft Stalls: 12noon-9pm Friday, 11am-9pm Saturday, 11am-7pm Sunday

*PRODUCERS’ FAIR*
Blaengawney Farm	Gwatkin Cider	Sarah Cooks
Bread of Devon	Gwynt y Ddraig Cider Ltd	Selwyns Seafood
Caerphilly Preserves	Homemade Country Preserves	Septimus Spyder Drinks
Caws Cenarth Cheese	Hot Roasted Nuts	Shepherd’s Ice Cream
Celtic Country Wines	Irvin Confectionary	Snowdonia Cheese Co Ltd
Celtic Spirit Co	Little Jack Horners	Sub Zero Ice Cream
Condessa Welsh Liqueurs	Llanfaes Dairy Ice Cream	The Blaenafon Cheddar Company
Cowpots	Love Patisserie	The Chocolate Brownie Company
Devon Fishcakes	Narna’s Chocolates	The Fudge Box
Dewi Roberts Butchers	Perfick Pork	The Garlic Farm
Elm Tree Foods	Produce of Stuttgart	The Gift of Oil
Farmhouse Deli	Radnor Hills	The Handmade Scotch Egg Co
Fire Foods	Ralph’s Cider and Perry	The Original Welsh Oggie Pie Co.
Fudge Factory	Riverford Organic Farms	Tudor Brewery
Gilly’s	Samosaco	Wessex Pantry

*FARMERS’ MARKET*
Asiaspicebox	Fresh As A Daisy	Sorai
Carn Edward Farm	Heather’s Harvest	Susan’s Farmhouse Fudge
Caws Teifi Cheese	Little Welsh Deli	The Celt Experience
Claire’s Kitchen	Mr Fitzpatrick’s Cordials	The Continental Bakery
Contempo Catering	Narna’s Chocolates	The Dangerous Food Company
Cottage Sweets	Oh Sugarplum!	The Pudding Shop
Cwm Deri Vineyard	Pastamore	The Wiltshire Chilli Farm
Delicia Cakes & Teas	Popty Cara	Toffoc Ltd
Dream Blue Trading Co.	Retro Shots	Tudor House Preserves & Welsh Craft Foods
Emily’s Jams and Pickles	Riverside Market Assoc	Ty Gwyn Cider
Enhance	Rowlestone Farmhouse Ice Cream	Untapped Brewing Company Ltd
Field Barwine Ltd	Samosaco	Yo Go Go Frozen Yogurt
Food Station Wales	Seasons Farm Foods	Crafty Devil Brewing

*FARMERS MARKET – CATERING*
Parsons Nose	The Strawberry Stop	The Welsh Creperie
The Wrap Shack	Dusty Knuckle Pizza Company

*STREET FOOD PIAZZA*
Cambrian Organics	Meat and Greek Ltd	Taste of Persia
Gaucho BBQ	Mela Street Food	The Pembrokeshire Beach Food Co. / Café Mor
Glamorgan Vale Hog Roast Ltd	Morgans Family Butchers	The Spanish Buffet
Greta’s Wholefoodies	Old Granary Pierogi	Welsh Venison Centre
Griffiths Bakery Ltd	Roly Poly Ltd	Yum Yum
Indian Delights	Shabbanakle

Bandstand & Entertainment Timings

Bandstand (all sets 45 minutes)
	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
12pm	Donnie Joe’s American Swing	Peel Your Own Spuds	Slap Your Mama Big Band
1pm	Baraka	Red Ray	Maelog
2pm	Fiesta Resistance	Miss Maud’s Folly	The Zen Hussies
3pm	Tantz	The Dandos	Slap Your Mama Big Band
4pm	Rob Heron and The Teapad Orchestra	Maddassa Soul Band	Maelog
5pm	Donnie Joe’s American Swing	Peel Your Own Spuds	The Zen Hussies
6pm	Baraka	Red Ray	Slap Your Mama Big Band
7pm	Fiesta Resistance	Miss Maud’s Folly
8pm	Tantz	The Dandos
9pm	Rob Heron and The Teapad Orchestra	Maddassa Soul Band

Entertainment, Farmer’s Market (all sets 30 minutes)
	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
12.30pm	The Railroad Skiffle Quartet	The Saxalettes	89-91 Band
2.30pm	The Railroad skiffle Quartet	The Saxalettes	89-91 Band
4.30pm	The Railroad Skiffle Quartet	The Saxalettes	89-91 Band