We had a fabulous response from Yorkshire producers and makers etc… and we also have on board the very fabulous TV chef and famed forager Stephanie Moon for this foodie series.

A couple more exciting developments have occurred and as a result our timing and schedule has changed – resulting for us to make the quick fire decision to whip our series of tasting halls to star in December festivities on Kelham Island.

Updates will be made via this blog… and in the meantime we’ll be bringing to you our best foodie observations – and we welcome any suggestions for the tasting halls… and of course if you know anyone – or indeed are someone who wants to get involved… get in touch quick smart!!

For everyone asking about tickets – stay very tuned – as we’ll be releasing tickets in the autumn – and also squeezing out the excitement of our news over the coming months…

Don’t forget – in the meantime – you can still experience our fab foodie delights at The Pop Up Dining Hall at The Chimney House… our latest feasting shots are right here! Flying the flag for Yorkshire food all the way!

Thanks to every single one of you, suppliers, farmers, chefs, producers, makers,  Twitter fans, FB fans and everyone else who has  unquestioningly supported us right from the word go… You are FAB!!

When was the last time you had a truly great ploughmans? You know… fabulous cheese, cold meats, pies, fresh bread, creamy butter, pickles, chutneys, relishes…

Our first tasting hall will be celebrating The Great Yorkshire Lunch – with the best from the Yorkshire region.

Guests will be treated to the ultimate lunch time delights in tasting form… gathering up a plateful of fabulous produce and treats with the chance to buy from and chat to producers.

We’re looking for producers to join the tasting hall with all things to do with lunchtime eats.

We’ve taken a sprinkling of inspiration from the rather fabulous Glutton Club who share love for the fabulous Yorkshire lunch!

Get in touch if you’d like to get involved. Pitches are free. sally@cheffieldfestival.com

(We may ask for a contribution towards a charity instead of a charge)

If you are a master producer, maker or grower and you need an audience – we would love to hear from you sally@cheffieldfestival.com

The Tasting Hall requires that you are willing to let visitors of CHEF:FIELD taste/sample and enjoy your produce – as well as bringing plenty to sell as well! The Tasting Hall will be open from 10am-4pm – and we would encourage you to take inspiration from the time of the day to what tasty treats you have on offer.You must also of course be willing to wax lyrical about your produce and be prepared to answer questions and chat to the consumer!!

Each producer will be allocated a vessel to cram full of delicious items.We advise you to have this prepared before you arrive on the day.

As the event will take place in doors there are no cooking facilities on site.

Join series 1 and get fabulous coverage on our website and your own A-Z listing within the site as well as a full brand profile on the CHEF:FIELD blog.

You’ll also be profiled on The Chimney House blog and receive coverage from local, regional and national press.

Email sally@cheffieldfestival.com for more!

A tasting hall in its truest form. Think of a place you can come and try and then buy the finest food our region has to offer.

A collection of 20 fine producers and suppliers all in one room laid out gastronomic feast style upon the 25ft historic tables of The Chimney House. Imagine a feast that stretches the whole length of a room and you’ll be thinking of our tasting hall.

Peruse giant vessels crammed with foods from the region, enjoy, savour and relish your food, speak directly to the producer, ask questions, find out how to make the most from the finest ingredients in your everyday cooking or maybe for a special occasion.  Each producer will be in attendance selling whatever you will be tasting – so a great opportunity to do your food festival shopping all under one roof!

A perfect pop up foodie event with a twist on your usual food festival,  complete with beautiful views out over the historic waterways of Kelham Island – a beautiful setting, fabulous food and a breath of island air.

Tickets for each event are very affordable and are available to purchase from the CHEF:FIELD site. Family tickets available

All events will be hosted at The Chimney House, 4 Kelham Island, Sheffield.

A Note to Producers

If you are a master producer, chef, maker or grower and you need an audience – we would love to hear from you sally@cheffieldfestival.com

Producers will be invited to join us free of charge. We may ask for a contribution towards a charity instead of a charge.

Join series 1 and get fabulous coverage on our website and your own A-Z listing within the site as well as a full brand profile on the CHEF:FIELD blog.

Kept on our toes – with secret taste tests and tasty games punctuated with ‘black forest gateaux’ tea (cocoa nibs infused delight) attentions were held and perceptions challenged as we flitted through some of the best vintages around.

Cocoa scoop you up… tickle your fancy and allow you to fulfill said fancy in their divine shop…for choice purchases made with new found knowledge. We also heard a whisper that a in house range could be in the making – but we’ll keep our ear to the ground for now.

Cocoa in their own sweet words…

Once upon a time in leafy Sheffield, there lived two best friends, Kate and Anne, who were lucky enough to own their very own shop. Their shop wasn’t just any old shop. It was an enchanted chocolate wonderland!

Hidden away from all the hustle and bustle of today’s modern living, Cocoa was like taking a step into the past. Packed full of treats with rows and rows of every kind of sweet imaginable in sparkling glass jars. And, of course, exquisite chocolate! Their shop was adored by many, young and old, and people visited from far and wide, just for a little taste of Cocoa’s magic. Customers would find themselves lost in nostalgia and transported back to their childhoods.

The Cocoa ladies, being firm believers in quality over quantity and the saying a little bit of something that you fancy does you good, went to great lengths to discover the most beautiful ribbons and boxes and yummiest confectionery.
So… one day they decided to travel to the deepest darkest corners of the planet to visit the birthplace of their favourite chocolate in the whole wide world…..

They embarked upon a great adventure and travelled to a tiny island called Grenada in the Caribbean. There they lived in a beautiful jungle, but this was no ordinary jungle as an array of vibrant cocoa pods surrounded them. They helped pick the pods, collect the beans and when they were ready they took them to the chocolate factory and watched them being turned into chocolate. Finally the bars were ready to fly back to Cocoa’s customers.

The Cocoa ladies found their trip so inspiring that they too wanted to make their own chocolate creations. So, once they had acclimatised (and the holiday blues had worn off), they booked themselves in at the Chocolate Academy (the only
education they would need!). They are now in process of concocting their own secret recipes. The next chapter will reveal all….

LoveYourLarder.com is foodie heaven – an online marketplace where you can discover delicious artisan food and drink from across the UK and buy directly from the lovely people who make it.

As a student, Tristan Watson (28), loved wandering down to Farmer’s Markets mid-week to stock up on some quality food, have a bit of friendly banter and pick up a treat or two for the weekend. When he started working full time in London he realised just what a luxury that had been; “There was no way I had enough time to go to the market in the middle of day and shop like I used to”.

It wasn’t until a chance conversation when he moved to Newcastle that he realised there might be an alternative; “I was talking to a friend who wanted to start selling their cakes online, they’d been offered a grant by Business Link but it was still going to cost them thousands to get an online shop up and running.”

Tristan started researching the online food market and found that the big retailers were making millions but the independent producers didn’t have the resources to promote their sites and were only getting a fraction of their sales online. He realised the solution was simple; “Why not combine the best features of a farmers market with selling online – producers can benefit from each other’s customers whilst being able to sell across the country”.

Teaming up with web developer Colin Sharpe they started building their online marketplace. One of the big decisions they made early on was to have the food producers send the orders out directly to the customer; “It was the only way we could open up the marketplace to all producers both big and small. If we were going to hold items in stock then we’d only be able to sell the most popular products, we didn’t want it to matter how often your items sold, just that they were the best quality available.”

Launched at the end of 2010 the marketplace is already filled with everything from fruit vinegars to artisan chocolates, craft beers to rare cheeses made by talented producers from every corner of the country. Their custom technology allows you to checkout with just one secure payment when buying from the site whether you’re ordering from one producer or twenty.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the response to the site and we’re bringing on new producers all the time. We really hope that Love Your Larder can not only help people discover some of the amazing artisan food and drink we make in this country but also encourage more small food businesses to start up by making that first step a little easier.”

I recently came across the rather excellent Fodder – and was blown away by their dedication to excellence. I’m obviously in very good company as Fodder tends to pick up awards like cows eat grass (see what I did there)

Here’s a bit more about the brand and their ‘official’ response from Fodder HQ about winning the OFM Awards for ‘Best Independent Retailer’ Award…

Fodder, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society’s flagship food hall, has won the coveted Observer Food Monthly “Best Independent Retailer” award. The Fodder team collected their award in a star-studded ceremony in London, rubbing shoulders with the foodie elite including celeb foodies Hugh Fearnley-Wittingstall, Jamie Oliver and Tom Parker-Bowles.

Fodder is the UK’s first fully charitable food hall, with all profits reinvested in helping the rural community in the North of England. Observer Food Monthly across Britain voted Fodder as their favourite local retailer.

Managing Director Heather Parry explains, “We’re absolutely over the moon winning this award, just 18 months after we opened. Credit must go to our amazing suppliers the terrific staff whose hard work and enthusiasm for Yorkshire food and drink is infectious.”

Local food is at the heart of Fodder with 85% of the food sold and served coming from Yorkshire and the Humber. Fodder offers a wide range of local produce and sells everything from radish cress, to ginger cordial, organic oats to award winning pork pies, rare variety apples, cheese from the UK’s smallest dairy, to superb meats carefully selected and butchered on site.

Keen to keep costs competitive, Fodder price checks produce against supermarket equivalents, while still giving the producer a fair price for their goods.

“We’re adamant that local should not mean more expensive. There’s a careful balance of basics and artisan food—to ensure the shop is affordable and has something for everyone. Everyday items like sausages and eggs are reliably cheaper than at many supermarkets,” explains Heather.

The Observer Food Monthly awards judge, Jay Rayner says, “Fodder takes tired foodie buzz words like “local” and “seasonal” and gives them meaning. While farmers’ markets and bespoke delis pander to fashion, Fodder has created a proper food hall that showcases the very best of Yorkshire’s produce, but it does so at a price which makes it genuinely accessible to everyone.”

Miss Parry continues, “While it’s great to win awards, Fodder’s real aim is to benefit the rural community. Last year, – our first year of trading – our local sourcing policy injected £1.9 million into Yorkshire’s economy supporting over 180 local farmers, producers and emerging businesses. We act as a shop window for local producers, providing a platform from which to market their goods. The real winners are the farmers and producers who supply Fodder.”

As all excellent brands do (carry on collecting silverware) they have since chopped, sliced and diced their way to victory at the Butchers Shop of the Year Awards 2010.

Fodder – we salute your excellence!

A Glasgow-based consultancy has created packaging designs for a range of brie from cheesemaker Highland Fine Cheeses, which uses the motif of a six-legged animal.  The design group involved was tasked with developing designs for a range of Cromarty brie that Highland Fine Cheeses wanted to launch in premium retailers.

Their head designers commented that ’We did not want to make it radically different from other cheese packaging, as it would lose its provenance. The six-legged animal is clearly ridiculous, but because of its placement some people don’t automatically see it.’

There will be cow’s milk, goat’s milk and sheep’s milk variants of the cheeses, and the goat and sheep on the labels will also be six-legged. Each variant will have a different key colour, with the cow being black, the goat dark blue and the sheep colour yet to be decided.

The range will be launched at Ian Mellis, in Edinburgh and Glasgow, and Neal’s Yard, in London, before Christmas.

Article courtesy of Design Week.  Read the full story here.

French super star illustrator (contributing Illustrator for Chef:Field) has delivered again … this time with Miller. For the full story check out her Vimeo.  Her keen eye for detail and elegant designs once applied onto the cold hard concrete building add an instant something awesome to the urban environment.  What’s more, the illustration will remain as a subtle impression over time as it continues to weather.  All in all, a really nice application of this ‘clean’ marketing medium.  Next!

They’re no great secret to those in the know, but for those that haven’t experienced these tremendous Houses yet I’ll tell you a bit about them.  Shoreditch House, East London – we nipped in just the other weekend.  Tables are notoriously hard to secure, but a word in the right ear found us a suitable spot for some roof-top and care free late Summer sun.  With a couple of generous glasses of crisp white wine was closely followed by a freshly prepared dish of goats cheese ravioli served with roasted red peppers and a scattering of pine nuts.  This was a more than pleasant way to see off a few early afternoon hours.  Highly recommended.  Incredible views right across London, and what’s more the international homes for this super brand also look extremely tempting to visit, … Berlin calling!

Just the perfect place for a hang over coffee, or a sharp caffeine boost pre jog or towpath cycling.  This tiny slither of a coffee shop sits on the edge of the canal near Dalston junction, London.  Elegant cups and a strong flavour of European flair exude from this super friendly pit stop, the cakes are amazing, the coffee fresh and rich roast, with daily specials thrown in for good measure.

You simply can’t go wrong, but with the Autumn approaching take a wrap around to keep snug and watch the boats and birds go by!  For a fuller review see here.

Birmingham is priming itself for a funky new food arena launching in 2011 – lets hope the focus is on Independent Food Brands not high-street food chains.  The new scheme which is called Spiceal Street, draws on the areas’ history. During the 1700s the original Spiceal Street, in the same location as the proposed development, was known for its hospitality, grocery and meat trade.

In the Autumn of 2011, the new-look Spiceal Street will bring a new dimension to Bullring with great architecture to complement St Martin’s Church and the pioneering Selfridges building adding a buzzing restaurant atmosphere to enliven St Martin’s Square. The first restaurant to open in the area is Jamie’s Italian which opens in October 2010 followed by three new exciting restaurants in 2011.

The regeneration of Bullring has helped to transform the city centre, and the £500 million investment introduced iconic architecture to create a successful retail destination. This new development will maintain Bullring’s pedigree in delivering strong architecture to the city, as well as strengthen Birmingham’s growing culinary offer and attract new restaurant brands to Birmingham.

For more visit the Spiceal Street Website

Here’s a quick shot of the potatoes that I helped grow this year from what we fondly call The Urban Garden which is located right in the centre of Sheffield City.  We grew a variety of 2 potatoes, these are a sneak peek of the first of the crop.  More to follow.  I’ll let you know how they tasted too, and how I cooked them.  They are currently residing in a thick market brown paper bag ready for a spectacular feast I’m planning later in the month.

Ice cream is making a comeback. Forget Fab lollies and kitsch 1950s paraphernalia and say hello to a world of adult indulgence, bespoke flavours and retail drama. John Stones from Design Week warms to this chilled reinvention.

You’ve got to feel a bit sorry for ice cream. Once everyone’s favourite treat, it’s been eclipsed recently by its more svelte and fashionable sister, frozen yogurt.

The craze for frozen yogurt has been taken up with gusto around the world. It has inspired some particularly innovative and striking design, from Frolick in Singapore (branding by Asylum) and Snog in London (interiors by Cinimod Studio and naming and branding by Ico Design) to Tangy Sweet in Washington DC (by Kube Architecture).

But ice cream is fighting back – sales are up, and there’s a host of interesting design activity taking place. Of course, ice-cream parlours of the mid-20th century were the result of a significant investment in design, from interiors to technology and packaging. Innovative and bold in their day, they’re now largely seen as being as kitsch as the seaside resorts in which they once flourished.

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