York Food Festival

I wish more food markets were like the food festivals that I've visited and worked at during the last few months. It is a real pleasure to walk through streets full of artisan stalls and great pans full of sizzling world food. I finally finished my A Level exams so I decided to head into York and spend some time browsing in the Friday sunshine.

It was good to see a mix of businesses that feature in local shops and my town's local monthly Food Lover's market. There's been a definite trend for oil traders at food markets recently, including Yorkshire RapeseedOil, while the Olive Shop added dried fragrant herbs and pastes to their repertoire. There were also a lot of venison burgers around the place, which, had I been hungrier, I definitely wouldn't have said no to!

I had a make up lesson in preparation for my Leaver's Ball next week, so to keep me going I headed to the Filmore and Union stall. I love this business, for which I am a fairly regular customer at their railway station branch on my way home. Filmore and Union specialises in pure healthy food, providing fresh juices, salad pots and gluten free treats to suit a wide customer base. I switched my usual Raw Energy juice (broccoli, cucumber, spinach, apple and lemon) for the new Summer Love juice (pineapples, strawberries, mint and lime), with an acai berry shot. This was absolutely gorgeous.

 Being in such proximity, it was good to see seafood stalls. The presence of a real smoked kipper stall was comforting as the last historical smokehouse in Whitby was damaged last year by landslips. The strong smell definitely wasn't for the faint hearted though!  

There were a few more artisan alcohol and liqueur stands too this year, which is always interesting. I stopped for a chat and sample at SLOEmotion, which is a family favourite. They produce a variety of rich gins, whiskeys, brandy's and vodkas flavoured with summer and autumnal fruits, suited for digestifs and cocktails. They've also done a take on Pimms No. 7 which I really enjoyed. 

The whole market had a decidedly yellow theme to it as we are now just two weeks from La Tour de France starting it's Grand Depart in Yorkshire. The whole city has been covered in yellow bunting and flowers in recognition of the event, with spray painted bikes tied to ever street corner. It's good to see the county getting so involved in something like this, and it paired nicely with the Food Festival's summery appeal.

York Food Festival is running until 29^th June, so if you are in the area, I would definitely recommend a visit.