Enjoy oysters in Falmouth
Valentine Warner, food writer and star of BBC Two’s ‘What To Eat Now’ series will lead the Opening Ceremony of Falmouth Oyster Festival on Thursday 14th October, with a demonstration of his culinary expertise and passion for cooking with local, wild ingredients, showcasing the diversity and quality of Cornish seafood and produce.
His first television series of ‘What to Eat Now’ saw Valentine seeking out the best food and dishes that Autumn has to offer, and in the second series Valentine concentrated on Summer’s seasonal bounty. The two accompanying books have been best-sellers. Valentine will be signing books after the cookery demonstration giving festival visitors the chance to meet the chef and try out his recipes for themselves.
The event will take place from 14th to 17th October 2010 at its waterfront venue at Events Square in Falmouth. Valentine joins a long list of popular television personalities who have appeared at the festival including Rick Stein, Hugh Fernley Whittingstall, Antonio Carluccio, Aldo Zilly, John Burton Race and Clarissa Dickson Wright.
Now in its 14th year, the event has steadily grown both in size and popularity, regularly receiving in excess of 25,000 visitors, and is now considered to be one of the top food festivals in Cornwall. Falmouth Oyster Festival celebrates the start of the oyster dredging season and the diversity and quality of Cornish seafood and in particular, one of the last remaining traditional oyster fisheries, dredging by sail and oar. Ancient laws dictate that no engines may be used to dredge the oysters to conserve the stocks and protect the natural ecology of the oyster fishery, using the characteristic Falmouth Working Boats or oyster rowing punts.
The cookery theme is an integral part of the festival, packed with demonstrations by leading local chefs. Visitors can take in the festival atmosphere as they enjoy the local oysters, seafood, champagne, wine or the specially brewed oyster ale, as they listen to the shanty singing and live music on offer. Children’s shell painting, town parade and marquees brimming with Cornish produce and crafts make this event ever popular with festival goers.
With food and drink becoming one of the key attractions to Cornwall, the festival has seen an increasing number of food companies promoting their quality produce at the festival alongside Cornish craft producers, and have tempted visitors to savour the expanding range of mouth watering Cornish food and drink on offer. The event has broad appeal and is a must for all oyster, seafood and marine heritage enthusiasts – what better reason to plan a long weekend in Falmouth.
The festival truly has something for everyone – for further details see http://www.falmouthoysterfestival.co.uk or call 01326 312300.
