The Great Bath Feast 2014 prepares to serve up a sumptuous menu of events

Top names from the culinary world will be in Bath this October for more than 100 events during the Great Bath Feast including Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder, Nathan Outlaw, Tom Kerridge, The Great British Bake Off?s Ruby Tandoh plus an array of local talent including Ping Coombes, Masterchef?s 2014 victor.

The Great Bath Feast is a month-long celebration, an excuse for visitors and residents to taste new flavours, learn new skills and seek out new experiences and above all enjoy themselves and socialise. Famous for its hospitality in the Georgian era, today’s World Heritage city offers visitors a fabulous choice of hostelries and eateries and has many interesting foodie stories to tell from Baristas to Buns. The Great Bath Breakfast incorporates all that is fresh and local into a full English and the Great Bath Feast Pavilion provides a busy hub of activity including an action packed cookery theatre.

A Feast for the Eyes

Just as Bath itself is a feast for the eyes, the theme for 2014 focuses on the imagery of food and the importance of stimulating all the senses. A special dining evening at the Holburne Museum of Art invites chefs to take inspiration from art and create a “Feast for The Eyes”. The Pink Lady® Food Photographer of the Year will be on show for the first time in Bath at the Octagon in Milsom Place (9^th-19^th October). Great Bath Feasters will be encouraged to share images of amazing dishes during the month using # feastfortheeyes.

Masterchef 2014 champion creates a stir in the city

The sounds and aromas of an authentic Malaysian Street Market come to Bath, courtesy of the city’s Masterchef 2014 Champion, Wan Ping Coombes, who will be serving up a storm with Chef Chris Staines at his restaurant, The Allium Brasserie on 14^th & 15^th October.  A popular winner, Ping’s pop up restaurant in London sold out and she says” the Great Bath Feast allows people to be as creative as they want to. It’s a really good campaign”.

Social Suppers

Social suppers range from pop up events such as the Great Vietnamese Feast in the Bear Pad Café, to the Great Bath Tweet Feast at the Bath Priory – more of a social media supper, with streaming of video from the kitchen to witness Michelin starred cooking as it happens. Supper clubs at the Bertinet Kitchen will showcase the skills of Nathan Outlaw, Jenny Chandler, Richard Harris and Richard Bertinet and a feast of classic Italian cooking from Tuscany and Umbria with Valentina Harris. Menu Gordon Jones is laying on a Banquet, with a seven course tasting menu in his little gem of a restaurant. “Making a Meal of it” at Sally Lunn’s, located in Bath’s oldest house, offers the chance to rub shoulders, talk food and make supper with the lovely Sam Moody, Michelin starred chef from the Bath Priory. Bini Ludlow, a chef who specialises in traditional Indian Gujarati food will be cooking up “warming dishes for cold nights” as a guest chef at the Newton Farm Shop.

Historical roots

Food historian and contributor to BBC’s Kitchen Cabinet, Dr Annie Gray presents “Cooking the Books” exploring the culinary secrets tucked away in rare manuscripts dating back to the 1600’s from the Archive of Bath Central Library. Dale Ingram from Sally Lunn’s will recreate recipes created by the famous 18^th Century actress Sarah Siddon’s who regularly performed in Bath, among others. At Number 1 Royal Crescent Mr Adams the Butler is running a tutorial on the art and etiquette of 18^th Century dining.

The Great Bath Feast Pavilion

Ten days of foodie action will be kicking off with the cookery theatre showing off the range of culinary expertise from Bath’s top chefs, plus cake decorating and cocktail masterclasses. Top billing goes to the Chilli Superleague, when Bath Rugby play off Bath Netball in a chilli tasting contest to gauge who has the greatest heat tolerance, with chillies provided by nearby Upton Cheyney Chilli Farm. Listen to the intriguing story of Fungi Fruits; a mushroom farm in an urban setting using coffee grounds to grow oyster mushrooms, an inventive and sustainable way of producing food.

Provenance and Produce

Top chefs tend to gravitate to Bath, enticed by the vast wealth of West Country produce on their doorstep. The Saturday Farmer’s Market in Bath was the first in the UK and stalls sell seasonal ingredients every week in the vibrant and cultured market located in Green Park Station where the Great Bath Apple Festival takes place on 19^th October. Plans include Cider Making with Honey’s Midford Cider, apple wood carving and apple bobbing.

Cookery schools offer hands on courses

Making the most of the produce grown in the local vicinity, hands-on courses at Demuth’s Vegetarian Cookery School take you on a trip around the world – to Persia, one of the oldest culinary traditions, with Bath expert Simi Razai; Japan for a master class with Sahiko Saeki from UMU; and to the exciting cuisines of South America and Turkey. Nearer to home Demuths celebrates Bath on a Plate, utilising local produce, and The Riverford Veg Box evening, making the most of seasonal vegetables.

Selina Permalloo, Masterchef’s 2012 winner will be sharing her passion for Mauritian cuisine at the Bertinet Kitchen, other guests there include a Michelin starred Masterclass by Peter & Jonray Sanchez from Casamia, pasta making with Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder from Hartnett Holder & Co and a guest appearance by Bake Off 2013 winner, Frances Quinn. Carluccio’s are also divulging on some trade secrets with a hands-on pasta making and mushroom risotto classes.

Book Talks and Demonstrations

Typical of Bath’s independent retailers, Topping & Company brings some extra zest to the city with its packed autumn programme including Tom Kerridge, discussing his Best Ever Dishes; Bath’s famous baker, Richard Bertinet, demonstrating recipes from his latest book, Patisserie Maison; Japanese Soul Food with Masterchef 2011 winner Tim Anderson, and a talk, demonstration and tasting on “Crumb” by Ruby Tandoh on her passionate baking book and the second book from Bath’s Acorn Vegetarian Kitchen with chef/patron Richard Buckley.

The Great Bath Bake Sale

Bath is a baking city, famous for its buns and Mary Berry’s birthplace. Bath Abbey will be hosting the “Great Bath Bake Sale” on 18^th October, a new take on the Women’s Institute cake sale in the parish church which raises funds for the “Footprint Project”. This is a bake sale on a grand scale, with Richard Bertinet offering bread making classes for children followed by a glorious harvest celebration on 19^th October with the choral Harvest Festival Service.

Fine Cheese Co. Festival at Milsom Place

The nation’s cheese champions will gather in Milsom Place for the Fine Cheese Co. Festival on 25^th October, a chance to experience the taste of the finest artisan cheeses and chat with their makers. Pete Humphries of White Lake Cheese is nominated for a 2014 SOFI Award, the cheese equivalent of the Oscars, with his Rachel Soft Cheese, and you can expect to meet other skilled artisans from Somerset like Bath Soft Cheese, Keen’s Cheddar and Westcombe Cheddar as well as Ticklemore and Caws Cenarth and Trethowan’s Dairy from further afield.

Wine Tastings

The Great Bath Feast is not just about food, it also includes the annual Great Western Wines Portfolio Wine Tasting with over 100 wine producers in the Assembly Rooms – an appropriate venue as many of the greatest boutique growers will be gathered in one place for tasting the world’s finest wines. The company will be staging a free tasting with Giovanni Mazzei, who is one of Tuscany’s best wine makers, and a very special tasting dinner at the Olive Tree restaurant with Matteo Ascheri, one of the most talented winemakers in Piedmont, whose wines express elegance and refinement that is too often overlooked in today’s ‘instant fix’ world. Raisin Wines is running a series of food matching evenings. Bristol Wine School, Great Western Wines and Chris Staines, Executive Chef of the Allium Brasserie have combined their knowledge to create an evening of food and wine that will be relaxed, enlightening, bursting with flavour, both wine and food and definitely fun with eight course and eight delicious wines. 

Brewing & gastropubs

Brewing in Bath has a storied history and a strong pub culture. Meet Shane O’Beirne, the man behind the craft ales from Beerd Brewery the latest offering from Bath Ales, with a tasting at their successful venture, Graze in SouthGate. Gastropubs are getting creative with food based prizes at the King William’s Great Bath Feast Pub Quiz and The Garrick’s Head and Marlborough Tavern celebrate local game as well as exploring Bath’s fascinating past with an evening entitled “History of Bath on a Plate”.

Tennerfeast

The Tennerfeast offers autumn treats in venues throughout the city, all with a £10 price tag. Take this for example, Bath Ales will be serving ‘Jugged Forest Hare Pie’, served with mash and greens for £10 in their Bath hostelries, Hop Pole, the Salamader and Graze. Smashing deals are also available on accommodation for foodies to stay in Bath, for information on that please go to visitbath.co.uk.

Café Culture

Yet again Colonna & Small’s have won UK’s top Barista award, and Bath’s café culture encompasses cool coffee shops as well as imposing venues like The Pump Room which has been dispensing style and hospitality for 200 years. Follow the #greatbunsinbath to find out what’s new on the tea time trail.

For more information on the festivals’ events, offers and promotions go to: www.greatbathfeast.co.uk

For media enquiries and images contact Nicky Hancock on 01225 332299 or via e-mail: [email protected]