Kathleen Lee
Kat's Table--Music Festival Food Part Two "Away"
By Kathleen Lee
Part two of the tale—an away tale of two days of eating, drinking and dancing begins on the weekend of August 16/17th 2008 in some gorgeous countryside in the suburbs of London that is County Essex—Hylands Park, Chelmsford to be specific. The park played host to the 2008 incarnation of V-Fest (aka: Virgin Music Festival--http://www.vfestival.com/)--One of two venues in the UK to host this two day festival of music. The line up of acts was impressive and frankly so was the food/drink line up. Costs were a little painful but put any issues with cost out of the way—this is the UK—expect to pay double for everything in comparison to T.O…the only exception being drink perhaps. (Cheers to that!!) The UK has a long tradition of summer festivals whether music, hobby or art related. Years of this popular tradition have resulted in an increase in the quality of food available at these events—a reflection of the times perhaps…..and a trend that I personally hope continues both over there and here on home soil.
My friends and I showed up each day at noon to catch our favourite artists (Travis, Alanis Morrisette, Stereophonics, The Verve and a hysterically funny Welsh act called “Goldie Looking Chain” were the definite highlights for me personally) and to basically eat and drink our way through 11 hours of festival fun. First stop on day one was at a local pub in the village of Writtle on the way into the festival that very shrewdly set up shop right on the side of the road with a BBQ. This is where the UK’s notorious reputation for food is proven wrong. Very simple food made to sing with the best quality ingredients. The pub was offering one of the most popular British snacks around=”Roll ‘n Sausage or Roll ‘n Bacon”. There are many bad examples of this simple meal around the country but fortunately my friends and I were treated to one of the best examples. The rolls were fresh with the almost squeaky crisp crust and soft centre. They were filled with two split (homemade on the pub’s premises) sausages for me and with huge fat slices of bacon for my friends. A squirt of either ketchup or “brown sauce” (aka: HP Sauce) topped each roll. We washed them down with some cans of Kronenburg while waiting in line to gain entrance to the park (Consuming alcohol while in public is not illegal in the UK and at occasions such as these often encouraged---I had to get over the “trailer park” feeling of draining a can of beer on a country road and just go for it—When in Rome!)
Once inside the park we made our way to the bar. The choice of drinks on site is several steps above the standard choices at music festivals here where the sponsor beer is often the only choice. Beer/Cider lovers could get Carling, Groshl, or Strongbow. Wine lovers could get decently satisfied with little bottles of Jacob’s Creek Red, White or Rose. And of course there was also the quintessential English cocktail—Pimm’s. A glass filled with Pimms, lemonade, slices of lemon, lime and sprigs of fresh mint over ice made for the most impressive cocktail I’ve ever consumed while singing along to “Sing” by Travis in the middle of a field. One cannot live on drink alone and the roll ‘n sausage kept me satisfied until late afternoon when it was time for a snack. The food selection was staggering but upon the recommendation of my friends who are V-Fest regulars we headed over to “Chips and Dips”. This was definitely my favourite food stall (http://www.chipsanddips.co.uk/index.htm) —again UK food done well by keeping it simple—chunky fries done to perfection, served piping hot with a selection of “dips”. Like any good Canadian girl I picked gravy and cheddar cheese—a little away from home version of “poutine”. The most popular choice among the locals is “chippy curry sauce”….essentially an anglicized curry sauce dumped over hot fries. “Lovely” as per my friend’s husband (himself a local) I’ll have to take his word for it……
Sweet tooth’s had many options at this festival too--from hot sweet drinks, milkshakes, pastries and the popular UK sweet treat the “99” which is vanilla soft serve on a cone with a Cadbury’s Flake sticking out of the top. (Dairy Queen—are you listening???) I had several whilst in London and two of them were this weekend. We also checked out a donut stall not unlike the perennial Toronto EX favourite “Tiny Tom” which had the most amazing donuts-hot, fresh out of the oil, dumped in sugar and then into a bag for us to gobble down. (http://www.caterfest.co.uk/catering_units/donuts.html) Amazing how frying sweet dough in oil and rolling it in sugar can put much more complex pastries to shame. I love fried dough and will totally admit that I will travel to Canada’s Wonderland just to ride the latest coaster followed by eating a funnel cake…sometimes two.
A lot of food (mostly unhealthy) you say? Perhaps, but this was a vacation and a girl who works hard needs her down time complete with comfort food. I kick started day two with another sausage on a bun but this time our pub was not yet ready for business when we walked by. The Kronenberg had to be consumed sans food and when we entered the park to catch the Stranglers we did so with our incredible sausages from the Great British Sausage Co. (http://www.britishsausages.co.uk/) I wish these guys shipped to Canada!! I had the pork and leek version with sautéed onions on a fresh bun. The sausage had large pieces of leek, juicy pork and just the right mixture of spices—add a little mustard and it was a perfect lunch under the sun. (The cute Irish guy working the BBQ was an added bonus to my experience at this stall) This company was created wholly because a man was unhappy about the choices of food available to him at the UK’s many music festivals. A quality product to be sold at quality events—and so the Great British Sausage Company was born—and our taste buds and stomachs are ever the better for it! Our schedule was tighter on day two as there were more bands we wanted to see so we worked off much of our food running from one end of the park to another in between acts. We did make it to Chips and Dips again—with the same toppings since we enjoyed it so much on day one. As we prepared to catch The Verve take the stage we did so with dinner in our hands. I actually got myself a bowl of vegetarian chili and not only was it healthy—it was amazing! No fake “meat” via soy based product for this dish. The chili was just filled with all kinds of vegetables, chickpeas and beans served with rice and topped with old cheddar and fresh jalapeños and a choice of three hot and tasty sauces. It was so tasty I didn’t even miss the meat which is saying something since I make chili all the time at home but none of my versions are meat-less…this winter there will be a vegetarian version at my table!
The UK offers so many options for vegetarians everywhere these days (Paul McCartney’s late wife Linda had a successful line of vegetarian meals for years in the UK)—the music festival was no exception. There were more organic/vegetarian/vegan options then I could count—not to mention food ranging from Japanese, Thai, Chinese, East Indian, West Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, even down to UK traditional. This stall probably impressed me the most—a take on the very British tradition of Sunday lunch-just like the one Mummy makes. These stalls were offering giant Yorkshire puddings topped with either Roast Beef and gravy or Roast Pork and Applesauce. We didn’t try it since my companions and I were raised on Sunday lunches and would rather try something else as a change. That said, I had to restrain myself from sticking my fork into the pork version the guy next to me was eating during Kings of Leon.
The tides really are changing in the UK—if the offerings at a music festival are becoming vegan/organic/local/ and simply just full of flavour then hopefully the every day offerings will follow suit. It was a fantastic weekend of music, food, drink and laughs with some beloved old friends. I’m already cruising the V-Fest web site for next year’s food..ahem…musical line up…….
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