{"id":21104,"date":"2012-09-30T09:34:49","date_gmt":"2012-09-30T08:34:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/noexpert.co.uk\/?p=21104"},"modified":"2013-04-20T11:44:01","modified_gmt":"2013-04-20T10:44:01","slug":"real-food-festival-on-the-southbank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.noexpert.co.uk\/food\/?p=21104","title":{"rendered":"Real Food Festival on the Southbank"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am something of a fan of the Real Food Markets<\/a> that take place on London’s South Bank every week, but until now had never been to the annual Real Food Festival<\/a>. The\u00a0 last food festival I went to was such a disappointment that it put me off the whole food festival concept (Foodies in Battersea Park<\/a>).\u00a0 Today was different. Foodies for example cost \u00a315 a ticket and all the Chef Theatre events had to be pre booked.\u00a0 The Real Food Festival in contrast is free and the Theatre events are on a first come basis. I actually got a front seat in the Theatre, something I have rarely managed to do at other festivals – it’s so nice to get pictures that don’t involve zooming in, not to mention being in a good postion to sample the food post demonstration before the swarm (see picture).<\/p>\n

There were plenty of stands lining the river taking over a fair bit of the outdoor space around the Southbank centre. All nicely laid out, so you could actually see what was on offer. Lots of food festival regulars like The Little Round Cake Company<\/a> and Outsider Tart<\/a> were there. Cono Sur<\/a> had free wine tasting, Thunder Vodka<\/a> were providing samples of their award winning Toffee Vodka, and I was spoilt for choice on the savory front. I eventually decided to try some Takoyaki<\/a> (Japanese dumplings) – Octopus, spring onion, Japanese red ginger, tempura topped with takoyaki sauce, mayonnaise, aonori seaweed and katsuobushi, they were piping hot and very tasty.<\/p>\n