Food.
For many, these two sharing a sentence can induce feelings of revulsion, contempt and even genuine fear. Images brought to mind are likely those of string vested, furrow-browed troglodytes, sweating profusely over an oil-drowned grill and flipping an array of sorry looking burgers made from rats’ lips and mechanically separated tyres. Fortunately, at your modern, food conscious music festival, these things are rarely a problem; a recent trip to the Big Chill in Herefordshire was proof of that and then some.
With variety and quality abundant across the board, it’s a perfect place to try new things as well as to treat yourself to some established favourites while you soak up a weekend of your favourite tunes. But, however amazing the music was (and believe me, it was), I'm posting on DINNERGEDDON to talk about one thing only: the eats.
The first thing to enter my face was the contents of the MUMBAI CITY SNACK BOX, which certainly hit the spot after a few hours in a hot car and a biblical struggle to get all of our camping gear up a minor mountain. Opening said box, I uncovered an assortment of spicy samosas and pakoras packed with chickpeas, spinach, mushrooms and peppers and laden with chutnies mango and chilli. It all sat on a bed of crunchy shredded red cabbage, carrots and onions and warmed my cockles for the rest of the evening almost as well as the juice in my hipflask.
Mumbai city snack box
SPICY MOROCCAN LAMB TAGINE PIE came next and was as much of a mouthful as its name – sweet, tender lamb, cinnamon and apricots tucked into some amazingly melty pastry somehow worked really well with the chunkiest chips you ever did see, along with some really thick gravy. This was the culinary equivalent of England and Morocco fist-bumping each other in mutual admiration and I’ll be damned if it didn’t taste incredible.
Spicy Moroccan lamb tagine pie
In search of some mid-afternoon refreshment, we rolled up to Mr Scruff's Tea Tent for some MINT & CHILLI TEA, which really hit the spot and delivered exactly what you would expect – minty fresh goodness with a slight chilli kick. I kept going back for more over the weekend and was happy to discover later that I can get this stuff at home in Brighton from Infinity Foods. Go get some.
Mr Scruff's mint & chilli tea
A firm favourite at previous Big Chills had been an anonymous vegetarian stall that made the most amazing vegeburgers. It took a couple of days to find this time, but oh boy was it worth the wait. ‘DOUBLE WITH BOTH’ was what had to be ordered – two crisp, home made vegeburgers in a fresh seeded bun with all the usual salad trimmings, mayo, ketchup and the aforementioned ‘both’: a thick slice of cheddar and a farkin’mountain of bacos. For the uninitiated, bacos are tiny, crispy soy pieces that taste a hell of a lot more like bacon than they have any right to. One thing’s for sure, they really make a burger something to behold.
The pie I’d enjoyed the previous day had given me a hankering for more lamb, so I set about sniffing some out. Before long my nose had led me to a stall called ‘Bhatti Wraps’ - the lady behind the counter could obviously see from the look in my eyes that I was screaming for LAMB LAMB LAMB and promptly whipped me up a LAMB BHATTI WRAP.
Lamb Bhatti wrap
Shiiiiiiit. This thing was so good it almost hurt; a soft, naan-like wrap filled to bursting with huge chunks of chargrilled lamb - pink and juicy on the inside, brown and perfectly seasoned on the out - on top of lettuce, red onion, carrot and fresh chilli, topped off with some cooling yoghurt and green mango chutney. If I had the scratch I would pay for these guys to come and set up outside my digs all year round. No joke.
Something sweet was definitely on the cards by this point, so I grabbed a cup o’ Joe and got myself a hot APPLE, SULTANA AND CINNAMON CRÊPE. By its nature, something this floppy is a bit of a struggle to eat from a paper plate with a wooden spork, but once I dug in I forgot all about practicalities – I could smell the fragrant sweetness inside as soon as I cut it open. The pancake itself was soft and stretchy, the filling was nicely gooey but not without some bite from the apple and was sweet without being overly sugary. Good crêpes can only be left to the pros, and the guy who made this one definitely had the chops.
Apple, sultana and cinnamon crêpe
I couldn’t in good conscience spend a whole weekend eating takeaway food without having at least one pizza. Thankfully, the Big Chill also came up trumps in this department – there was a shady little tent devoted to freshly-made-in-front-of-your-eyes pies that were popped onto a hellishly hot baking stone before emerging minutes later, all bubbled up and eager to meet your tongue. The CHILLI SPECIAL came laden with Kalamata olives, onion, mushrooms, fresh tomato and, of course, chilli, which didn’t waste any time in letting you know it meant business. The base was so light and airy it was almost a bubble. I sloped away from this one with the heat ringing in my mouth almost as loudly as the music from the main stage did in my ears.
Chilli special
I had a shocking realisation on the last day that nothing from the sea had yet entered my mouth for the duration of the festival. This had to be corrected right away, and thankfully it wasn’t long before I found myself chomping on a SPICY FISH BOUREK: a crispy fried pastry filled with an amazing combination of tuna, goats’ cheese and chilli harissa, served with a tomato and onion salad and checkchouka - a sort of sweet, spicy North African take on ratatouille. I’d never heard of a bourek before, but if I can I’ll make sure no one else suffers the same ignorance from now on. They’re completely delicious and I’d recommend getting the hell down to your local bourek dispensary right now.
Spicy fish bourek
On those cold festival nights when the elements threaten to strip away the warm blanket of inebriation you’ve been artfully weaving for an entire day, nothing can put you back on track faster than some real comfort food like a CHICKEN BURRITO. You know the deal – chicken, rice, refried beans, peppers, cheese, sour cream, lettuce and jalapeños all packed up in a floury tortilla. This is nothing if not a welcome sight when it’s 2am and you can scarcely remember your own name. I was so distracted when handed this steaming bundle of joy that I had to be reminded to pay for it.
Chicken burrito
No festival food roundup would be complete without a nod to the booze, and I’m not talking watered-down, room temperature lager here. No siree. We spent plenty of hazy afternoons sipping away at ORCHARD MIST (which is basically Pimm’s with cider) partied down with SAILOR JERRY MOJITOS and clinked at sunset with MONKEY SHOULDER MUAY THAIS.
Sailor Jerry Mojito
A huge bottle of Monkey Shoulder
A year to make room for the next summer festival feast seems a long time, but if it’s anything like this one, it’ll be worth waiting for.
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