The Real Food Festival

Had an awesome day today ... just wondered around the "Real Food Festival" here in London.  It was full of local / sustainably produced food venders, all offering tons of tastes and all open to great conversation.  I learned about making honey, using Himalyan salt blocks as serving trays, that it takes 600 liters of milk to make one 38 kilo wheel of Parmesan cheese, and infusing oils with lobster essence (no need to spend all the money and fuss with shells, just take a spoonful of that stuff!).


In between nibbling on cheeses, sausage, chocolate, breads, olive oils and vinegars, mustard, salmon, and langostino pate' I ate a locally raised, grass fed burger with mature cheddar, English mustard, and homemade ketchup.  Whoa.  For dessert, a sour cherry frozen yogurt gelato.  Double whoa. After that I was ready to dive into some wine and spirit tasting.  I told ya ... awesome day.

As if it wasn't already good enough they had sheep!  And lots of them, all different varieties and were doing shearing demonstrations.  So cute!  I signed up to potentially win a trip up to Scotland for a "real farm holiday" where you actually, as your holiday, get to wake up before dawn, work on the farm and help birth lambs.  Hmm ... not sure about that one.  I think I took about 40 sheep photos. Something about those guys!

I ended up buying a beautiful bottle of truffle oil (and getting information on a possible weekend of truffle hunting in Italy), a small bottle of super tasty olive oil, a chorizo from a French man that was really into his art (I have been eyeballing a squid and chorizo salad in my new cookbook this will be great for), a racy bottle of Rose', some smoked trout, a nice steak for barbequeing tomorrow, and finally some super cute cupcake decorating supplies and British bunting for a fest I am going to throw in July.

If I weren't off traveling next week I would have bought tons more! Woo!  Leg kick!