Features / Bristol Food Connections
15 things you probably didn’t know about Bristol Food Connections
Bristol Food Connections returns from June 11 to 17 with a huge range of citywide foodie events, from dinners and demos to tours and trails. Ahead of this year’s festival, we thought we’d give you some top trivia on what’s gone before, and what you can expect this year:
1. This is the fourth Bristol Food Connections festival, with the first taking place in 2014.
2. The aim of the festival is to connect as much of the city as possible through food. The festival reached 25 Bristol postcodes in 2016.
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3. In 2015, Food Connections was a partner for the Bristol Green Capital 2015 programme, to celebrate a citywide commitment to green issues. The land and growing events have always formed a core part of the festival programmes.
4. In 2017, the festival took a break, instead hosting a We Are Food conference featuring local producers, business owners and entrepreneurs.
5. This year’s festival theme is time, encouraging people to take time to eat with others, and think about all the ways that time affects our food, from transport times to seasonality, food histories to food futures.
6. The 2018 festival programme is split into several categories: feasting & festivities, land & growing, the future of food, families, food journeys, get cooking, and wellbeing.
7. More than 130 events are planned for this year’s festival, including breakfast on a train, dinner in an ex-chocolate factory, cider tasting in an orchard, and an Indian brunch in a bakery.
8. More than 40 restaurants will be doing a special dish during festival week based around the theme of time, featuring locally-sourced ingredients, slow cooking methods and nods to Bristol’s history and heritage.
9. Food Connections hosted the UK’s first ever coffee rave in 2015 – which are now a regular event in Bristol.
10. The BBC Food & Farming Awards taking place during Food Connections week aare known as the Oscars of the food world. Famous guests coming to Bristol for the awards have included Jamie Oliver, Mary Berry and Tom Kerridge.
11. This year, Food Connections has partnered with Upfest to create an artwork inspired by the festival and this year’s theme. The artist creating the piece throughout festival week is Silent Hobo.
12. A few facts about the very modest Food Connections team: two of our 10-strong team are pregnant, and they have an office dog called Jeff.
13. Legacy is hugely important to the festival, so as well as getting as many areas of the city involved in activities during the festival week, Food Connections also aims to change the way that Bristolians think about food, and use it to connect with one another,
14. Rather than one central event space, Food Connections is a collaborative affair, with more than 100 venues across Bristol and beyond involved this year.
15. There will be a Food Connections Festival Hub on the Harbourside throughout festival week, which will be a central point to ask questions, pick up programmes, meet the team and attend free cookery demos, talks and workshops.
To find out more information or purchase tickets to an event visit www.bristolfoodconnections.com
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