Wakefield Festival of Food, Drink and Rhubarb

Yesterday I went to Wakefield to see the Festival of Food, Drink and Rhubarb!  Wakefield is situated in the Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle (not to be confused with Bermuda Triangle of Productivity).  Some of my friends expressed surprise when I told them I was going to such a festival.  Clearly rhubarb was not their favourite vegetable (no, it's not a fruit), but then that's probably because they've never been to this festival!


I was greeted by Ruby Rhubarb:

and was surprised how many things there are to do with rhubarb (apart from hitting Ruby Rhubarb with a stick)!  Sadly I was too late for the baton race - which was held using rhubarb of course...  


There's rhubarb smoothies:

Rhubarb and custard sweets:

Rhubarb pies, rhubarb sausage, rhubarb pickle, rhubarb cheese and rhubarb cakes! 

Rhubarb muffins and deserts:

and I especially liked the rhubarb curd made at Woolley Hall:

There's even rhubarb walks:

These stunning cupcakes:

were made by Wakefield's award winning Cup Cake Shoppe and yes some did contain rhubarb!

There were some interesting displays, I particularly liked this one by You Are What You Ate, a new project which gets children and adults to think about exercise and healthy eating in innovative ways:

There were displays of medieval seasonal foods  

and a chance to sample a medieval style green sauce:

and we learnt how rhubarb was introduced as a medicine rather than a food!

There was also a chance for children (and some adults) to make chocolate lollipops with Little Pretty Things:

which seemed to be one of the few rhubarb free zones....

After all that excitement it was time to set off around the town, exploring the Deliciously Yorkshire market. 


My first stop was at Farmer Copleys 

an award winning farm shop near Pontefract, which I hope to visit soon.  Naturally I bought a rhubarb pie:

The Crusty Pie Company, from near Halifax were selling pies, scratchings and Yorkshire chutneys:

and from Lancashire, Heritage Kitchen:

whose Lancashire Pineapple Chutney has already been mentioned in this blog, were selling their Rhubarb and Apricot chutney:

Davills Patisserie in Ripon is on my "to visit" list, they were selling Yorkshire curd tarts, rhubarb and ginger tarts and rhubarb pies:

I've also already covered Botham's of Whitby in this blog, who were selling fine rhubarb and almond cupcakes and rhubarb and ginger brack: 

VKP Preserves have been making preserves with natural ingredients for 5 generations and had some jams made from unusual fruits and also a vegetable (yes rhubarb):

Crumbs Cupcakery make hand frosted  cupcakes for all special occasions:

including these rather fine carrot cakes:

and, this being Wakefield, rhubarb crumble cupcakes: 

Johnson's were selling rhubarb fudge:

Not everyone was selling rhubarb, Chapmans Fishcakes from Grimsby were selling their gourmet fishcakes

and Sean Wilson, who you may remember played Martin Platt in Coronation Street, but now makes fine cheeses and trades as the Saddleworth Cheese Company:

Mr Vikkis make Indian fusion pickles and curry pastes with passion in the Lake district:

I will look out again for the Parsnipship, their aim is to create the finest vegetarian and vegan food, using locally sourced seasonal ingredients, with style!

and yes, they use rhubarb!

These pretty cupcakes were from Bedazzled in Rotheram:

I haven't managed to include all the stands, but one stand I definitely should mention is E Olroyd & Sons.

They've been growing rhubarb for 5 generations, one day I shall book myself on one of their tours.  Apparently you can even hear it growing (and no, the rhubarb doesn't say "people, people"!).   Besides rhubarb and other vegetables they were selling all manner of preserves and even a rhubarb dressing.

After all that food I felt I need some exercise!  The thoughtful people of Wakefield had even laid on tours up the cathedral tower, for fine views of the festival:

There's more pictures from the cathedral here. 

Locals will have spotted I've missed out some of the key players in the festival, that's because I've decided to designate this week as Wakefield Week and they'll get posts of their own.  I'm off now to cook my rhubarb...

Web: www.wakefield.gov.uk/CultureAndLeisure/RhubarbFestival