Food festivals, televised greenwashing, could horse milk ever take off, and the most coveted British food item in Paris
It’s that time of the month again, where digestible news items of at least a vaguely interesting nature, accompanied with some commentary where appropriate, go out to paid subscribers.
This time: I try locally-squeezed(?) horse milk, a Somerset cheesemaker tries bullshitting the public, and a restaurant in Bath gets a big thumbs-up from a national critic.
On with it, then.
Food festival FÔDA (pronounced ‘fodder’, I believe) returns this month at Arnolfini in Bristol. Set up by Josh Eggleton, previous incarnations of the event have been pretty much exclusive to those working in the industry. This time, it’s open to the general public as well, with synopsums, a ‘Producer Village’ (read: market, sort of), and the launch of Eggleton’s mobile educational farm. The line-up of speakers is looking more than a bit Somersetian, featuring David Rowley (grower at The Newt), Roger Saul (Sharpham Park), Tom Calver (Westcombe) Margot Henderson (Three Horseshoes), and someone TBD from Yeo Valley. If you’re going on the Friday or Sunday, see you there?
Somer Valley Brewing – Somerset’s newest brewery based at Somer Valley Farms in Peasdown St John – is opening a taproom in Bath this Autumn. Specifically, on the former Beluschi’s site on Green Street. There’ll be several lines including their staple Rolling Hills (pale ale) and Brook (lager), while I’ll probably be perched as close as possible to the seasonal cask. The menu will no doubt be fairly heavy on the meat, as SVF specialises in British Whites and Red Poll cattle and has a butchery on-site. Rumor has it that someone else is opening a beer bar round the corner in Milsom Place soon, so the already high-tier pub crawls in Bath are about to kick up a notch.
More Bath gossip: for the Observer, restaurant critic Jimi Famurewa visited pasta restaurant Solina recently. To spare you the Bridgerton references and the author’s brief bildungsroman, Famurewa thought it evoking “the likes of Padella in London” and, while “cool” and “value-forward”, it was “not perfect”. Personally not been but it’s remained firmly on my list since it opened *checks notes* an entire year ago?!