The Stir

York Festival of Food 1st November 2007

Ok ok, readers. So it’s been a while. Sorry about that, to both of you. Anyway, since last we met, much has happened in the land of Stirrin’ Stuff. Sadly I’ve forgotten most of it. However, I’ve been commissioned to tell you all about our trip to York Festival of Food, back when it was still called the summer and the clocks were all an hour wrong. I’ll do my best, but if my tale seems more like a dream sequence than reality, this may be because it has more of a basis in my dreams than anything else. I remember dreams rather better than real life. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, York.

Somewhere previously on this column, little brother has extolled the virtues of staying in a hotel, from the great big beds with funny covers to the tiny little shampoos with funny smells. I shan’t bother to repeat his diatribe. Suffice it to say it was a nice one – the hotel not the diatribe - (a generous donation from the beautiful June Nelson) and we were well slept, fed and watered when we arrived at the Guildhall, where all the festival stuff happened – for want of a better phrase.

On day one, Sunday, little sis and I set up the Stirrin’ Stuff stall at the Kids’ Food Event. Sadly we didn’t get a real chance to go round all the other stalls and see what the children could get up to elsewhere, but looking over our shoulders we established that while some of the stalls did the usual “stick some hundreds and thousands and some icing on a biscuit”, which isn’t particularly informative or healthy, there was quite a range of other stuff being made, from spring rolls to smoothies. And besides, hundreds and thousands and biscuits are good fun, and we shouldn’t lose sight of that. Tizzy on that stall did a grand job.

As it was the brambly season, we used both apples and blackberries to make a puree, then we made muesli from the dried fruit and oats supplied by Suma, and layered the whole thing with greek yoghurt. Bish bash bosh, lots of fun, lots of scope to get them involved and learning, and something they can take home. We did 4 or 5 sessions, before we packed it in for the day, with help from the real stars of the week; the organisers Richard and Debbie.

The following Tuesday was jam-packed full of more Stirrin’ Stuff run events. Mum and I spent the school day making our renowned couscous with 300+ children. They did it all themselves (they did have teachers on hand though – we’re not that good), and on the grand scale of things the needle was beyond the hard work point, swinging into the nightmare zone when the electricity failed. We pulled through though, and got all the messages in, and they all ate it, and it had celery in it. We must be getting some of this stuff right.

Later that afternoon we did a sort of Ready Steady Cook. Sort of, because it wasn’t on the telly, and the judge was the Mayor of York, and the contestants were people sleeping rough around the city. They were all really nice chaps, and they all knew more about food than me, and some of them put Mum on the spot once or twice. We made meatballs in tomato sauce on a tiny budget, and they made the brambly yoghurt as a pudding. They really went to town on the whole thing, especially presentation-wise, and they all got a lot out of it. We got a letter of thanks from Alan Wright, the co-ordinator of Carecent, who knows far more what he's talking about. Check it out.

And so ends the saga of our time in York, except for thanking Richard and Debbie again for helping to clear up after us. Once packed, we eventually set off, and then I woke up and it was all a dream. Crazy, huh?

by the wonderful Xander. Yet again.