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The multi-award winning, free-to-attend food extravaganza, Woking Food and Drink Festival, is proud to celebrate diversity with activities to cater for all ages and tastes, in Woking Town Centre from Friday 31 August to Sunday 2 September 2018.
Inspiring Women in Food
One hundred years ago, women in the UK won their battle for the right to vote and Woking Food and Drink Festival 2018 marks the achievement, which changed the course of history as we know it, by adding a brand new event to open the festival.
Inspiring Women in Food takes place on Friday 31 August from 8am to 9.30am at the stunning WWF-UK The Living Planet Centre, featuring a keynote address by healthy eating entrepreneur Ella Mills, founder of the popular blog, Deliciously Ella.
Ella is an award-winning cookery author and entrepreneur, and a champion of eating well. Her blog has had over 110 million hits in the last three years and she released her first book in January 2015 which instantly became the bestselling debut cookbook ever in the UK and a New York Times bestseller. She has since released four bestselling books, created a popular app and, with her husband, opened a deli in London, as well as launching a food product line across the UK.
Following Ella’s keynote address, the event will move on to an open panel discussion led by four ambitious local women who have succeeded in the fast moving and increasingly competitive food industry:
• Liana Fricker, founder of the Inspiration Space
• Lorna Nanda Gangotra, owner of The Little Indian Kitchen and winner of BBC2’s ‘The Big Family Cooking Showdown 2017’
• Jessica Vella-Templeton, founder of Breakfast by Bella
• Daniella Webber, owner of Ripe and Nine.
After breakfast, Ella will be selling and signing copies of her new book, The Plant Based Cook Book. This event is delivered in partnership with the Borough’s dedicated business collective, Woking Works and its partners.
Getting children cooking
Families are encouraged to feed their children’s imaginations with one final treat before they have to go back to school.
On Friday, with lashings of charisma and oozing with charm, the Cake Ladies street entertainers will add a touch of glamour to Jubilee Square.
On Saturday, the Rhoda McGaw Theatre welcomes BBC Gastronaut Stefan Gates as he presents an outrageous, hilarious and totally educational food show featuring rockets, robots, giant cannons, edible chemistry and a very loud fart machine. Also on Saturday, prove to your child that if they eat too much of something they will turn into it, by seeking out the free food-themed face painter in Market Walk!
Children aged seven to 13 can take part in Tante Marie Culinary Academy’s 30 minute Kid’s Cookery Masterclass, running all weekend. They will be able to get stuck in to no-oven cooking, blending different combinations of dried fruits, nuts and chocolate to create scrummy little nutritious energy balls called ‘scrumbles’.
To mark 100 years since the end of World War One and to launch Living Well Week 2018, where older residents can find out how to live well and eat healthily, grandparents are encouraged to ‘Dig for Victory’ with the grandchildren. Join Woking Borough Council’s Community and Development team in a free workshop to plant up fruit and vegetables that can be taken away and cultivated at home.
Cllr Colin Kemp, Woking Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Cultural and Community Development, said: “This year is a significant year, marking both 100 years since women were finally granted near-equal rights to men and, of course, the end of World War One. This year, the Woking Food and Drink Festival pays tribute to these two significant landmarks in history.
“Our new Women in Food event celebrates some of the finest female culinary talent to emerge in recent years and hopefully it will encourage others to bring their skills and creativity to the table.”
“As well as celebrating diversity, the festival is also a fantastic arena to teach our children about the impact that great food can have on our health and wellbeing. It can open their minds to a love of healthy eating from an early age, and hopefully that habit will continue as they get older. I recommend parents and guardians of young people in Woking get their children involved - perhaps encourage them to try something they might never have eaten before and broaden their gastronomic horizons!”
With a stuffed programme of talks, events and demonstrations to keep the adults amused as well as the kids, and hundred of traders selling fine produce to stock the up the larders for September, the new term is set to ‘pan’ out well for food loving families in Woking.
Charges apply to some events and advanced booking is recommended to avoid disappointment as many of the events are selling out fast! To get all the latest festival news and announcements or to book for ticketed events, visit www.wokingfoodanddrinkfestival.co.uk
Woking Food and Drink Festival 2018 is sponsored by Woking Shopping, Magimix, Tante Marie Culinary Academy and Celebrate Woking, and supported by #WeAreWoking, Headline Design and Print, Woking Advertiser, Dreaming Fish Productions and Ellis Digital Media