Face to Face - with Camilla Beloe the new chair of Dartmouth Food Festival

Camilla Beloe speaks about her role, what will be happening at the Food Festival this year, and the events taking place at The Flavel.

Camilla took on the role of Chair of Dartmouth Food Festival in February this year, "It has been an amazing challenge. David and Holly Jones (Manna from Devon) headed it for eight years, and they did a fantastic job, so it is always difficult to follow a successful team like that." 
Camilla's main challenge was to build confidence in the organising team, a group of nineteen people - all of them volunteers, who give up an enormous amount of time and put in a huge amount of effort. Camilla was keen to stress that this really is an extraordinary community event, which needs to be embraced by the whole town. It is a non-profit making event - that relies entirely on sponsors - and like the Flavel, it can only work with the goodwill of the community.
It started as a very small event, and is now one of the top ten food festivals in the UK, and is extremely well thought of. It goes from strength to strength every year. 'Festival Feast' will be kicking off the main festival events, hosted by Serin Aubrey and Simon Entwistle of Dartmouth Fine Foods - at The Flavel on Thursday 22nd October.
The festival takes place in venues all over the town - one of the things the committee were anxious to do this year was to involve as much of the town as they possibly could. A new initiative this year, is that stalls will be open until 20.00 on Friday 23rd October, and this is particularly good for people who work in Dartmouth, who don't necessarily have the time to visit during the day. There will be lots of events on the Friday evening.
"We have a terrific lineup of well-known chefs, such as Angela Hartnett, Orlando Murrin and many others.There will be some pop-up suppers that will appear on the website the week before - Romy Gill is doing one - a fabulous chef and owner of Romy's Kitchen in Thornbury, near Bristol.
One of the very exciting things is the Eat Your Words sessions, one of which is in The Flavel on 25th October, which sets this festival apart from others. There are going to be some very thought-provoking conversations about the future of the food industry. In the South West we have some of the best fish and produce, but we also have a responsibility that goes with that, so they will be talking about sustainability, about growing your own food, healthy eating - sparking debate about where we are going. I think it will be really interesting. The Food Festival is about having fun, but it can be thought provoking at the same time."
Galleries Week is leading into the Food Festival, so quite a lot of galleries will have food related work on display. Sarah Wollaston MP will be coming down and will get involved with Mitch Tonks' first session, and she will be walking around the stalls to chat to people. So, there is an attempt to make it into a wider event.
This is the first year that tickets will be sold online; the venues are small, so events sell out very quickly, and this will enable more people to find out about them in advance.
"We hope that people leave the festival having had delicious food, a fantastic time, but have also thought about the debate on the food industry. And most importantly, we want you to come back next year!"   http://www.dartmouthfoodfestival.com

Food Festival events at The Flavel:

Festival Feast - hosted by Serin Aubrey & Simon Entwistle of Dartmouth Fine Foods: 22nd October 19.00 - 22.30 SOLD OUT! 
http://www.dartmouthfoodfestival.com/Events/Event-Calendar/Festival-Feast-Celebrate-the-Season

Tastings: Food and Wine Matching - hosted by The Royal Castle Hotel, led by Luca Soldo from Antonori, an Italian winemaking company: October 23rd 18.30 - 20.00
To find out more & book your tickets: 
http://www.dartmouthfoodfestival.com/Events/Event-Calendar/Tastings-Food-Wine-Matching

A Taste of Lombardy hosted by Christine Smallwood & Jane Baxter. Wine, stories and travels around the Italian region of Lombardy: October 24th 12.30 - 14.30
To find out more & book your tickets: 
http://www.dartmouthfoodfestival.com/Events/Event-Calendar/A-Taste-of-Lombardy

Eat Your Words: Kitchen Confidential hosted by Dan Saladino (BBC Radio 4). A lively Q & A session with Jane Baxter, Shane Holland, Matt Tebbutt and Mitch Tonks: October 25th 10.30 - 11.30
To find out more & book your tickets: 
http://www.dartmouthfoodfestival.com/Events/Event-Calendar/Eat-Your-Words-Kitchen-Confidential