The Festival is run as a not for profit company keen to fulfill an important social role.  The Festival Director Michael Hjort said “At a time when the government has failed to grasp the need for a meaningful nutritional policy it is more and more important for the public to master basic cookery skills and understand the basics of nutrition”

The school’s activity is not the whole picture, the workshops are also available free to members of the public after the school day has finished and on the other days of the festival.  Michael said, “this sort of hands-on work appeals to young and old and is always a highly popular feature of the festival.   Its also a great opportunity to for the more adventurous to try something new.”

This is a record number of school places, which are available because of the festival’s presence in the Museum Gardens and Coppergate as well as in and among the food stalls in Parliament Street.  This expansion was trailed last year and as that was a success it is expanding the provision again.

The school’s places are available from Monday 26th until Friday 30th and pupils will get the opportunity to engage in a range of activities from bread, biscuits and pasta making to working with chocolate, making yogurt, cheese and butter and smoking food. 

The cookery workshops are part of the wider Festival programme, which will be launched at the beginning of August.

Schools wishing to apply should fill out the online form  or email admin@yorkfoodfestival.com

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2021 is characterised by great diversity of support from collaborators including Museum Gardens, Castle Museum, York Minster & Theatre Royal.

York Minster will host the “Gin & Rum Festival” on Saturday 18th in York Minster featuring over 120 top-class gins and rums to try.  Danny Knight, events manager for York Minster commented that ‘York Minster is proud to welcome the Gin & Rum Festival, who are bringing good food, good drink and good times to the Minster! The team works in beautiful buildings and cathedrals across the country, so we’re excited about opening our doors to this brilliant event for the first time.”

The Theatre Royal will present Yotam Ottolenghi  on Tuesday 21st . Vicky Biles director at York Theatre Royal said “York Theatre Royal is delighted to welcome Yotam Ottolenghi to York! It is an exclusive opportunity to hear the tastes, ingredients and flavours that excite him and how he has created a career from cooking”.

In Parliament Street there will be demonstrations from 2020 Masterchef Professionals finalist Jono Hawthorne, Great British Menu’s Steph Moon and York’s own Neil Bentinck from Skosh.

Festival director Michael Hjort added “Not only will we have our usual market in Parliament Street and St. Sampson’s Square but we will be running secondary sites ‘Hubs’ in the Museum Gardens and the Coppergate Centre. In these sites there are free hands-on cookery workshops and a station for those taking part in our Taste Trail”. 

The Taste Trail is ticketed tour of York where participants visit different businesses and receive a sample of food or drink from each one. The hubs will feature samples from businesses who can’t take in too many visitors due to size and/or COVID restrictions.  “We didn’t want restrictions from stopping ticket holders from tasting the best of York.”

The free hands-on cookery workshops, the Festival’s ‘Food Factory’ are located at the Hubs and are suitable for all ages. This year’s workshops include chocolate work, curing & smoking your own foods, butter & cheese making, and pasta making.

There is a huge appetite for York Food Festival 2021.  There are a record 1200 primary school children already booked for cookery workshops midweek.  Michael said “With the uncertainties surrounding all events we have been flooded with enquiries about whether we were going ahead or not. Well, thanks to recent grant we are and we can’t wait.  The challenge to deliver a festival programme in half the usual time has been met!”  Details of the programme will continue to be added to website www.yorkfoodfestival.com which will go live on September 2nd.

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January started with a trip to London where I took the opportunity to indulge in a Kejriwal from Dishoom, one of my favourite breakfast dishes. This month also saw The Ivy on St Helen’s Square open its doors and a fun day helping Brew York put together the newest variant of their Tonkoko Imperial Stout. Mrs Fork showed admirable fortitude for a visit to Whitby to enjoy a stay at The White Horse & Griffin despite her advanced state of pregnancy, even finding space to enjoy a meal at The Star Inn the Harbour. Finally, the Star Inn the City had the chance to show off to the great and good of the food world, hosting the Estrella Damm UK Gastropub Awards which was a very special day.

Dishoom Kejriwal

The Ivy

White Horse & Griffin

Bisque from The Star Inn the Harbour

February was something of a quiet month as we waited for Baby Fork to make her arrival. While her debut was of rather more personal import than that of Humpit Hummus, it was still a pleasure to sample their hummus and falafel. I also finally got the chance to try bread & butter pudding spring roll when Street Cleaver popped up at the Fossgate Social. Millers Fish and Chips in Haxby gave us strength in the days before birth, as did a fabulous Reuben sandwich from Shambles Kitchen.

Shambles Kitchen Reuben

Street Cleaver Bread & Butter pudding spring roll

Baby Fork

March was mainly marked by a lack of sleep, but I still found time to get out and about. Radix started its cutting edge regular tasting menu at 45 Vinyl Cafe. It was a pleasure to be involved with judging the Garbutt & Elliot Food Entrepreneurs Awards so it was particularly rewarding to see the winners crowned at the Hospitium. There’s not much that can prepare you for the first few weeks of parenthood so brunches became something of a refuge. We particularly enjoyed Trinacria (the sausages are superb) and the Brisket Benedict at Source, which was en even more welcome distraction after the loss of one of our beloved cats. The first meal we braved without Baby Fork was to sample the new menu at Goodramgate Ambiente, just as reliably tasty and great value as ever.

Garbutt & Elliot Food Entrepreneur award winners

Radix Hen of the woods, poacher & root vegetable tagliatelle

Source beef brisket benedict

In April Tommy Banks launched his first book, Roots, which later shared its name with his new restaurant in York. I had a stab at his ox cheek recipe and produced a dish that even Tommy complimented me on. A trip out of York to Gio’s Italian Diner uncovered a great value spot that delivered simple food, done well with great ingredients. Our wedding anniversary celebration was less ambitious than previous years but still took in a delicious rosti at Betty’s Northallerton and some beautifully honest pies at Lordstones Cafe. I also finally had the chance to get back to Melton’s for lunch, which was a great opportunity to remember the understated quality these guys bring to Bishy Rd.

Betty’s Rosti

Melton’s celery & gruyere ‘rarebit’

My attempt at Tommy Bank’s Ox cheek from Roots

May brought about the long awaited opening of container park Spark that brought together a well curated selection of the best of local streetfood. While there’s been some turnover amongst the traders involved since then, it remains a welcoming space. With a young baby, we were still struggling to get out for special meals so the chance to visit The Park from Adam Jackson remains a fond memory that Baby Fork was able to share with us. With summer starting, it was lovely to pay a visit to Raithwaite Spa and take the time to relax in the sun, not to mention grab some crab sandwiches from The Cod & Lobster en route. This busy month also saw the launch of Yorkshire Cheddar from Wensleydale Creamery with a menu from Yorkshire legend Steph Moon, a pasta class with the indomitable Sara Danesin, the launch of The Cat’s Pyjamas in York and Malton Food Festival.

Poussin, white onion, ham, hen of the woods from Adam Jackson at The Park

Raithwaite Spa

Spark

As we got to half way through the year, June took me out to the Herbs Unlimited open day and the openings of Shakespeare’s Globe, The Press Kitchen and L’Uva. I also took the chance to check out a fully vegan menu at The Whippet before we popped to Ludlow and enjoyed some small plates with great local produce at CSON’s by the river.

Family Fork at the L’Uva opening

Mussels in the sun at Shakespeare’s Globe

Vegan dishes at The Whippet

By July we were starting to find our feet with Baby Fork a little so managed a few more days out. The hot summer days were perfect for the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and Fountains Abbey. Fantastic meals came from Arras and The Star Inn the Harbour while I finally made it to Everyman Cinema for a Spielburger to celebrate my birthday after a film.

Salmon and Greek Salads at Arras

One of the Follys at Fountains Abbey

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

Spielburger at Everyman

In August I travelled further afield to Leeds to enjoy the launch event for new Pudsey neighbourhood bistro Feed, featuring cheeseburger spring rolls and the “Hangover cone”. I also made it to Bradford to finally visit Prashad, which lived up to sky high expectations despite some enforced needlework, and Stamfords in Pocklington that represented great value. Cooking at home included sampling a recipe box from Riverford and it was a real pleasure to see Born to Lose open in Brew York from the guys behind Street Cleaver.

Whipped Goats Curd with Carrot at Stamfords

Hangover Cone from Feed

Kopra Pethi at Prashad

The big things in September were the York Food & Drink Festival, with whom I was very happy to work and curate the food and drinks trails, and the much anticipated launch of Tommy Banks’ new restaurant on Marygate, Roots. Sunday lunch came from the Principal and Born to Lose, whose Alternative Sunday Lunch was characteristically brilliant. I also made it to Skosh for the first time in too long and for a great value Bento lunch at Sushiwaka. A lowlight of the year came courtesy of a broken plate that necessitated a rather painful and invasive check for tendon damage in my hand and a number of stitches (NB: link to graphic pic), and I was even late for lunch! Thankfully my thumb remains fully functional, if still rather achey.

Born to Lose Alternative Sunday Lunch (2 hours after having my thumb stitched together!)

Lemon & Blueberry Cheesecake at The Principal

Garden pea falafel, pork fat and carrots at Roots launch event

Things quietened down in October a little; fine dining came from Hudson’s in The Grand and a more casual offering from Los Moros, whose opening and success was great to see. A set price lunch from The Rattle Owl was an accessible treat that makes for a great value midweek lunch.

Stone bass, langoustine and Fennel from the Hudsons Tasting Menu

Small plates for lunch at The Rattle Owl

Los Moros Tagine

November took us back to Roots for a final treat before Mrs Fork went back to work. I visited Leeds again to check out Dough, the new city centre offering from the guys behind Feed, and the Assembly Food Hall that packed a cracking burger from Slap & Pickle. The lunchtime pie menu from The Whippet hit the spot and I had great fun running a blogger event with the lovely Avocado Events and the Star Inn the City, to whom I wish a quick recovery to after their recent fire.

Slap & Pickle burger at Assembly Underground

Introducing the Children’s menu at the Star Inn the City

As we moved toward the end of the year, December took me to The Cutlery Works in Sheffield, a great addition to Kelham Island, which featured some great sashimi and poutine. The Christmas decorations at Castle Howard were good enough to encourage us to make it a habitual visit with Baby Fork in coming years and I finally got to see the stage show of Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds that even exceeded my expectations.

Castle Howard

Martian fighting machine with War of the Worlds!

Sashimi and small plates at Cutlery Works

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Taste Trail
I’m hugely excited to announce that this year’s Taste Trail is a collaboration between York on a Fork and The York Food & Drink Festival. I’ve been working hard with the Festival to organise a great selection of businesses to offer samples and discounts to trail participants. Make sure you preorder your booklet from the festival site for only £5, or two booklets for £8, or collect it/them from the Festival Information Point.

Food Factory
This is your chance to get stuck into a range of activities that’ll get into the detail of where some of our favourite foods come from. You’ll have the opportunity to make bread, butter, pasta and ice cream along with preserving fish and making cheese. You’ll also get a chance to try a chocolate activity at York Cocoa Works. A family ticket for four (including up to two adults)​ which offers all of these activities is £15. You can book places here.

Gin, Fizz & Ale Trail
This year the Ale trail is being broadened to include options for gin and fizz too. Grab your booklet from the Festival Information Point and after visiting six venues you’ll be eligible for entry to a prize draw!

Chef Demos
As always, there’s a packed schedule of chefs ready to show their stuff in the demo tent. Amongst many others this year features:
Rafi’s Spicebox
James McKenzie from the Pipe & Glass
Craig Atchinson from Hudsons at The Grand
Adam Jackson from The Park
Neil Bentinck from Skosh
​Tommy Banks from The Black Swan and Roots
Matt Hunter from The Star Inn the City

Taste Workshops
This year’s Festival features a series of “Taste Workshops” that offer the chance to take advantage of specialist knowledge from some of the city’s food experts.  Details of them all can be found here. As well as these, there’s the chance to enjoy a Pinot Noir tasting at The Chopping Block (The new restaurant at Walmgate Ale House from Michael Hjort) which also hosts a charity “Call my Bluff” dinner on September 25th. Check out the full list of food events here.

​Beer & Cider Festival
York Knavesmire again hosts the Beer & Cider Festival from 19th- 21st September as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. There’ll be over 500 beers and 100 ciders to choose from, live performances, expert briefings, cooking demonstrations and tastings.

Little Vikings Recipe Trail
York Food & Drink Festival 2018 is absolutely for all the family. This year, Little Vikings have put together a free recipe trail that allows children to collect recipes from ten locations around the city as you explore. Book here to reserve your recipe hunt pack to collect from the Festival Information Point.

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I was attending by myself, so was very glad to be made welcome by two friendly couples on the communal table with whom I checked over the menu and wine selection, kicking off with a San Marzano Verdeca and some salmon canapés. The Verdeca was unfamiliar to most of us around the table and, thanks to a generous serving policy, remained a favourite when paired with all the courses.

The Melton’s at York Food Festival evening was introduced by Lucy Hjort from Melton’s who presented the next of her wine pairings as a Labguedoc Viognier to go along with a dish of blowtorched mackerel presented with beetroot and horseradish. Fresh mackerel is always a joy and paired nicely with chunks of beetroot, beetroot jelly and well judged horseradish. The Viognier did a superb job of softening the strong mackerel flavours.

After our main was introduced by one of the chefs from Meltons, Lucy set her merry band of helpers to pouring out a Turkish Kayra Blanc de Noir” rosé to go with a bouillabaisse featuring red mullet, salmon, coley and mussels. The dish was served with a ‘rouille’ (a saffron, pepper, garlic and olive oil dressing) to pair with some charred bread. The table felt that rosé perhaps wasn’t strong enough to fight through the rich bisque, but it’s possible we were guilty of polishing off the samples before giving it a chance with each individual element.

The final pairing of the evening was a dessert of pear and tonka bean baked cheesecake with an Australian Berton Reserve Botrytis Semillon Riverina 2015. This was the highlight of the evening for me despite my general tendency toward savoury courses. The subtle tonka beans weren’t overwhelmed by the sweet wine and the pear element was well judged. I’d have happily eaten twice as much.

The evening pop ups in the demo tent were a great asset to this year’s Festival and well received by those that I spoke to. As with the Festival in general, it could have done with better toilet facilities, but working in a temporary venue had no obvious impact on the standard of the food and there’s no faulting the suitability of the wine pairing. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on the schedule next year and hoping for more of the same.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for my attendance, opinions are as impartial as ever.

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The term Txoko comes from the Basque region and is used to define a formal or informal group who meet regularly to enjoy good food. This event was based around that theme, with communal seating putting strangers at ease, while a series of dishes to share came from the kitchen. With some wine thrown in too, this was looking like a pretty notable bargain at £35 for a ticket.

We were pretty much last arrive, despite being five minutes before the advertised time. Clearly the audience were enthusiastic about the evening, so we took the last seats at the end of the communal table and started off with a glass of Txomin Etxaniz, a light fruity white with a hint of fizz that formed a good basis for conversation along with bread, olives, balsamic and oil.

The wide range of dishes came in quantities appropriate to satisfy the group. There was certainly no need to compete for scraps of the most popular dishes. First to arrive were an artful swirl of cured sausage presented on a bed of smooth butter beans and bowls of roast new potatoes with spinach and Picos blue cheese. It was a pleasant surprise to find the cured sausage (Chisttora) more lightly flavoured than I expected and interacting well with the butter beans that were slow cooked to almost dropping apart while remaining moist.

Despite having inflicted a pretty stomach-churning blister on my hand while cooking them, I still adore pig cheeks (if you ever want to see the blister pics, just ask). The examples served here lived up to my high expectations, cooked in sherry and with a delightful sheen, and shredding with minimal effort when the diners jumped in to grab a share. They were served with an apple puree that contrasted on the plate but, perhaps unfairly, got lost in my enthusiasm for the meat.

The final plate of meat was a piece of Iberico pork served with sweet and sour braised peppers that suffered only from being served between those wonderful pig cheeks and the striking salt baked sea bream that was delivered immediately afterward. The meat was tender and not subject to any unnecessary fiddling to compete against the sharp peppers.

Alongside the pig cheeks, that salt baked sea bream deserved to headline the menu. This came complete to the table ready for our server to break the crust and help us flake the meat onto our plates; another example of good produce, well prepared and not subject to any further hyperbole. An approach I shall reciprocate here!

To accompany all this, we were served several wines that maintained a convivial atmosphere, amongst which was a wonderfully smooth Rioja that achieved consensus amongst the group as another highlight of the evening. As I recount this now, it’s even harder to believe that all this came for £35 a head, including a more generous quantity of wine than expected. Ambiente is always a nice place to visit, but this event represented even better value than usual and the chance to enjoy a well curated selection of food and wine. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend booking Txoko with Ambiente.

Disclaimer: No charge was made for my attendance. Opinions are as impartial as always.

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Demonstrations – There’s a great line up of chef demonstrators this year. I’ll be trying to fit in as many as I can, but with the number on offer I suspect some will slip through the net. Top names include Andrew Pern, Neil Bentinck, Adam Jackson, James MacKenzie, Sara Danesin Medio, Steph Moon, Josh Overington and Tommy Banks.

Food Events – With the festival expanding across large portions of the city this year, there’s a huge amount to get booked into. Here’s a selection to look at:

• Afternoon tea tour of York from Tours in a Dish
• Star Inn the City‘s pop up
• French cheese & wine with Love Cheese
• Community table at El Piano
• Txoko Basque tapas at Ambiente
• Medieval banquet at Barley Hall
• Melton’s fish & wine matching dinner

The Beer & Cider Festival -The festival, as always, warrants attention separate from that focussed on the centre of town. As in previous years, it’s taking place on the Knavesmire over four days (Wednesday 20th to Saturday 23rd Sept incl) and will offer the chance to try around 500 different beers. To help soak up all that beer, there’ll be nine food vendors on site too. Head on over to their website for all the details.

Discovery Tour and Taste Trail – The Taste Trail returns this year, offering the chance to take in York’s sights while stopping off at some of its finest food establishments for samples which are covered by the cost of your leaflet. A new concept to run along with the Taste Trail is the Discovery Tour Passport. This will allow visitors to really get hands on, enjoying activities such as pasta making, bread making and chocolate tasting.

This really is just a sample of what’s on offer. Pretty much every food business of note in York is involved, so if I’ve left out one of your favourites, don’t hesitate to shout me on social media and direct my ranging through the Festival. Have a fantastic time and happy eating everyone!

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It goes without saying that Castle Howard is a stunning location for any event, with Brideshead dominating the view beyond the stalls on one side and rolling countryside in the other direction. Tickets to the event also included admission to the gardens and came in at the same price as a standard admission so there’s no arguing with the value.

We started the day with a stroll around the perimeter to get our bearings, checking out the food stalls and street food vendors we wanted to hit later on. The first food craving of the day was taken care of by currywurst (though I threw tradition to the wind and accepted a bun) before we hit upon a foraging walk for £3.50 each. The walk was led by Adele Nozedar whose immaculately researched books on the subject were realised into a fascinating 45 minutes that took in traditional medicines, alternative uses for weeds and all manner of greenery nibbling.

By this point I’d well and truly missed the cookie decorating competition that Tastecard had laid on (oops, sorry guys) but had time to catch Malton Cookery School‘s head tutor, Gilly Robinson, delivering a demo. Gilly had just completed an epic drive from The Spinnaker Tower where she’d been with Steph Moon to put on a Sky Dining event, but looked remarkably composed when she took the stage to knock up three delicious looking courses in 45 minutes.

By this time we were deserving of more sustenance before hitting the tents full of artisan producers. The Dilla Deli took care of that before we blew the budget on plenty of treats to bring home. There was plenty more going on through the day that we didn’t have time to catch including eating competitions, live music and more demos, not to mention the option to take in the glorious Castle Howard gardens. We had a lovely day and I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for another Great British Food Festival when next year’s festival season rolls around.

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For the first time in the theatre’s history, visitors can swap plates for props with a sumptuous menu of seasonal Yorkshire foods and wine – all enjoyed while treading the boards! Surrounded by fabulous costumes from the theatre archives, the evening will end with an exclusive backstage peek behind the scenes and a talk about the history of this 250-year-old institution following its £6 million redevelopment. It will bring a whole new meaning to ‘dinner and a show’!

This event is part of the York Food and Drink Festival. You can get tickets by calling 01904 623568

£39.50. The ticket price includes a welcome drink, a backstage tour, dinner and a glass of wine.

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If you’re looking for something nice to do in an evening then there are plenty of ticketed events taking place at the Guildhall and other selected venues across York. There’re a range of demonstrations taking place from fantastic local restaurants and a taste of York food map to find new and exciting places to try.

The taste trail will be taking place again with a range of new venues stepping up to involve themselves such at the Theatre Royal who have a newly refurbished interior to show off.

Head over to www.yorkfoodfestival.com and check out the calendar to see everything going on.

WIN

We’re lucky enough to be able to offer you the chance to win a couple of tickets to the English Sparkling Wine tasting at the Guildhall on the 24th. All you need to do is use the form below to enter and we’ll announce the winner on 22nd September.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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