Sue Hitchin talks about the 10th anniversary of the Foodies Festival, which is set to kick off in Oxford’s South Parks this Bank Holiday

A lot of people ask me why the Foodies Festival has been such a success and I think it’s down to the fact that we are always introducing our visitors to new things – foods, flavours and experiences.

This year we have a new Tasting Theatre where visitors can challenge their taste buds with tasting sessions in cheese, gin, cider and chocolate, and we have extended the Street Food Avenue so it has more flavours and foods than ever before.

Street food is something I am very passionate about and the festival was the first to pioneer this new trend in dining, taking it from London and introducing it to cities across the country. Many of our street food stars are cooking family recipes that have been passed down through the generations in countries around the world, and it is very exciting to taste food you are likely never to have experienced before.

At our festivals we have definitely seen a shift towards eating as an absolute experience and that is what we offer at the Foodies Festival – a really fun day out with the opportunity to taste food from around the world, a live entertainment stage, feasting and picnic areas and the chance to meet MasterChefs and top local chefs.

A Cake and Bake Theatre gives you the chance to improve your baking skills and in the Craft Beer, Wine and Champagne Theatre, tutored tastings guide you through the experts recommendations for summer drinks, with food matching to make things more interesting.

A feature that is really popular and visually spectacular is the Pimms giant Teapot and the Mojito Galleon Ship. You’ll see it at South Parks this weekend - it’s hard to miss. The staff are dressed as pirates and serve mojitos and other rum cocktails from a giant wooden ship with cannons.

We also worked with Come Fry with Me this year who launched their street food with us. They serve only chips with different toppings from an airplane themed street food truck with staff dressed as air stewards. The seats were actually aircraft seats which people loved for selfies.

I’m thrilled to be celebrating the festival’s 10th anniversary this year with 13 festivals across the country – we have now shared Foodies with over two million people, which has been an incredible experience for me, my family and the team.

I have been based in Edinburgh for more than 15 years and there is a festival for everything here – comedy, dance, music, art, books, politics – but there was no festival for food. This was my lightening bulb moment and we launched Foodies Festival in Edinburgh a year later.

The idea was to celebrate local Michelin-starred and top chefs and to invite them to cook their signature recipes, and to give visitors the opportunity to meet and buy from local artisan producers.

The first festival was so popular we had to stop selling tickets two weeks before the event.

The following year we took the festival to Brighton, Hampton Court Palace in London and then on to Oxford in 2010.

Now we have 10 years under our belt, the next question is what do the next 10 years hold for the festival. I don’t want to give too much away, but we are always looking at ways to add dimensions to the festival by introducing new features and working with creative brands. Either way, it’s going to be good!

GO ALONG
Foodies Festival celebrates its 10th Anniversary at Oxford’s South Parks this weekend.
Tickets are on sale at foodiesfestival.com or by calling 0844 995 1111