The Great British Summer of Food and Literature

This summer is the summer of highbrow festivals for me. Having done the whole Glastonbury, V and Leeds fest thing – I am trying something new. I am not saying my days of long drops and no showering are over – just temporarily suspended.

First I tried The Guardian Literary Festival held in the quaint Hay-on-Wye. A fabulous day of bimbling around crazily full bookshops, drinking real ale and listening to the tales of Gwyn Thomas (Wales’s poet laureate) was had and I felt all the more culturally enriched for it. The organisation was superb and the atmosphere one of real middle-class middle-England fabulousness.

I would attend again but definitely making sure I booked to see more speakers in advance. As lovely as Gwyn Thomas’s recollections of the Welsh landscape were, I felt the musings of Alan Yentob and Andrew Marr may have been more up my street – had they not been sold out. I would have also loved the opportunity to join the walk-out on Vivienne Westwood’s ramblings about white rabbits and top hats. The queen of British fashion thought nonsensical pretentious talk would curry her some favour amongst the literary lovers. Unfortunately for her - they can smell a fake far off and with her tickets being the most expensive of the day – the mutiny was fully justified by all accounts.

Next up was the ‘taste’ of London festival. Another very civilised expedition indeed. Regents Park was a wonderful backdrop for the capital’s best chefs to display their wares. Although we were let in 15 minutes late, the rest of the day ran without a hitch. In fact it all became a bit of a blur –what with all the free sherry, port and wine tasters going round every time I turned a corner. Le Gavroche served us braised beef with dauphinoise potatoes and lobster and brandy soup. Cocoon dished up beef on hot rocks and steamed sea bass dumplings. Michael Moore stuffed us with duck and plum sauce, scallop wontons and tuna slices spiced with wasabi. The list goes on and on and on.

The Leffe tent held a beer tasting master class – which gave us shelter at the perfect time during the half hour the heavens chose to open. I never realised just how civilised drinking beer could be. For future referece, order Leffe Brun with a dark chocolate dessert and crème brulee with Leffe Blonde. Hoegaarden partners well with spicy foods like curry whereas cherry beer complements lemon desserts. I think beer gets a hard time. If you know what you are doing, beer is just as complicated and pretentious as wine!

As I waddled home, fully ashamed of how full and slightly drunk I was – I felt happy, relaxed and like a full-on foodie.

What’s more I was still squeaky clean (bar a little chocolate sauce here and there) and had no need to delouse myself like post Glasto. Literary and food fests could be the way forward after all, for the more mature and civilised me.