St Albans Food and Drink Festival Finale is this weekend!

The biggest food event in the city’s year is this weekend! Now in its ninth year, our local food businesses will take over St Albans town centre for a giant street festival. There is more to do than ever before, including workshops for budding cooks of all ages, and free talks from celebrities and local chefs.

The biggest food event in the city’s year is this weekend! Now in its ninth year, our local food businesses will take over St Albans town centre for a giant street festival. There is more to do than ever before, including workshops for budding cooks of all ages, and free talks from celebrities and local chefs.

Start Sunday in the beautiful Cathedral at 9.30am for harvest festival, then stroll up to town for a late breakfast. All the stalls will be open by noon in St Peter’s Street and stay open until 6pm.

The Everblades Pop Up Pub Garden will be open again in front of the town hall, which is a great place to meet your friends and to try the best beers and snacks from our famous pubs. Follow the live music up St Peter’s Street to try food from around the world, and from our local indie restaurants. Lussmann’s will have their huge pop-up tent again, and are joined outside this year by St Michael’s Manor and Tabure (finalists for the Best Restaurant award). Dylan’s are bringing a red double decker bus full of Nyetimber fizz - I hope it’s enough!

If you want to know more about where our food comes from, head to the butchery demo by Oakland’s City Farm, taking place in a marquee. A master butcher from the college will explain the different cuts of meat, and how to prepare and cook them at home. All meat will be available to buy on the day, so nothing is wasted. The demo will take place 12.30-1.30pm and 2.30-3.30pm (viewer discretion advised).

You can also watch the Chef’s Theatre (free) throughout the afternoon - just pull up a chair. I’m looking forward to the talk about Heppel Gin from author and presenter Valentine Warner, and also to see Theo Michaels (Masterchef finalist) and Jane Parker from Parker & Vine.

For the first time this year there will be workshops in the Culinary Academy for kids and adults. Pattacakes will be teaching how to make harvest festival pies and flapjacks, and there are classes on knife skills and beer tasting for adults. Award-winning beer writer Roger Protz will escape from the nearby Beer Festival in the Arena to lead a tutured tasting session. To make sure of a place go to enjoystalbans.com/foodanddrink.

If you need to stretch your legs, head to Holywell Hill and the Cathedral Quarter to explore the food businesses there. Start and end at Rock Pop Candy and visit all eight places to complete the trail and try free samples and get special offers. There are prizes for all.

There will be live music all afternoon, and with a twist; the music stage will be powered by fit Deliveroo riders, and you can take your turn on the bikes too. The festival finale day is a wonderful celebration of all that is delicious in our area – thousands had a great day last year, so keep the afternoon free, and see you there!

For maps and more info about the events this weekend, pick up a free brochure in local cafes, restaurants and libraries.