Old Viking Harriet Reed-Ryan has announced a partnership with Shiplake College to host the first Henley on Food festival. The festival has been initiated after the success of the Henley Literary Festival, and will hopefully become a staple in the Henley calendar. The first of its kind, Henley on Food will unite thousands of food lovers with exciting cooks and culinary writers – including some of the UK’s best-loved names – on Saturday 30 April and Sunday 1 May 2016.
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Festival-goers will feast on a variety of talks, question and answer sessions with much-loved culinary names, interactive cookery demonstrations, samplings and wine tastings. And this isn't extensive list isn't all; the event will also include pop-up Supper Clubs with innovative chefs, and food-inspired activities for children – all held in the grounds and historic buildings of Shiplake College, at its stunning Thames-side setting.
As a flavour of the quality of the line-up, kicking off the festival is Australian-born John Torode – best known as the co-host and judge of BBC1's MasterChef, Celebrity MasterChef & Junior MasterChef. John joins the festival on Saturday 30 April with his latest release, My Kind of Food: Recipes I Love to Cook at Home, discussing his hit collection of family focused recipes. Flying the flag for health conscious cookery are blogging sensations Madeleine Shaw, with her second book Ready Steady Glow, and 'The Naturalista' Xochi Balfour, with a collection of food and beauty recipes to help watchers feel happy and healthy inside and out.
Other names joining the festival Lisa Faulkner, with her books Tea & Cake, Recipes from my Mother for my Daughter and The Way I Cook, celebrity caterer Sophie Wright, Great British Bake Off winner Frances Quinn and decorated chef Cyrus Todiwala OBE, amongst a whole host of others that are certain to delight and entertain.
As Events Director of the established Henley Literary Festival, Harriet commented that ‘after the success of the literary festival, I’m so excited to be broadening out into the culinary sphere – and there couldn’t be a better location for it. I have so many fond memories of my time at Shiplake, and the prospect of opening the school gates to wide local audiences for this new venture is very exciting.’
Tickets will go on sale on general on Monday 7 March 2016. Priority booking for parents at Shiplake will take place from the Friday 4 March. The link for priority tickets will be included next week in the bulletin. The festival will also assert itself as a major player on the local calendar in conjunction with Reading’s Year of Culture, a celebration of diversity and excellence across the fields of art and heritage.
