A delicious mix of food and travel await visitors to next week’s Taste of London festival (June 17-20) as a corner of Regent’s Park is enveloped by distinctly Welsh flavours.
Wales is the ideal destination for food loving travellers, with accommodation and menus to suit every pocket and palate, and this irresistible blend will be highlighted during the four day event – London’s largest restaurant festival and which features some of the capital’s top restaurants, celebrity chefs, and food and drink from across Britain.
Many of the food and drink producers featured on the Welsh Assembly Government’s Wales the True Taste stand have close links with tourism, combining delectable dishes with visitor attractions, cafés, restaurants, or accommodation.
Indeed Rhossili Bay on the Gower Peninsula has just been voted the Best UK Beach and recently Best Picnic Spot in the UK by the British Guild of Travel Writers as part of Red Tractor Week, and is home to the highly popular True Taste Award-winning Gower Cottage Brownies.
Among the Welsh producers taking part which has a tourism link is the Blaenafon Cheddar Company Ltd, which combines award-winning cheesemaking with food tours. Last year the company, which is situated in a World heritage Site and whose Pwll Mawr cheese is matured at the bottom of the mine shaft at the Big Pit Museum, won a silver Wales the True Taste Food & Drink Award in the Food Tourism Destination category.
True Taste Award-winning Denbighshire yogurt producer, Llaeth y Llan – the Village Dairy – which is celebrating 25 years in business will be promoting its yogurts as well as farmstay holidays.
Also exhibiting its producer and tourism credentials will be award-winning Monmouthshire vineyard Ancre Hill Estates which produces a range of wines and conducts vineyard tours; and the Welsh Cider & Perry Society which will be highlighting producers and festivals.
The Welsh companies featured during the four days are drawn from some of the most beautiful and historic parts of Wales. The ancient North Wales coastal town of Abergele is home to another True Taste winner, The Pudding Compartment; while on Anglesey can be found toffee vodka producer, Toffoc.
Elwy Valley Lamb, another True Taste winner and supplier to a number of top London restaurants, is located near the historic castle town of Denbigh and close to the town of St Asaph and its cathedral.
Organic milk co-operative and True Taste winner Calon Wen, draws its membership from farms across Wales, and multiple True Taste Award-winning cheese producer Caws Cenarth situated near the famous Cenarth waterfalls has a visitor centre and café.
Visitors to the Wales the True Taste stand at Taste of London will be invited to test their foodie credentials and knowledge of Welsh food and tourism with the interactive True Taste Trivia Quiz.
Held at regular intervals each day, the Quiz includes blind tastings, pictures and props with each winner receiving a copy of Colin Pressdee’s ‘Food Wales – An Eating Out Guide’.
Also, at the end of the four days the names of each day’s the top scorer will be placed in a draw, with the chance for one to win a weekend stay at the Welsh Rarebits hotel of their choice.
Details: Sheila Coleman 01792 410994 / 07968 357474 or email: sheila@colemanroberts.co.uk
NOTES TO EDITORS
For more information about Taste of London log on to www.tastefestivals.com
For more information about Welsh food and drink log on to: www.walesthetruetaste.co.uk
For information about the Wales the True Taste Awards Food & Drink Awards log on to: www.truetaste.tv / www.gwirflas.tv
WELSH FOOD & DRINK COMPANIES EXHIBITING ON THE WALES THE TRUE TASTE STAND
Thursday/Friday
Calon Wen (also featuring Caws Cenarth), Ancre Hill Estates, Toffoc, Welsh Cider and Perry Society.
Saturday /Sunday
Toffoc, Gower Cottage Brownies, Elwy Valley Welsh Lamb, Blaenafon Cheddar Company, The Pudding Compartment, Llaeth y Llan.