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EAT!
Newcastle Gateshead returns this May with a tempting menu of events,
offering some of the most unique and creative dining adventures in
the UK.
The annual festival - now in its
second year - celebrates the best regional produce, food retailers
and restaurants and promotes the pleasures of creating and sharing
good food and drink.
Experiences to enjoy will
include: dining suspended 50 metres high from a crane for the best
ever views of the city; the opening of the first ever UK 'paladares'
- the Cuban concept of restaurants in local people's homes; and a
food adventure playground.
In 2009 EAT! events will help
people to explore how food is central to - and enhances - our lives;
from tips on thrifty dining and the way we 'taste' food with all our
senses to the importance of food provenance and how the choices we
make on our grocery shop impacts the environment.
EAT! NewcastleGateshead will also
highlight the city's growing reputation as a foodie destination.
Unique
dining experience during EAT!
EAT!
Carter (Fri 8 - Sat 9 May) will quite literally take
dining to new heights, suspended 50m high from a crane. It will be at
the same level as the never-opened restaurant at the top of the car
park made famous in cult film 'Get Carter'. The restaurant has been
empty for 40 years and is due for demolition this year as part of the
major redevelopment of Gateshead city centre. EAT! Carter will offer
never-seen-before views of Gateshead and Newcastle and be hosted by
different local restaurants. As well as full dining experiences,
there will also be beer tastings and shorter lifts to enjoy a tea and
cake with a view.
NewcastleGateshead
will be the first place in the UK to import the Cuban
concept of home restaurants. Secret Paladares (Mon 11- Sat 16 May) is
a series of ten home chefs opening their doors as 'paladares' for
secret dining experiences. Ten local families will work with local
restaurants for secret select dining experiences, giving a unique
opportunity to enjoy the home cooking and hospitality of people from
different backgrounds living in the city. Locations will be top
secret until the day!
Thrifty
and eco-aware dining
EAT! highlights how good food
needn't break the bank, with events and activities to demonstrate
thrifty menus, reveal the secrets of free foraged food and remind
people that dining at home is an inexpensive way to entertain friends
and family. The festival also promotes food production and dining
which doesn't cost the earth, particularly emphasising how to
minimise the environmental impact of dining at the Great North
Eco-Feast, with top eco-restaurateur, Arthur Potts-Dawson.
4The
search for the best bacon butty, The B Factor, will kick off the
festival and celebrate this popular, inexpensive, but often
overlooked British food staple (through April).
4The
Great North Eco-Feast will feature a banquet following green
principles developed by Arthur Potts-Dawson, Head Chef of Acorn House
in London and widely regarded as the leading eco-restaurateur in the
UK, in partnership with Jesmond Dene Hotel's Terry Laybourne
(foraging 30 April, banquet 3 May).
4Secret
Paladares (Mon 11- Sun 17 May) will put the emphasis on how home
cooking is a great way to entertain family and friends. A series of
ten home chefs will open their doors as 'paladares' - the name given
to restaurants opened up in people's homes in Cuba - for secret
dining experiences.
4FOUND
(public event, Mon 4 May) is a series of foraging tours with
pit-stop at a local pub or restaurant for wild refreshments.
Locations are likely to include the seashore, local woodland, the
Tyne river banks and city centre parkland. Energetic foragers can
test their 'extreme foraging' skills by collecting ingredients by
bike and climbing, and learning the ultimate survival skill of how to
skin an animal caught in the wild.
Adventures
in food
Sensory experts will reveal what
factors create pure food pleasure, with hands-on activities making
learning about food fun.
4As
part of the IncrEdible North East weekend, experts will provide
advice and workshops on how to make the most of the region's rich
resources of river, land and sea. People can learn about angling,
foraging, allotments and poultry keeping and will be tested on their
knowledge about meat cuts, sustainable fish and more (Sat 2 May).
4Slow
Speed Dining (Weds 5- Fri 8 May) is an eight course menu of artisan
produce and foods that thrill the senses. The menu will be designed
on Slow Food principles and in association with an expert in
nutrition and sensory perception at Northumbria University. Diners
will be encouraged to discuss a range of foodie topics with other
guests on large convivial tables, moving seats between every course.
4The
Food Adventure Playground at the popular Food Heroes Tasting Market
(Fri 15 & Sat 16 May) will be a fun place to learn about food.
Workshops will look at the science behind food, including
taste-testing the sweetness of ripened on the vine versus
'supermarket-style' tomatoes. Practical workshops will range from
chicken jointing to beer brewing. People can explore a giant edible
map of the North East and be challenged to take the chilli heat test,
enter a foodie quiz or help create food art. The market itself will
showcase a hand-picked selection of 60 of the North East's best and
most interesting food and drink producers, including a Food Heroes
Night Market (Fri 15 May).
Celebrating
the best in North East food and drink
Celebrating the best local
produce will be at the heart of every EAT! event, but the festival's
opening weekend will put the spotlight on prize-winning produce and
the rich natural resources of the North East. An opening cocktail
party, Spring to Life, will showcase award-winners (1 May), with star
guest, Beckleberry's blackcurrant and cassis sorbet. IncrEdible North
East (Sat 2 May) will celebrate and explore the productivity of
river, land, sea. It will bring colour, action, street performers and
wonderful smells to NewcastleGateshead quaysides and Baltic Square
and feature a producers' market packed with freshwater and sea fish,
seafood and game through to the finest allotment produce. As well as
chef demonstrations and workshops, there will be a host of market
eateries. Fish on the Tyne and SuperFresh FishSuppers see fresh fish
brought on a boat up the River Tyne to ten head chefs, and a market
stall on the Quayide. For the closing weekend of the festival, Food
Heroes Tasting Market will showcase a hand-picked selection of 60 of
the North East's best and most interesting food and drink producers
(15-16 May). .
This May will be a month-long
celebration of food and drink in NewcastleGateshead. It continues to
be on the city's menu of events, as Jesmond Dene House Food and Wine
Festival holds its shamelessly indulgent celebration of some of the
exciting things happening today in the world of food and wine - in
our region, in the rest of Britain and abroad (17-25 May).
For more information on EAT!
NewcastleGateshead visit www.NewcastleGateshead.com/EAT.
Tickets for dining experience are on sale from 16 March. Northern
Stage box office, 0191 2305151.
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