This year, Bestival celebrates 15 years at the forefront of festival culture. A pioneer of the boutique festival boom, Bestival has popularised a host of innovations from next level luxury camping and dedicated baby feeding areas, to fully themed weekends and even piezoelectric dancefloors. One area in which Bestival has always led the field is festival food. Offering festivalgoers a huge range of quality cuisine has always been an integral part of the plan, and with this year’s incredible Feast Collective line-up, the choice of lip-smacking grub is greater than ever before.
Feast Collective curator Gemma Thorogood said: ‘Feasties delight! We’ll be bringing back some of your trusted favourites – Butchies, Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, Happy Maki – while responding to the country’s massive vegan drive this year by curating a very special vegan corner with Fat Gay Vegan – the Vegangsters!
‘I’m also super stoked to be bringing DJ BBQ into the mix this year too, who’ll be spinning his wheels of BBQ steel for the masses and inspired by Girls Who Grind Coffee who’ll be making us a special Bestival Babes Blend to further hail the female power Bestival brings to the fields. Top tip: Milgi have some vegan soft scoop icecream under their counter if you ask them nicely ;)’.
We are very pleased indeed to announce that author and key influencer Sean O’Callaghan, aka Fat Gay Vegan, will host this year’s Feast Collective with tips from his book, Eat, Drink and Live Like You Give a Sh!t. His fellow host will be spandex-clad charcoal savant, DJ BBQ, who will demonstrate exactly how to handle hot, juicy meat and a big soundsystem alongside his BBQ Zoo, a motley crew of grill-enthusiasts who like to play with fire. And we’ll have demonstrations from author Gaz Oakley who will give us the low down on his renowned, avant-garde vegan recipes.
Commenting on being a host of this year’s Feast Collective, Fat Gay Vegan, Sean O’Callaghan said: “Being asked to curate a batch of vegan food traders for Bestival is truly a dream come true. I’ve worked for almost a decade to champion the best a vegan lifestyle can offer and being a part of Bestival 2018 feels like a match made in heaven. I am thrilled to be presenting some of the best plant-based food in the UK at what is surely the event of the UK summer. Sunshine, delicious vegan food, and good vibes? I’m all in!”
Vegans and Vegetarians can rejoice further with an expertly curated selection of tasty treats including, amazing pie & mash from Young Vegans, super-indulgent junk food from Biff’s Jack Shack, handmade risotto balls from Arancini Bros, flavour-packing vegan sushi from Happy Maki and everyday foraged fare from Milgi.
Seafood choices include shrimp burger joy courtesy of Shrimpy and super fresh oceanic action from Jeff The Oyster Man. And for those who indulge in the pleasures of the flesh there is West African cooking in Zoe’s Ghana Kitchen, impressively beefy balls from Melter Meatballs, Japanese delights from Oishii Yataii, award winning street food from Baked In A Brick, sandwich sorcery from Zephyr California Kitchen and steamed bun brilliance from Le Bao.
Plus, we have Indonesian eats from Makatcha, incredible buttermilk chicken from Butchies, exquisite meat and salads from Thoroughly Wild Meat Co. and Northern Thai dishes from Krapow. And injecting a little caffeine into proceedings Girls Who Grind Coffee will serve up a cup of uniquely blended Bestival coffee made with freshly ground beans sourced from female producers and those who work to support them.
Always staying a step ahead when it comes to festival food, indulge in the bliss of a Bestival banquet at the Feast Collective.