Spotlight: Feast East (and a barbecue)

With a magnifying glass, you can see the smoke rising from the barbecue towards the right-hand side of the picture

On Sunday afternoon, the brightest, most blue-skied day of the year thus far, the Spy found himself in the happy position of nibbling at the world’s most perfect barbecued sausage in the most unorthodox of locations: on the beach at Dunwich with Sizewell Nuclear Power Station looming menacingly above on the clifftops.

Smoky black treacle bacon sizzling away...

In order to discover how he came to be there, his journey must be traced back to the day before, where we find him frolicking at the Feast East food show, held in the hills of Chilford Hall Vineyard. At this annual event, which showcases the best food and drink producers to be found in East Anglia, the Spy found his culinary Valhalla, bouncing from stall to stall like a hyperactive kangaroo sampling the wares. There were (*deep breath*) teas, chilli jams, preserves, cakes, oils, sausages, bacon, honey, fudge, ice creams, vinegars, breads, flavoured coffees, Indian sauces, mulled wine spices, fruit juices, pestoes; the list goes on and on. Vendors were interrogated with a ferocity that would have had lesser men and women quaking in their artisanal boots: how did the rapeseed oil men get the smoke into their oak-smoked variety, what was the white powder covering the sausage, and how did the bakers from near Sutton Hoo develop their replica Anglo-Saxon seed bread? Why on earth was this bacon stickily black, how did the pudding get into the Christmas Pudding ice cream, and why were there hordes of Suffolk pensioners picking olives out in Sicily? No lunch was required, as food samples were constantly pushed into the Spy’s hot, greedy little hand, or, when no samples seemed forthcoming, brazenly demanded and immediately gobbled down. All in the name of research, naturally… The Spy could have left with wares from most of the stalls, but lest his shopping bag explode then and there, he settled for the following: 

1. Black smoked bacon cured with molasses and treacle from Emmett’s of Peasenhall. The stall was run by an extremely sophisticated gentleman whose every pork-product recommendation was prefixed with the instruction to open a bottle of wine. The Spy salutes you, sir.

Bacon bacon bacon...
 

2. Sausages from Musks of Newmarket (holder of four royal warrants dating back to 1907), made with bread rather than rusk (for a smoother texture) and real gut skins (making them melting and tender). The Spy couldn’t resist their siren song after sampling several chipolatas, served piping hot from a hollowed-out trencher of bread (to compliment the bread inside the sausages).

Baby chipolatas in their bread cradle, and the Man from Musks demonstrating the gummy awfulness of synthetic sausage skins

3. Apple, apricot and ginger sausages from the fine men at Woburn Country Foods. There were too many delicious ones to choose from so the Spy settled for the personal favourite of the chap behind the stall (the aforementioned AA&G), which was utterly scrumptious. Demand was great; their lamb and redcurrant variety was instantly sold out, and the Spy bitterly regrets the fact that he did not pick up a packet of their Cumberlands before they too vanished.

Big fat bangers bangers fulfilling their destiny

4. Assorted bread rolls from The Cake Shop in Woodbridge near Sutton Hoo (the Anglo-Saxon burial mounds), including traditional Suffolk varieties and Anglo-Saxon replicas. The Spy fell wildly in love with the grandson of the original founder (gender is no barrier where food is concerned), a tall, gangling fellow with a shock of curly black hair, thick-rimmed glasses and the creator of the best double-chocolate brownies known to man. His mother was every bit as wonderful, and dressed in purple and black, she perfectly matched the dense chocolate and beetroot cake with its bright purple icing. The Spy is in love.

The glorious sample tray (root cake and Polish apple cake), and a selection of wares. Note the Purple Lady just in shot, matching the beetroot cake on the stall
 

5. Olive Oil from Racalia, with olives from Sicily picked by bona fide Suffolk pensioners. If this is geriatric slave labour, then the Spy is all for it.

In the absence of a Racalia picture, the Spy presents a selection of oils displayed at the show: the oak-smoked rapeseed oil (the left-most square on the right-hand picture) was delicious, but so new it wasn't even on sale

6. A naked shortbread piggy (as opposed to an iced piggy, also for sale) from Bury Lane Farm. Their gluten-free cakes are every bit as delicious as their normal products, and their scrumptious scones can be purchased in the Farmers’ Outlet on Lensfield Road.

Lordy lord, a delicious selection of Bury Farm wares, including samples
 

7. Chorizo from the Suffolk Salami Company (worthy winner of two Great Taste gold stars).

    

A veritable cornucopia of East Anglian wares...

The ensuing barbecue at which these products were consumed was quite simply the best barbecue the Spy has ever had the pleasure of attending. And for dessert? Crumpets of course, toasted on the barbecue and spread with the last of the fig jam from Pancake Day. And thus, the great Circle of Life was completed, and the Spy was fed for another day...

Happy little crumpets toasting away (L), and the Spy gets stuck in (R). The scabby Fagin-gloves reveal the horrible truth: a Spy's life might be rich and exciting, but it don't pay so well kids...